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Digitally prepping a Pliocene gannet skull using machine learning
Doctor Mud posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
Hello everyone, I have quite a few projects going on and I'm going to be a bit more active on here to share things. Sorry I've been a bit quiet! I see there are a few threads on here about CT scanning, 3D printing and segmentation, but I thought I would add this one. I really think we should create a sub section of fossil preparation for CT scanning and segmentation? Resources are scattered around the internet and it would be great to document them all on here. I have lots to learn and I'd like to "upload" this knowledge here as I aquire it. E.g. Hardware set up, software, things like digitization tips and tricks (stylus pen and tablet vs mouse). The same sort of thing we have for physical prep on here: set-up, tools and techniques. Anyway. I just acquired a very powerful computer and I fired it up last night. I have a CT scan of a Pliocene gannet skull that was found last year that I've been sitting on. At least I think it is gannet. I am using imageJ to do the segmentation. Segmentation is just the process of telling the computer what is bone, what is rock and what is air. I don't have a photo of the concretion, but here is a 3D model above. It is about 10cm long. This is looking from above. Here is one of 760 slices from the CT scan of the skull. A vertical slice with the top of the skull at the top of the image. Pixel size is about 30 microns! Here is the view after ONE round of training the computer. I selected some areas of bone, some of rock and some of air. Then the computer thought about it, using 160 GB of ram (out of my total 192 GB) and the latest Intel chipset in a water-cooled CPU to classify every pixel as bone (red), rock (green) or air (purple). It does this for every of the 760 slices. This is a first pass. You can go back and train the computer further and correct it. It gets better with each round. Here is the first reconstruction of the skull. You can see there is still a bit of noise. I could get rid of that with a few more learning phases. A lot of loose pixels could be removed in rendering software such as Blender too. Hope you enjoyed this. I'll keep you posted as I improve the model. And I'd like to 3D print it at the end!-
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Do you feel a haunting sense of guilt.....?
minnbuckeye replied to aplomado's topic in General Fossil Discussion
Just saw this thread today. It happens I spent yesterday removing many fossils collected when I first picked up this hobby eleven years ago. At that stage of development, I did not understand the need to identify yet alone label where a fossil was found. They will be taken to the local children's fossil sand pit throughout the summer. So still put to good use! And yes, I continue to accidentally label specimens properly. -
Northern Illinois Ordovician Collecting
minnbuckeye replied to connorp's topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
@connorp- 10 replies
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Real root on Moroccan Titanosaurid tooth ?
BirdsAreDinosaurs replied to Brevicolis's topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
I also think the root is fake and the crown does not look good either.- 5 replies
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Welcome aboard!
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Welcome aboard!
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I think better pictures are needed. Pictures are quite blurry. Looks more like a hinge line of a bivalve to me. Shell material, not fish bone, I don't think. Devonian fish bone is very dense, and not generally shiny.
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@Sacha, thanks for the help. I inadvertently stated Yankeetown as the location. It was actually Inglas, along the canal. But I think the sites expose the same formation. Couldn't make it out to the islands. @garyc, That is a teeny tiny bone. I brought home some screened micro matrix from Cookie Cutter Creek and was going through some of it. I almost pushed it aside thinking it was just some modern plant material common in the screenings. It looks like there is some good specimens in the matrix. I plan on offering it up to forum members in the near future. @jpc, Thanks for the ID! Excited it is still a bone.
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Real root on Moroccan Titanosaurid tooth ?
Phos_01 replied to Brevicolis's topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hmm , I don't think this is real. Sadly, its almost completely fabricated. A very small fraction is real. If you throw this is a bath of Acetone, prepare to have a sticky mess afterwards. You will end up with circled part. Tip and root are completely fabricated in my opinion from what i see from these images. Heres what you should look for, compare this to yours- 5 replies
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Gabi changed their profile photo
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Oh wow, amazing finds. I have an 8 yo keen fossil hunter who dreams of going to Antwerp to find some shark teeth. We're based in the UK so don't know the area at all. Would you please kindly let me know the name of the place by the river where we could search? I'm trying to find it on Google maps and struggling:( It's my son's birthday in few days and a trip to Antwerp would be an amazing gift.
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Gabi joined the community
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Hi, This little sea urchin is too globose for the species I mentioned. Sorry, I can’t help any more. Coco
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All I can say is that it doesn't look like the marine mammal bones found there. Perhaps a terrestrial mammal. With the ends in such poor shape, it may be hard to tell.
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Dino Eggs from Asia
FF7_Yuffie replied to Lucid_Bot's topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
I agree--Oviraptor types are usually longer and thinner. These look quite short and squat. -
The texture seems to indicate that it could be a burrow cast. It's hard to be sure of it though.
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I'm also not seeing evidence of bone.
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Ludwigia started following Buffalopterus pustulosus
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Thanks very much for sharing. Too bad that Ridgemount is no longer accessible.
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My thoughts exactly. Thanks for reinforcing it!
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I dont think its a bone. I dont see there any bone texture, structure, and shape. So it migth be just a curiously shaped rock.
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M3gal0don_M4n started following Is this a fossilised bone?
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I just went fossil hunting today and found this. Is it a bone or just a rock? If so what is it? It is found in Beaumaris in Victoria. A majority of fossils are 6-5 million years old. I have theories as to what it is if it is a fossil, but I am unsure. I was thinking a an extinct penguin upper wing bone or a Pelagornis shin bone, maybe even a seal metatarsal. This is a link to a list of fossils found in Beaumarishttps://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-08/beaumaris_fossil_book_museum_victoria.pdf Personally, I am sceptical as to whether it is a bone but my Mum and Dad believe it is.
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thanks everyone for their advice! I think the photos inserted by you have too powerful lighting from above, I put an example of a seabed at 15m depth: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moorea_Aito_Depth_15m_Samuel_Etienne.JPG I could imagine a light facing the viewer that illuminates the scene, preserving the closest warm tones and then gradually disappearing. Probably increase the texture of the terrain, general contrast, darken,...
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Mosasaurus skull -- fake or real?
FF7_Yuffie replied to FF7_Yuffie's topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Thanks for the help everyone- 9 replies
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Fossilfinder1 changed their profile photo
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Baby Mosasaur
SPrice replied to snolly50's topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Obvious clue it isn't real...the teeth should be 'baby teeth' instead of adult teeth. Not gonna fool anyone with that cuss word mistake! And talk about robust...this critter is so heavy it would be slithering through the seabed mud, imo.