The Digital Life team at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, creators of an online catalog of
high-resolution, full-color 3D models of living organisms, announce today that
they have released two new, online full-color animated models of a loggerhead
and a green sea turtle through a collaboration with sea turtle rescue and
research institutions. The Digital Life team, with volunteer 3D artists created
the animated sea turtles using software such as Capturing Reality and Blender
and a process called photogrammetry, in which multiple still photos are
integrated to create lifelike 3D meshes with photographic colors.
The models can be downloaded and
3D printed, such as for classroom use. These models can be used by scientists
in a computer modeling environment for testing models of migration in sea
turtles, or to test different net designs to avoid trapping sea turtles. They
can also be used in VR or game-like educational environments, and are available
at no cost to educators, scientists, conservationists and others for creative
or nonprofit use on the Digital Life website. The animators spent hundreds of
hours animating the 3D turtle models in a format that may be used for VR, film
or game applications, among others.
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