# Scutoids in Curved Tissue — Let a change of neighbors become a three-dimensional shape.

Gómez-Gálvez, Vicente-Munuera, Tagua et al. · Nature Communications 2018 · Figure 1

[Publication](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05376-1) · [Original image source](https://media.springernature.com/full/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41467-018-05376-1/MediaObjects/41467_2018_5376_Fig1_HTML.png)

## Inspect the actual images before designing

- [focused figure](../../assets/calibration/scutoids-figure.png) — SHA-256 `728746e6727da5874328658e23d9cdafcb427a65480c5c7119f1744735bc3535`. Unmodified publisher-hosted Figure 1. Panel e beetle photograph credited in the source to Dr Nicolas Gompel; do not assume the article license overrides image-specific credit.

Reading a caption or this guide is not image inspection. Open at least two approved reference images at readable size and record their hashes.

**Use when:** Replaces a toy component-merging sequence with a tangible geometry in which the topological change is physically visible.

## See the mechanism

1. Compare the prism and frustum assumptions in a–b with the nested apical/basal surfaces in c.
2. Follow the same colored cells between the two surfaces; identify which neighboring relationships change.
3. Inspect d and g: the extra vertex and triangular face give that neighbor transition a physical geometry.

**Mechanism:** Packing between differently curved apical and basal surfaces can involve neighbor exchanges along cell depth; a scutoid has a vertex arrangement that permits such a transition.

**Visual construction:** Let a change of neighbors become a three-dimensional shape.

**What the eye understands:** The two surfaces need not have the same adjacency. The intermediate cell geometry explains how one tiling can connect to the other.

**Why an ordinary plot is weaker:** A connectivity table reports neighbors but hides where they change. The nested surfaces and isolated cell shapes make the topological transition spatial.

## Learn this visual style, then adapt it

**Observe:** Persistent cell colors connect the inner/outer tilings to isolated three-dimensional pieces; translucent surfaces reveal depth without hiding the interface that changes.

**Apply:** Show adjacency-changing structure through linked sections and one extracted local interface, not only a flattened graph.

Record `composition_observation`, `encoding_observation`, `style_observation`, and `planned_application` for this image. Specify visible layout, persistent geometry, selective emphasis, annotation placement, color roles and whitespace—not just “clean” or “beautiful”.

## Transfer into the project

**Replace the objects:** Replace epithelial layers with two linked sections of the project geometry, and colored cells with persistent elements whose adjacency changes between them.

**Keep the relationship:** Preserve element identity and distinguish intrinsic adjacency from distance or perspective in a projection.

1. Place the linked boundary sections in one three-dimensional frame.
2. Track a few corresponding elements and expose the location of the adjacency change.
3. Extract the smallest local shape that permits the global connection, keeping its interfaces visible.

**Acceptance test:** Can the reader point to the vertex/face where a neighboring relationship changes through depth?

**Do not copy literally:** Do not import a scutoid shape into an unrelated graph merely because topology is involved; the geometric packing relation must be real.

**Scientific boundary:** This figure develops a geometric model and examples of packing; it does not imply every curved epithelium has one universal cell geometry. The beetle panel is a naming analogy, not mechanistic evidence.

## Attribution and rights

MechanismFigures editorial reading of the cited publication. Replacement selected after the user retired the previous image on 2026-10-08; not an author endorsement or a new empirical result.

Original authors/publishers retain image rights. The repository MIT license covers code/commentary, not the figures. Actual published figure excerpt included with source-specific critical study. No general redistribution license is asserted by this repository. Original authors/publishers retain rights; inspect the source terms and any third-party image credits before further reuse. Original Figure 1e beetle photograph is credited by the paper to Dr Nicolas Gompel, with permission; that credit is not a license for further reuse.