Fossilized Sand Ripples

thingiverse

As I photographed the rapids and falls at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I came across an outstanding example of fossilized sand ripples in the Sioux quartzite, a stunning stone that is among the oldest rock formations in North America. This remarkable stone originated as sandstone, gradually transforming into quartzite over time. The region's eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota landscapes have been extensively exposed due to the last glaciers in the area. This particular example would normally be difficult to access or view because the Big Sioux River covers the riverbed around it; however, the low water level allowed me to walk out onto the dry riverbed and spot this incredible feature. It is amazing to consider that this remarkable rock formation was already in existence millions of years before the dinosaurs! How I Designed This As soon as I stumbled upon this stunning rock formation, my camera's battery life had started running low. I snapped ten photos over and around it, but I still managed to miss a few small spots here and there. I generally capture my photos in RAW format, allowing me to seize every detail and information possible. RAW format permits even exposures, capturing lost details in shadows and recovering blown-out highlights. It also offers the most significant flexibility for adjusting colors to what I believe will appear best for the subject. Following photo corrections and adjustments within Adobe Lightroom, I exported the ten photos as JPEGs at high quality, full-sized. I then imported all the photos into Agisoft Photoscan, utilizing the 'High' setting for initial photo matching and the construction of a rough draft model. For the dense cloud, I selected 'Medium', promptly creating an exceptional model with increased detail. For mesh creation, again I chose 'Medium', eventually crafting a texture to drape over the model. In this particular example, I chose lower-quality settings due to my reliance on a Mac Pro with merely four GB of RAM; I wanted to prevent overwhelming my computer. (I plan to upgrade to additional RAM next month so that I can create higher-quality models.) As I continue learning how to generate 3D models using photogrammetry, I am still somewhat inexperienced when it comes to creating support for a hollow model such as this one. I strongly advise anyone who intends to print this model to invest time adding rear support to it.