3-dimensionalreproductiontechniquestopreserveandspreadpaleontologicalmaterial–acasestudywithadiplodocidsauropodneck.docVIP

Number 10 Mar 2012 3-dimensional reproduction techniques to preserve and spread paleontological material – a case study with a diplodocid sauropod neck Tschopp, Emanuel1,2 and Dzemski, Gordon3 CICEGe, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal Museu da Lourinh?, Rua Jo?o Luis de Moura, 2530-158 Lourinh?, Portugal. Institut für Biologie und Ihre Didaktik, Universit?t Flensburg, Germany. ABSTRACT The protection and preservation of irrecoverable, sensitive and fragile objects in museums, exhibitions and collections is critical in various research fields like cultural heritage, human sciences and paleontology. Lately, digitization of such endangered specimens proved to be a valuable tool to convert the objects into a digital form. However, in order to exploit all possibilities that such data could provide for educational and research purposes, it can be useful to transform the digital material back into a physical form. In this case study, a neck of a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur was digitally reproduced by 3D printing (a variant of rapid prototyping). The process is described in detail, and compared to the more classical reproduction using CNC-mills. CNC-milling is an inexpensive and accurate reproduction technology for large objects, and especially well-designed for producing durable casts. On the other hand, 3D printing is highly accurate to create small or complex objects, but is more expensive and yields more fragile physical objects. As accuracy of the complex shapes of the diplodocid cervical vertebrae was required in order to use them for research, 3D printing was preferred over CNC-milling in this case. Keywords: reproduction, preservation, 3D modelling, reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, casting, real virtuality RESUMO [in Portuguese] A protec??o e preserva??o de objectos irreparáveis, sensíveis e frágeis pertencentes a museus, exibi??es e colec??es é crítica em várias áreas de investiga??o com