The first article over at Red Orbit describes how a team of paleontologist at the University of Texas have used both CT scans and 3D printing to provide clues about the physiology of an ancient mollusk. Most interesting is the fact that, through the use of this technology, new details have emerged about the structure of the mollusk and its evolutionary links to present day creatures.
Over at Scientific American’s Symbiartic blog, there is a short article discussing Tyler Keillor’s work as a “paleoartist” at the University of Chicago. His newest project, which he is trying to fund via Kickstarter, is to create a “complete digital reconstruction” of a Dryptosaurus. Tyler’s plan includes using 3D modeling and printing techniques to “create the most realistic reconstruction of Dryptosaurus ever attempted.”
In most situations Keillor’s work is limited to busts of the animals that he is modeling, however, through the use of 3D modeling software he will be able to create a full-body model of the Dryptosaurus that can then be printed at any scale.
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