A workflow and tips for creating 3D models of amphibians and reptiles using photogrammetry
| Authors: | Donald J. Brown |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Type: | Scientific Journal |
| Station: | Northern Research Station |
| Source: | Herpetological Review |
Abstract
Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the availability of consumer-grade hardware and software for three-dimensional (3D) object creation (Sargent and Schwartz 2019), reducing barriers for this technology to become widely used for education and research in the biological sciences. Digital 3D models can serve as educational tools for species identification training and can increase the value of museum specimens for research by providing remote access to view specimen characteristics, such as for morphometric studies (Falkingham et al. 2018; Irschick et al. 2020a; Medina et al. 2020). Physical models are commonly used for herpetological research, such as for predation and thermoregulatory studies (e.g., Bartelt and Peterson 2005; Tracy et al. 2007; Farallo and Forstner 2012), and 3D modeling technology offers the potential to enhance visual realism and decrease time requirements for creation of physical models for research (e.g., Amado et al. 2019; Tetzlaff et al. 2020).
Despite the ease of access to hardware and software, there is a substantial amount of learning and, in the absence of a teacher or guide, trial-and-error, required to create digital and physical 3D models. The process has several important steps, and each step has a learning curve. The purpose of this paper is to reduce the learning curve for herpetologists that are new to 3D model creation by providing a full workflow, as well as tips to maximize quality of the models. The photography portion of the workflow uses a single-camera system, and thus is suitable for amphibians and reptiles that are either anesthetized or euthanized (e.g., museum specimens) prior to photographing. Irschick et al. (2020a, b) provided guidance for developing a more advanced multicamera system to enable 3D photography of non-anesthetized herpetofauna.