There is already a site where you can explore the 3D scans and download them

Nov 27, 2013 09:49 GMT  ·  By

Normally, a museum is a place where you go to admire (and, in the case of those less mindful of decorum, gawk at) pieces of art, or artifacts from ages gone by, even sculptures and depictions of historical events. Now, though, the Smithsonian is changing the way it interacts with interested customers.

Or perhaps we should say that the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex (with 19 museums, 9 research centers and more than 140 affiliate museums around the world) is enhancing the way it interacts with the world.

After all, it's not really changing anything about itself, more like adding a new way for humankind to examine the many items on display at its various branches.

That method involves the 3D scanning of various works, and their subsequent addition to the new Smithsonian 3D website. We actually mentioned this a while back, but the collection has been steadily growing since then, and the website has been coming along nicely.

Anyone interested in the works of art at the Smithsonian can drop by the website and explore the scans, or even download them and 3D print them at home.

Or, since most people don't have a 3D printer at home, they could just take the model to a 3D printing center (of which more seem to pop up every month) and have it made there.

That done, they'll actually be able to hold the exhibits in their hands, instead of having to admire them from afar, outside a glass case or beyond the bounds marked by red ropes.

It's also an easy and accessible way to check out the things people might have missed when taking a museum tour, or seeing / owning items that only Smithsonians from other states have on display.

Smithsonian partnered with Autodesk for this new endeavor, this 3D explorer as it were. You don't even need to pay anything apparently, just to register like on any other site.

Even if you don't download anything, if nothing else, browsing the models is better than staring at still pictures in a magazine.