Forensic 3D surface documentation at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Zurich – Workflow and communication pipeline

•The overall integration of surface documentation into the general workflow at the ??? is presented.•It is being described how to perform surface scans on deceased, living patients and objects.•The basics of data preparation for reconstructions are introduced.

This educational article is an introduction for forensic pathologists to the use of structured light scanners for the documentation of bodies, living persons and objects. We discuss the general layout of the relevant parts for Virtual Autopsy at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Zurich, the communication organization and the embedding of scanning into the general workflow. A brief introduction on the processing of compiled data for use in incident reconstruction is also provided.