Augmented Paleontology Part 2

Paleontology is filled with mysteries about the plants and animals that lived thousands, millions, even billions of years before the first humans walked the earth. To answer questions about these organisms, paleontologists rely on the excavation, analysis, and interpretation of fossils. Embedded and preserved in the earth's crust, fossils are the remains or traces of ancient life forms, including bones, teeth, shells, leaf imprints, nests, and footprints.Fossils can disclose how organisms evolved over time and their relationship to one another. While they reveal much, such as the general shape and size of ancient living things, fossils keep us guessing about these organisms' color, sound, and—most significantly—their behavior. For several years, modern paleontologists have used 3D computer graphics to help reconstruct these pieces of the past. State-of-the-art scanning technology produces 3D fossil replicas that scientists can process and study without physical constraints. Paleontologists typically generate volumetric data sets for analysis, such as magnetic resonance imaging or computed axial tomography scans, and they use surface models for digital preservation and reproduction. To study ontogeny—an organism's growth and form—paleontologists apply mathematical models for simulation and visualization. Likewise, computer animations help study dinosaur locomotion. Beyond building knowledge of our world, the results of this work influence how dinosaurs appear in museums, illustrations, and movies, and as toys. In the past 40 years, technological advances have continued to blur the boundary between real and computer-generated worlds. Augmented reality leverages this technology to provide an interface that enhances the real world with synthetic supplements. Paleontologists can use AR to present virtual data, such as 3D computer graphics, directly within a real environment rather than on a flat monitor. We coined the term augmented paleontology to refer to the application of AR to paleontology. AP seeks to support paleontologists in their research, and communicate the results of paleontology to museum visitors in an exciting and effective way. An interdisciplinary team of paleontologists, graphics designers, and computer scientists has already applied the AP interface to soft-tissue reconstruction and the study of dinosaur locomotion.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• computer
• environment
• augmented
• reality

[MisterCoqui]

woow that technology could be udes to ake hologram style tv

[Leonesaurus130]

That's freakin awesome!

[lifeaddicted]

it's cool !