In the summer of 2021 ThinkSee3D’s Steven Dey 3D photogrammetry scanned the largest complete Ichthyosaur ever discovered in the British Isles. This discovery was announced to the media in January 2022 and featured on various global news channels and was a segment on BBC2’s ‘Digging For Britain’.
ThinkSee3D’s 3D model of the Rutland Ichthyosaur Temnodontosaurus (Trigonodon?)
ThinkSee3D founder, Steve Dey, at the Rutland Ichthyosaur dig.
This remarkable 10m long specimen was found at a nature reserve in Rutland, England. Steve scanned the ichthyosaur in-situ over 2 days and even helped extract the huge fossil from the mudstone.
The 3D model shows the specimen as it looked in the ground (from 3 stages of the dig). This 3D model can be seen online at ThinkSee3D’s Sketchfab account, https://skfb.ly/o8xzq. See also a concept video created by ThinkSee3D showing the live animal. Click Here.
ThinkSee3D also rendered the 3D model into an ultra high resolution image which was then printed on a 10m long banner. This banner was printed 3 times for public engagement activities. The specimen itself will be conserved over the next few years and eventually put on display in Rutland.
This project was sponsored by Anglian Water, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, the Pilgrim Trust and Rutland County Council. The dig was run by Dr Dean Lomax & Dr Nigel Larkin.
ThinkSee3D founder Steven Dey with the plaster jacketed Rutland Ichthyosaur and the 10m long banner he created.