Reconstructing dinosaur’s skeleton with large-format 3D printer

In the Netherlands, the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre has used 3D scanning and additive manufacturing to bring to life an animal that has been missing for millions of years: the triceratops. The project teams were able to reconstruct its entire skeleton by digitizing its bones as well as those of other dinosaurs in the same family. They then used 3D Builder printers to create the necessary bones. The final result is very realistic and will allow the many visitors to better visualize the dimensions of a triceratops.

3D technologies have often made it possible to reconstruct our past, whether it be works of art, historic sites ravaged by war or extinct animal species. You may also remember this giant triceratops displayed in Austerlitz station, Paris designed on a large format Massivit 3D printer. 3D printing can therefore help to better understand periods, cultures, architectures or simply to visualize something abstract.

Credits: Naturalis

Reconstructing dinosaur skeleton using a large-format 3D printer

The triceratops in question is called Dirk and its skeleton was dug near Newcastle and is about 67 million years old. Paleontologists have identified a number of missing bones, including ribs, one of the horns and a large part of the skull. They decided to rebuild them in order to expose the entire skeleton at Naturalis. Using FDM 3D printing for 2 years, they turned to the Builder Extreme 1500 PRO printer to create larger parts – some Dirk bones are between 50 and 130 cm long.