On the last Friday in September, two members of the 3D
fossils team boarded a train from Nottingham station to attend the Science
Uncovered event as part of European Researchers Night 2013.
We were to be demonstrating in the imaging zone, alongside
pieces of exotic equipment such as a table-top electron microscope. After
solving a few minor problems during setting up (using the time-honoured method
of “gaffer tape and ingenuity”....) we had the 3d printer running and making 3d
fossils.
Our first “customers” were adults who had brought their children to the museum (or was it the
children who had brought their parents?!). Many had been fossil hunting and
were excited to learn of the existence of our database, where they could download models to compare with their own finds, to help in
identifying them.
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| 3D fossils in the spotlight - demonstrating to an onlooker how a print is made up |
It was also good to speak to a number of school teachers who had recently bought a 3d printer and were looking for things to fabricate with it. We were able to share our experiences of acquiring models using the laser scanner, or designing them in 3D CAD, and finally using the printer to output that work.
Our anaglyphs and 3d prints proved a big hit with young and
old alike, and we distributed plenty of fossil cards and leaflets throughout
the evening. One of the trickiest parts of the evening was working in a
darkened room, with a black floor, black walls and a black tablecloth – thank
goodness that we were printing the models in white plastic!
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Viewing anaglyphs on
the iPad screen made it easy for everyone to have a go
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All in all, it was great to see so many people attending the
evening and provided us with a brilliant opportunity to explain our work to
people from a very wide range of backgrounds, and how modern technologies are
invaluable in helping us achieve this.
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A late Victorian
interpretation of "3D Fossils"!
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Simon Harris
Conservator/JISC Project Photographer
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