At the UChicago Darwinian Sciences Cluster Retreat 2023, I presented a poster and interactive demo of FossilScope: An Interactive Application for Documenting 3D Skeletal Restoration. FossilScope is a free application that will allow the user to understand the steps taken to restore a fossil skeleton by displaying the information through direct engagement with the 3D skeletal mesh - i.e. the selection of fossil or muscle elements. I brought my Mac laptop along with me to present the interactive software demonstration of FossilScope. The demo was well-received, with many researchers interested in using FossilScope for their own work.

The interactive demo of FossilScope featured the flesh and skeletal models of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. The user could toggle the visibility of the flesh model on or off to access the bones of the skeleton. On the flesh model, the user could click on an element to access a summary note and relevant statistics. On the skeletal model, the user could click on an element to access relevant information including a summary note, fossil specimen ID(s), an outline of the restorative steps taken, and images of the original bone(s) or reference images of a sculpted bone. This interactive demo is only the beginning of FossilScope, and we plan to include many more features in the final product.

More details on FossilScope here.

Me presenting my poster and interactive demo, FossilScope
Presenting FossilScope at the UChicago Darwinian Sciences Cluster Retreat 2023.
PC: April Neander