3-D printing

[jnicholes]

I just realized that it is impossible to design it the way I hoped. Even if I do succeed at designing it, there won’t be a way to print it. It’s too irregular.

 

[jnicholes]

I found a way. It will work, but it’s tedious.

I’ve got to design and print each bone individually.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Actually, it’s a bit more complicated than just scanning it. In order to understand why, you need to know how the fossil was formed.

This is a compaction fossil. There was a big prehistoric lake 55 million years ago. There was a landslide, most likely, that caused the lake to be filled and caused a massive extinction. Everything was compacted flat. As a result, the fossils are flat.

My goal is to make a 3-D non-flat fossil, that would accurately show what the fish looked like in 3-D.

Scanning it would just make a 3-D image of an almost 2-D fish.

However, I can try. I’ll see what happens.

I'm not sure it would help, but the Smithsonian may hqve a model available for free download. They have scanned the whole collection and put up a catalog. I can look for the url when im home later today

 

[azurbanclucker]

Here it is. No guarantees but if you know the species of the fossil, they might have the model for download.

https://3d.si.edu/

 

[jnicholes]

Here it is. No guarantees but if you know the species of the fossil, they might have the model for download.

https://3d.si.edu/

Thank you, but the designing is going a lot easier now.

I will keep the link in mind, though.

Boy, the skull is gonna be difficult to design.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Thank you, but the designing is going a lot easier now.

View attachment 4293038

View attachment 4293037

I will keep the link in mind, though.

Boy, the skull is gonna be difficult to design.

Lookin good!

 

[jnicholes]

There is currently no way to design and print this fossil.

There are two reasons. First reason is that it is so irregular it is impossible to print on my current printer. It needs to be a resin printer. Second reason is that the skull and the fins are too difficult to design.

I can solve the first problem by getting a resin printer. For the skull, I need more practice designing.