Fossil baleen whale skeletons, from Cerro Ballena, printed at ~1/16th scale. These print versions of the 3D digital data, with the 2D photo information mapped on top. Many thanks to the laser cowboys over at OCIO's 3D Digitization Program Office. (Thanks for running them over from Landover, Adam).
I wish I could say "collect all 6," but they're not on sale at the NMNH gift store (yet). Stay tuned, we hope to print a few more Cerro Ballena skeletons in miniature, in the future. It is immensely satisfying to see the arc of our work from planning and logistics, to execution in the field with data collection, to a proof-of-concept with post-processing.
Specimen field number B31, from Cerro Ballena, Adam Metallo's hand for scale. Note the 30 cm scale bars and color swatch. (Photo: A. Metallo).
Specimen field number B34, from Cerro Ballena, Adam Metallo's hand for scale. Note the 30 cm scale bars. (Photo: A. Metallo).
Seeing this makes me tremble with excitement. There are so many potential applications, congrats Nick!
Posted by: Brian Beatty | 02/01/2012 at 11:07 AM
Thanks, Brian, I was pretty stunned by the results too. We literally do hope to "collect all six," later this spring, as we compile and analyze more 3D data from our fieldwork last November.
Posted by: NDP | 02/03/2012 at 09:06 PM