Segmenting the Canine skull, part 2

I feel like I got a goodly amount of work done on the skull today.  Even if I'm still floundering a bit on where suture lines are. 

Canine skull, end of day 2

I have around 32 different photo references I've pulled from the net, including one where the different bones of the skull have been painted and labeled. 

A very useful powerpoint from the Calgary Association of Veterinary Students.  This is a screenshot from a slide.  They also have the same skull with dorsal, ventral, and rostral views.  I refer to this a lot.



Of course, every skull has some amount of variation.  And I'm not even sure of the breed of the dog scanned.  However, it is a long snout breed, at least.  Those seem to be more common on the internet as well.  I have the feeling that the dog I have is an older example, as sutures tend to become less distinct as individuals age.

I have succeeded in pulling out the mandible, mandibular teeth, nasal bone, incisive bone, zygomatic bone, maxillary teeth and most of the maxillary bone so far. Truthfully, I've been having a hard time even getting a comprehensive list of all of the bones that make up the skull.  It's somewhere between 22 and 50...  Ah, google.

So, I have done three things to rectify my lack of knowledge.  First, a library!  I found a library on Stanford campus that has numerous canine vet books that I should be able to check out.  Second, Amazon! I also found a fairly inexpensive book (creatively called Dog Anatomy, by Peter Goody) on amazon that I decided to buy... I must admit that I turned to Amazon before the library, so technically these are in the wrong order.  However, the prices on Amazon made me sit back and realize that there are much better ways I would like to spend my money, bibliophile tendencies aside.  Which leads me to my third choice, eBay!  Yes, I am now the proud owner of a dog skeleton.  This makes me happier than I probably should be.

My text reference should arrive on Tuesday.  And in the mean time, I've been segmenting. 

Putting the roots on the mandibular teeth.

The newly added mandible and mandibular teeth.

Trying to figure out the nasal and incisive bones.  I can't tell you how tricky those were.

Adding the maxillary bone.  My skull is starting to look colorful!

 

This is often how I work - multiple views, with the 3D preview to the side.  Because I am having such a difficult time spotting the suture lines, I am relying upon a combination of CT and 3D to figure out where different bones are.  This is why I feel an actual skull is so necessary, at least for me.  Then I will be able to trace the sutures on the physical specimen.

I'm off to the library tomorrow, to further my knowledge of canine anatomy.  I do feel a bit nervous, having started this process without hearing from the actual official people... And truthfully I got a little segmentation happy.  I meant to write my proposal this weekend, not segment canine skulls.  So, realistically I should take a step back and figure that out.  Ick.