An introductory guide to using Blender for scientific visualisation in paleontology.
A video showing the model of Palaeocharinus spp. created for the current study. Created, animated and edited in Blender, this shows first the model flexing its legs from a rest position to beneath the body, and then back again. Subsequently the video shows the model walking from a variety of angles. All limb movement is constrained by the findings reported herein.
The Blender file containing this model animated to show Palaeocharinus spp. walking. Tested on Blender releases 2.65 - 2.70 on Windows and Ubuntu.
The Blender file containing this model animated to show Palaeocharinus spp. flexing its limbs. Tested on Blender releases 2.65 - 2.70 on Windows and Ubuntu.
This paper serves two roles. First, it acts as an introduction to Blender, an open-source computer graphics program, which can be of utility to paleontologists. To lessen the software's otherwise steep learning curve, a step-by-step guide to create an idealized reconstruction of a fossil in the form of a three-dimensional model in Blender, or to use the software to render results from ‘virtual paleontology' techniques, is provided as an online supplemental data file. Second, here we demonstrate the use of Blender with a case study on the extinct trigonotarbid arachnids. We report the limb articulations of members of the Devonian genus Palaeocharinus on the basis of exceptionally preserved fossils from the Rhynie Cherts of Scotland. We use these newly reported articulations to create a Blender model, and draw comparisons with the gait of extant arachnids to produce as accurate a representation of the trigonotarbid flexing its limbs and walking as possible, presented in additional online supplemental data files. Knowledge of the limb articulations of trigonotarbid arachnids also allows us to discuss their functional morphology: trigonotarbids' limbs and gait were likely comparable to extant cursorial spiders, but lacked some innovations seen in more derived arachnids.