This is Jonathan.  He is the clever programmer that turned the dream into reality.

Jon is the founder and consultant of Coherence - a Hong Kong based company to aid startup companies...

This is Duncan. He came up with the idea for SomatoMac.

Until recently Duncan was an Exercise Physiologist and accredited Kinanthropometrist (ISAK Level 3) at Hong Kong University who felt there was a need for improved body-image assessment and to improve on the crude measures that currently exist.....

A unique iPad-based application to improve how body-image is assessed in the new digital era.

This app allows users to chose their "perceived" and "desired" body-image from a wide range of true-to-life somatotype images of real people in a quasi-3D format (and also to compare with their "measured" somatotype if needed).  This app uniquely allows for the inclusion/assessment of endomorphy ('fatness'), mesomorphy ('muscularity'), and ectomorphy ('tall/leaness').

History

Back in c.2012 Duncan realised the assessment of body-image was quite crude and lacked the ability to assess body shape in a comprehensive or modern way using modern portable technologies.  


He aimed to design a system that would improve upon our current assessment of a person’s body image/shape by embracing more modern digital technologies rather than relying on traditional hand-drawn line-based (figural) images/silhouettes or 2D-photos based only on BMI, or complex computer systems that were often outdated.

Furthermore these traditional methods typically only consider an endomorphy-ectomorphy continuum (fat-to-thin) with no mesomorphy component.


With the help of Professor Patria Hume (AUT Auckland NZ) and Prof Lindsay Carter (Emeritus Professor, San Diego State), he acquired access to a range of somatotypes across a wide range of male and female body shapes that would allow him to design the SomatoMac app.


A mixture of personal funds, important HKU KE and Seed Funding helped allow this development to progress, plus AUT JELC Kinathropometry Archive support. 


Unfortunately due to recent changes in employment and a lack of development funds, this application is not ready for release (no date known)