Overview and Background

This project was born out of a love of nature and an interest in 3D printing. In the spring of 2017, I had started to experiment with 3D scanning small objects, just to see what the technology could do. While taking a walk with my cat, I noticed a really well defined dog print in a muddy field behind my house. I pulled out my smartphone, took a bunch of pictures, and that led to my first 3D animal track model. While the model was coming together on my computer screen, I started to notice all kinds of details that I had missed in the field - for example the claw marks, and the fact that it was actually two superimposed prints. That made me realize the potential of 3D scanning and printing animal tracks. Since I work in science outreach, it has been my goal to grow this project into a citizen science effort that can benefit schools and community groups by introducing them to 3D scanning and printing technology, by making animal tracks accessible to everyone, and by being relevant regionally. I hope you will both contribute and benefit from this project!

Lesson Plan and Activity

How you can contribute a track

How can you photograph a track?

Find a clear, well defined animal track in mud, sand, snow, etc.
Take at least 20 pictures of the track, from all around, at various angles. Any camera will work (a smartphone camera is fine). Try to take some from an angle low to the ground all around, then more from a higher angle all around, then viewed from the top at different distances. Don’t worry too much about what you are doing, as long as you take some from all around.
Take one picture from above with a ruler or a reference object (coin, credit card, pencil) in the picture, so we can estimate the size of the track.
Jot down a few notes: where you found the track (nearest town), anything you notice about the environment, and what animal you think it is and why (if possible). At this point, you can choose to send us your photos and we will create the 3D model for you, or, you can create the 3D model yourself and upload it - see next section.

How can you upload a track to the online database?

Send us the photos, we do the rest. Simply place your photos in an online repository of your choice (google drive, dropbox or other), and fill out this form: https://3dtracks.weebly.com/photo-submission-page.html . We’ll do the rest. You will be notified once your 3D model is ready and has been added to the database. Note that we will give priority to modeling and adding tracks for animals not yet added to the database, but all submissions are welcome.

3D scanned animal tracks