3D Mesh Cleanup Tutorial

Elizabeth G. Clark; Kelsey M. Jenkins; Craig R. Brodersen

Mar 20, 2023

3D Mesh Cleanup Tutorial

PLOS One

Peer-reviewed method

DOI

dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.kqdg391deg25/v1

Elizabeth G. Clark¹,
Kelsey M Jenkins²,
Craig R Brodersen²

¹University of California, Berkeley;
²Yale University

Elizabeth G. Clark

DOI: dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.kqdg391deg25/v1

External link: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283027

Collection Citation: Elizabeth G. Clark, Kelsey M Jenkins, Craig R Brodersen 2023. 3D Mesh Cleanup Tutorial. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.kqdg391deg25/v1

Manuscript citation:

Clark, E. G., Jenkins, K. M., Brodersen, C. R. 2023. Back to life: Techniques for developing high-quality 3D reconstructions of plants and animals from digitized specimens. PLOS ONE.  

License: This is an open access collection distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Protocol status: Working

We use this collection and it's working

Created: March 14, 2023

Last Modified: March 20, 2023

Collection Integer ID: 78768

Keywords: 3D imaging, 3D mesh editing, Virtual paleontology

Abstract

This is the collection of protocols for developing 3D reconstructions of animals and plants from digitized specimens (see Clark et al. 2023). 3D Object files for use in the protocols are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21266568

Attachments

671-1417.docx

94MB

Guidelines

This is the associated tutorials for Back to life: Techniques for developing high-quality 3D reconstructions of plants and animals from digitized specimens

This includes:

Beginner tutorial: Fossil plant cupule (Petriellaea triangulata [Shi et al. 2021])

Included files: Cupule Cleanup Tutorial.docx
3D object files: Cupule before.stl, Cupule before.obj
Necessary software: Meshlab
Skills developed: Shrinkwrapping, simplification

Intermediate tutorial: Reptile (Sphenodon punctatus [downloaded from Morphosource.org])

Included files: Sphenodon Cleanup Tutorial.docx 
3D object files: Sphenodon with holes.stl, Sphenodon with holes.obj
Necessary software: Meshlab, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Fusion 360
Skills developed: Rearticulation, repair of broken fossils, basic sculpting, shrinkwrapping.

Advanced tutorial: Fossil crab (Cretapsara athanata[Luque et al. 2021)]

Included files: Crab Cleanup Tutorial.docx
3D object files: Crab before.stl, Crab before.obj
Necessary software: Meshlab, Autodesk Maya
Skills developed: Debris removal, structural repair, shrinkwrapping, rearticulation, smoothing and simplification

Before starting: 

Download 3D object files and install Meshlab, Autodesk Maya, and Fusion 360. 

Download 3D Object files at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21266568

Meshlab is an opensource software available at https://www.meshlab.net/

Autodesk Maya and Fusion 360 are available with a student and educators license at https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview