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  2. 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!
  3. 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.
  4. I also think the root is fake and the crown does not look good either.
  5. Gizmo

    Hi from Houston, Texas

    Welcome aboard!
  6. Sleeper

    Help with Bone identification

    Thank you. I had been thinking a tibia based on photos I have seen. Maybe horse ?
  7. CDiggs

    Help with Bone identification

    looks like a partial humerus to me, but like Rockwood said with the ends missing IDing it is going to be tough.
  8. Today
  9. Fossildude19

    Devonian crustacean fossil?

    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.
  10. minnbuckeye

    Florida Fossil IDs

    @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.
  11. 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
  12. 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.
  13. Coco

    Mines

    He put "Alabama" in the labels. Coco
  14. Coco

    Florida Fossil IDs

    Hi, This little sea urchin is too globose for the species I mentioned. Sorry, I can’t help any more. Coco
  15. Rockwood

    Help with Bone identification

    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.
  16. I agree--Oviraptor types are usually longer and thinner. These look quite short and squat.
  17. Rockwood

    Is this a fossilised bone?

    The texture seems to indicate that it could be a burrow cast. It's hard to be sure of it though.
  18. Fin Lover

    Is this a fossilised bone?

    I'm also not seeing evidence of bone.
  19. Ludwigia

    Buffalopterus pustulosus

    Thanks very much for sharing. Too bad that Ridgemount is no longer accessible.
  20. M3gal0don_M4n

    Is this a fossilised bone?

    My thoughts exactly. Thanks for reinforcing it!
  21. Brevicolis

    Is this a fossilised bone?

    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.
  22. M3gal0don_M4n

    Is this a fossilised bone?

    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.
  23. mbarco

    I ask for artistic advice

    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,...
  24. Thanks for the help everyone
  25. 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.
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