Photogrammetry of Very Small Things

 Exciting progress on 'photogrammetry of very small things' this evening: I have devised a simple, but effective rostrum for photographing tiny subjects from every angle. 

 

 Rostrum made from a flower pot, 2 cardboard circles and a wine cork. Lighting from a very small torch fastened to the rig by a rubber band; there is a white sticky label on the light to make the lighting more diffuse.

A shrivelled, dry Cladonia caespiticia specimen. Small... and very frilly. The ruler is cm, not inches.

A really quite detailed 3d model generated from 60 photos taken from various angles. This time I used Apple's free 3d Scanner App which is easy to use and the results seem okay so far. 

Here is one of the 60 source photos used to construct the 3d model:

Here's a link to the resulting 3d model: https://3dviewer.net/#model=https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2o33u6wbjwsqj07to1p32/CladoniaCaespiticiaModel.zip?rlkey=3vmlxhudxoatpm6d366zzw46s&st=bz8nymih&dl=0

 

 ...and a second one: Cetrelia cetraroides. This one was done on a cloudy day with no artifical light sources. 3d view here.

 

 You can also download the model files and use them with your own 3d software here: dropbox. If you have VR, why not try sticking it in there, and blow it up to the size of a house! =o)

 

Stemonitis Development

 Develomental sequence for a slime mould - Stemonitis Sp. 

Growing on rotten Alder wood. From Millhouse,  Argyll. 7pm, 23 April 2024

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14 hr

 

 

40 hr

Fresh Glue Fungus

 

I can find glue fungus - Hymenochaete corrugata - at any time of the year as blackish, cracking lumps of matter sticking hazel tree branches together.

But at the end of July, I came across this: freshly grown glue fungus. Off-white, with a felty texture. 

Gravitass - Archive Playthrough

Here's my archive gameplay footage of Gravitass (Macintosh, shareware, 2002)>

Gravitass is a Mac only search and rescue game I made in 2002. It has an unusual time-travel mechanic based on ghost data. 

The video shows a 100%(ish) playthrough of the whole game.

Monsteca Corral - Archive Playthrough

I've been making video playthroughs as a way of archiving my old games. This one is Monsteca Corral - Nintendo Wii, 2010.

This video should be linked to a playlist of seven videos, showing every level in the game.

Repurposed Tree

Fencepost of the Week #136

This fencepost was actually a live, in-situ oak tree which had fencing wire looped around it. You can see the scarring where the tree continued to grow, enveloping the wires. 

Although the main trunk has been dead for many years now, there is still a sliver of living bark running up the left side, supplying a few twigs with life.

Polypoerus tuberaster Poses

Polyporus tuberaster - growing out of the top of a gorse branch.

Polyporus tuberaster - growing out of the side of a gorse branch.

Barnacle Feet

Found this washed up on the beach - I think it is the cirri of a barnacle - the modified feet they use in filter feeding.

Like many other arthropods, adult barnacles continue to grow, sheding their skin periodically. So this is probably a bit of cast-off skin.

Concentric Jelly Rot

Monday Mushroom #94

More jelly rot fungus photos, this time showing some interesting concentric bands as they try and organise themselves into tiers on a vertical log surface.

Phlebia tremellosa - Jelly rot fungus

Phlebia tremellosa - Jelly rot fungus

Phlebia tremellosa - Jelly rot fungus

older photos here

Dryad's Saddle

Monday Mushroom #72

Here is a newly emerged Dryad's Saddle fruiting body - they appear in early to mid summer.  The disc-shaped caps expand rapidly...

Polyporus squamosus - Dryad's Saddle.

...becoming wavy, irregular brackets somewhat larger than dinner-plates. Some are even a bit saddle-shaped, though most remind me more of the shape of an old-fashioned tractor seat.

Polyporus squamosus - Dryad's Saddle.

Birds Nest Fungus

Monday Mushroom #65

Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus. Lots of stages of development from tiny pins to old, cracked cups.

This is Crucibulum laeve - one of the birds nest fungi. Their spores are grouped into white, rounded packets and are dispersed by raindrops splashing into the cup shaped body.

Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus. Lid on right is disintegrating.

The fruiting bodies develop with a protective cover which shrivels and falls away on maturation.

Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus

 Each cup is only 5-10mm in diamiter, and though distinctive, they are easily overlooked.

Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus. A dense cluster of emptied cups.

Mantis Hatchlings

I had been watching the ootheca of a springbok mantis - Miomantis caffra - on the wall next to my front door since I moved in here five months ago, then suddenly, last week it was covered in a swarm of tiny little mantis nymphs, each about 7mm long.

There were twenty on the first evening. With smaller numbers emerging over the next three days - all in the late afternoon.

I caught the hatching process on video a couple of times, but it is a long, slow process - emerging as a worm-shaped thing, and then wriggling to unfurl their limbs.

They then hang around on the ootheca until they have hardened and turned brown, after which they mostly seem to wait nearby until nightfall before dispersing.

These little guys still have a way to go to become a fully-fledged adult:

Baby Shield Bug

Wildlife Wednesday #37

This is a young shield bug - about half way between a hatchling and adult. Development occurs by means of staged metamorphoses rather than continuous growth - if you have a hard, inflexible exoskeleton, that is the easiest way to develop.