In ancient times, woolly mammoths roamed some parts of the Arctic region but took their last step 4,000 years ago. About 6,000 years before the event, saber-toothed cats were recorded having their last hunt in the Americas. Three thousand years prior to the ancient cats, dire wolves became extinct.
Previous studies were carried out in order to develop technologies that could bring back some of these animals. Today, experts are finding ways to raise the extinct faunas through augmented reality.
Scan for Ice Age Augmented Reality
FIGURE 4. Stages in the development of a low poly dire wolf model. A. Mesh shows the overall 3D shape of the model. B. Rigging shows the model’s skeleton. Colors represent the “weights” of different bones and joints on the overall model’s deformation while moving. C. The 2D texture file. D. The finished, rigged model with texture correctly wrapped around the mesh.
In a recent study, experts curated several designs of ancient animals that could reach and thrive through the ice age. With the help of modern virtual reality systems, experts believe that we could 'reincarnate' these creatures in the realm of the metaverse.
The animated figures of each animal were intended to have a low definition for them to appear in standard devices without too many processes required. Further details of the faunas will be added throughout the continuous discovery carried out by the scientific community.
University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies expert and co-author of the research William Swartout explained that the innovation allows their team to create scientifically accurate images which can be included in the metaverse, but without the burden to commit for the fossil details, we are still not familiar with.
The main interest of the study is to create a way in which people can conveniently reach augmented educational reality in museums. For example, audiences in exhibits can observe a 3D version of the subjects in real-time through their phones.
The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) presented some of the available snapcodes created by the study's authors. Each of the codes makes an ice age animal appear on the user's screen.
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Understanding Paleoart: Illustrations of Ancient Life
Swartout's team found throughout their study that there are no available 'life-like designs' for the animals based on accurate paleontological reconstructions.
To gain a near-accurate design for a museum metaverse, the authors aligned the structure of faunas with the most accepted and precise illustrations of evidence-based papers.
La Brea Tar Pits curator and senior author Emily Lindsay said that 'Paleoart' is an influential factor that allows the general public and even the scientific community to gain more knowledge about the ancient life of the fossilized animals CNET reports.
Paleoart is indeed a critical aspect of paleontological studies, and this is the same reason that inspired the team to consolidate every artistic decision and paper to create the new models, says Matt Davis, NHMLAC exhibit developer and the study's lead author.
In the future, the team expects other paleoartists and scientists to give insights regarding the figures they developed to improve the designs. The paper was published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica, titled "Designing scientifically-grounded paleoart for augmented reality at La Brea Tar Pits."
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