Taichung science museum uses 3D tech to create over 40 digital specimens

台中科博館運用3D技術製作了40多個數位標本

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung has used 3D Gaussian Splatting to create more than 40 digital specimens, making it Taiwan’s first museum to apply the technology for specimen digitization, CNA reported.

Museum Director Huang Wen-shan (黃文山) said the 3D technology has been used in architecture and visual design, where it creates realistic 3D models of complex objects. He added that the tech goes beyond traditional modeling, capturing the details of specimens.

The museum used images from multiple angles and light points to recreate the specimens. It added that traditional 3D modeling often cannot fully capture details like insect shells or animal fur, or the changes from different angles.

The museum has partnered with Donothing Image from Tainan to use 3D technology to capture the color and shine of insect shells. It said the digital Jewel Beetle specimen is practically identical to the real thing.

The museum houses more than 1.75 million items, but due to space limits, most specimens are kept in storage. To make more of the collection accessible to the public, the museum is using the technology to digitize specimens, allowing people to view them for free on mobile devices.

The museum said it has created a digital specimen viewing section on its website, which attracted up to 8,000 visitors daily.

The museum has digitized specimens including a Denisovan fossil and the Formosan clouded leopard. It has also used the technology to recreate images of a male mummy and a painted Egyptian coffin.

In June 2025, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency donated 127 animal specimens from Taiwan’s Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) to the museum, including a Formosan clouded leopard, 114 birds, and 12 rodents.

Museum researcher Chen Yen-chun (陳彥君) said the leopard specimen is finely made, but its left hind paw is broken. She added that the museum will carefully preserve it, one of only two Formosan clouded leopard specimens in Taiwan, with the other at the National Taiwan Museum.