The eye-catching presentation and popularity of
large enigmatic prehistoric animals like
dinosaurs make 3D interactive models ideal for
public engagement activities. A range of
models have been used in a series of science
open days at museums and schools as part of a
dinosaur biomechanics exhibit (Fig.4). The
sessions proved very successful, receiving a
significant amount of interest from visitors of
all ages. This success prompted the
development of a stand alone interactive display
that could be housed in a museum or on a
website. One such interactive display has been
developed based on an Allosaurus mount
known as ‘Big Al’ and was developed
specifically for the University of Wyoming
Geological Museum (Wyoming, USA). Big Al
represents one of the most complete dinosaurs
from the Morrison Formation (Wyoming,
USA), excavated in 1991 from the eastern
Bighorn Basin near the town of Shell.
Although the theropod Allosaurus has been
known for over 100 years, Big Al has one of the
most complete skulls and skeletons of this
dinosaur. The skeleton is accompanied by a
series of text- and image-based (photographs,
illustrations) information boards that explore
the palaeoecology of this animal and how it
may be deduced from the physical evidence
displayed in the fossil. This new interactive
display allows visitors to answer for themselves
‘How big was Big Al?’ by selecting a number
of possible body segment masses, according to
how they think Big Al would have looked (Fig.
4). The values of our own best estimate
reconstructions are provided to allow the user to
compare results. Designed with Adobe Flash,
the interactive display seamlessly integrates still
images, text, and animations in a fully
interactive manner. The nature of the software
allows the application to be operated via a
mouse or touch screen control, and is equally
useable and effective as a museum gallery