Chaperoning digital dinosaurs

Abstract A cost-effective approach is described for sharing virtual fossil specimens through 3D digitisation using readily available hardware and software. Modern digitization methods such as this can support continued research when it would otherwise be limited by travel restrictions, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic. A Hewlett-Packard structured light scanner pro s3 system using HP3D scan software pro v5 was used to scan the fossils and the data shared through cloud storage, thereby facilitating the first description of dinosaurs from Ireland.