The BBC has a profile of forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson, which has a nice little review of some new computerized facial reconstruction techniques:
The first stage of virtual reconstruction mirrors the real process - the placement of pegs that indicate tissue depth.
When modelling by hand, wooden pegs have to be placed using a ruler and a scalpel - the computer is simpler and much more accurate but not faster.
"We have to follow the same rules and go through the same analysis, so it takes the same amount of time," said Dr Wilkinson.
...and the same number of billable hours! Just kidding, most of this is not legal work, and the computer does very little of the analytical part of the work; it just comes stocked with parts and allows more review of the work as it progresses.
