Print your own dinosaur: "Diplodocus carnegii" is the new addition to the 3D Museum of NHM Vienna
31. March 2023
Celebrating its second anniversary in April this year, the 3D Museum of the Natural
History Museum Vienna by now boasts roughly 200 freely accessible 3D models on the Sketchfab platform. Now the NHM’s biggest
display item has arrived at the digital museum: the skeleton of Diplodocus carnegii which dominates the museum’s
dinosaur hall with its 27 metres in length and is very popular with the visitors.
It
was as a gift for Emperor Francis Joseph I that this cast of the original skeleton, discovered around 1900 during a dig in
Wyoming, arrived at the Natural History Museum Vienna in 1909. Affectionately nicknamed “Dippy” shortly after being found,
this dinosaur was a giant, four-legged herbivore native to what today is Northern America around 150 million years ago. A
particularly striking feature of Dippy is its tiny skull in relation to its body size.
Producing the 3D model required a great deal of effort given the size and complexity of the skeleton. Five museum staff members spent several days on ladders and a lifting platform recording the giant skeleton by means of a handheld 3D structured light scanner. In this method, the scanner projects a light pattern onto the surface and measures the resulting distortions. Full-scale three-dimensional coordinates are then computed from these measurements. Anna Haider, BBSc. then spent several months post-processing this data. The individual scans were put together on the computer like a 3D jigsaw puzzle, slowly giving rise to the final 3D model.
The impressive skeleton is now ready for viewing. Not only can all those interested digitally rotate it, zoom in and explore it – the model is also available for download free of charge.
“The 3D model of ‘Dippy’ is an absolute highlight of the museum. But it was also by far the most labour-intensive object we have ever created for the 3D Museum”, notes Viola Winkler, MSc., who is in charge of the 3D laboratory at the NHM’s Central Research Laboratories.
“Being able to virtually fly around the giant skeleton and explore details that were inaccessible before represents an incredible step forward for us researchers”, says Dr. Ursula Göhlich, curator and vertebrate palaeontologist at the NHM Vienna, with visible enthusiasm.
Apart from “Dippy”, 62 other significant items from the museum’s display collection have been made available online. A number of 3D models have been specifically optimised for 3D printing – among them the renowned Venus of Willendorf – and are available for download in the 3D Museum free of charge.
Links:
3D Museum: https://sketchfab.com/NHMWien
The model of Diplodocus carnegii: https://skfb.ly/oEYZw
“Science Talk” on the 3D Musem: https://youtu.be/_w7QbZDRs0E
NHM Top 100 at the 3D-Museum: https://skfb.ly/oCFIC
Making Of 3D-Scan:
https://youtube.com/shorts/lNAwgUpqjm8
Wissenschaftlicher Kontakt:
Viola Winkler, MSc
Operatorin MicroCT, 3D-Labor
Zentrale Forschungslaboratorien
Tel.: +43 1 521 77 254
viola.winkler@nhm-wien.ac.at
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ursula Göhlich
Kuratorin Wirbeltierpaläontologie
Tel.: +43 1 521 77 257
ursula.goehlich@nhm-wien.ac.at
Rückfragehinweis:
Mag. Irina Kubadinow
Leitung Presse & Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Pressesprecherin
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 - 410
irina.kubadinow@nhm-wien.ac.at
Mag. Magdalena Reuss
Presse & Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Pressereferentin
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 - 626
magdalena.reuss@nhm-wien.ac.at
Producing the 3D model required a great deal of effort given the size and complexity of the skeleton. Five museum staff members spent several days on ladders and a lifting platform recording the giant skeleton by means of a handheld 3D structured light scanner. In this method, the scanner projects a light pattern onto the surface and measures the resulting distortions. Full-scale three-dimensional coordinates are then computed from these measurements. Anna Haider, BBSc. then spent several months post-processing this data. The individual scans were put together on the computer like a 3D jigsaw puzzle, slowly giving rise to the final 3D model.
The impressive skeleton is now ready for viewing. Not only can all those interested digitally rotate it, zoom in and explore it – the model is also available for download free of charge.
“The 3D model of ‘Dippy’ is an absolute highlight of the museum. But it was also by far the most labour-intensive object we have ever created for the 3D Museum”, notes Viola Winkler, MSc., who is in charge of the 3D laboratory at the NHM’s Central Research Laboratories.
“Being able to virtually fly around the giant skeleton and explore details that were inaccessible before represents an incredible step forward for us researchers”, says Dr. Ursula Göhlich, curator and vertebrate palaeontologist at the NHM Vienna, with visible enthusiasm.
Apart from “Dippy”, 62 other significant items from the museum’s display collection have been made available online. A number of 3D models have been specifically optimised for 3D printing – among them the renowned Venus of Willendorf – and are available for download in the 3D Museum free of charge.
Links:
3D Museum: https://sketchfab.com/NHMWien
The model of Diplodocus carnegii: https://skfb.ly/oEYZw
“Science Talk” on the 3D Musem: https://youtu.be/_w7QbZDRs0E
NHM Top 100 at the 3D-Museum: https://skfb.ly/oCFIC
Making Of 3D-Scan:
https://youtube.com/shorts/lNAwgUpqjm8
Wissenschaftlicher Kontakt:
Viola Winkler, MSc
Operatorin MicroCT, 3D-Labor
Zentrale Forschungslaboratorien
Tel.: +43 1 521 77 254
viola.winkler@nhm-wien.ac.at
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ursula Göhlich
Kuratorin Wirbeltierpaläontologie
Tel.: +43 1 521 77 257
ursula.goehlich@nhm-wien.ac.at
Rückfragehinweis:
Mag. Irina Kubadinow
Leitung Presse & Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Pressesprecherin
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 - 410
irina.kubadinow@nhm-wien.ac.at
Mag. Magdalena Reuss
Presse & Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, Pressereferentin
Tel.: + 43 (1) 521 77 - 626
magdalena.reuss@nhm-wien.ac.at
