How Rapid3D Brought Borealopelta from the Early Cretaceous to the Digital Age Using 3D Scanning Technologies

An artist's impression of Borealopelta markmitchelli. (Julius Csotonyi)

From World-Class Fossils to World-Class Data

When it comes to palaeontology, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is in a league of its own. Known worldwide for its fossil collections and groundbreaking research, it is one of the places where the ancient past is still being uncovered, literally, beneath Alberta’s soil. Rapid3D has been part of that story for years, working alongside paleontologists across Canada to capture fossilized history with the precision of modern 3D scanning.

This project was no different, except for one thing: the fossil in question is one of the best-preserved armored dinosaurs ever found, Borealopelta markmitchelli, TMP 2011.033.0001

About the Project

Borealopelta was discovered in 2011 in Alberta’s oilsands by miners working north of Fort McMurray. Dating back more than 110 million years, its preservation is so extraordinary that even its skin patterns and armour plates are intact. It is not just a fossil, it is a time capsule.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology wanted to create a high-fidelity digital record of Borealopelta for research, education, and long-term preservation. Our goal was clear: capture every possible detail down to the textures and colours with sub-millimeter accuracy.

Tools and Workflow

For a fossil of this importance, we turned to the Creaform’s Go!SCAN Spark. It is fast, portable, and built for high-resolution color scanning. With the capability of taking 1.5 million measurements every second, every pass of the scanner captured geometry at exceptional accuracy and mesh resolution, along with high-quality texture data at a DPI that ensures even the subtlest surface patterns are visible in the digital model.

Some of the scanner specifications are shared here for reference::

• Accuracy: Up to 0.050 mm

• Measurement Resolution: Up to 0.100 mm

• Mesh Resolution: U pto 0.200 mm

• Colour/texture Resolution: Up to 16K

• Colour Projection Method: Multiple projection methods (spherical, cylindrical, etc.) with the option of no projection, leading to a high fidelity mapping of each texture pixel to the respective triangle on the mesh

The workflow included:

• The fossil was scanned in 4 quadrants ensuring full coverage in each area by maximizing the observations taken from all possible angles to the surface.

• Fossil’s texture (colour) was acquired during the scanning process with Creform.OS, which accurately maps the texture data to individual mesh triangles.

• Final scan to scan alignments were performed to assemble the entire fossil and any additional small scans were completed to capture more detail in hard-to-reach or obscured areas.

• Scan post processing was completed to merge all scan data together and project the final texture onto the completed scan.

• Data was then exported in multiple formats and resolutions for managing compatibility, data size, and manoeuvrability in different software. Just to put things in perspective, the high-resolution scan of the fossil contains more than 37.6 million triangles.

These three individual scans have been aligned and are ready to be merged to generate a complete scan of the fossil.

Results

The 3D scan of Borealopelta preserves every armor plate, ridge, and contour exactly as it exists today in the museum. With textures mapped directly onto the geometry, researchers can study the fossil in full colour without ever touching it.

Whether the data is viewed on a screen in Alberta or 3D printed in a lab halfway around the world, it is the same dinosaur, digitally immortalized.

Why 3D Scanning Matters for Museums

For institutions like the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, high-resolution and textured 3D scans are not just nice to have, they are essential. Here is why:

• Research and analysis: A watertight mesh can be used for evolutionary studies and other types of scientific analysis.

• Preservation: Fossils are often moved, cast, or handled for study. A digital record protects the exact state of the original at the time of scanning.

• 3D printing and replicas: Digital meshes can be 3D printed at full or scaled-down size with colour details for exhibits, educational outreach, or hands-on study.

• Global access: Researchers and educators can work with the fossil data anywhere in the world without risking the original specimen.

To see more ways Rapid3D supports museums, cultural institutions, and heritage preservation, visit our Arts and Culture page.

Borealopelta was entombed in rock for more than 110 million years before its discovery. Thanks to the collaboration between the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and its research partners, its remarkable preservation is now captured not just in stone, but in data that can be studied, shared, and experienced for generations to come.