[Music plays]
(Narrator) Insects represent more than half
of all known living organisms, with more than
a million species having been described.
CSIRO has been collecting and recording
Australian insects since the late 1920s.
(Narrator 2) Australia's insects are among the most
diverse and least known in the world.
To farmers and others whose livelihoods depend upon
the proper management of plants, animals, and soils,
insects and the control of them are
major factors in their daily operation.
(Narrator) The Australian National Insect Collection
is the preeminent collection of Australian insects,
maintained by CSIRO for researchers, industry and government agencies.
(Dr. Beth Mantle) We have a collection of insects here
because they provide a physical record of Australian
biodiversity that has enduring value.
We can come back to it time and time again to check
and confirm our research and understanding.
[Music plays]
(Dr. John La Salle) We have to understand insects
because they're key components to our ecosystems.
If we don't understand how they're helping to manage ecosystems
and keep ecosystems functioning, then we can't
maintain ecosystems into the future.
We're trying to convert the study of insects into the
digital world and make it easier for people to have access
to the information they need for informed decisions.
(Narrator) And CSIRO is developing a technique
to produce high quality 3D digital models of insects
to bring these assets into this realm.
(Dr. Chuong Nguyen) The rig consists of three components,
two access turntable, macro rail, and a camera
with macro ring flash attached to it.
For a small insect like this we have to capture multi focus
images at different depths and combine them into a single
image with the weevil in focus, so that it can be
used for 3D reconstruction. That also means that we have
to capture multiple focus images at multiple views,
at least to 4,500 images for this small wheat weevil.
Software is loading individual images,
and extracts information from the pattern at the same time to
estimate the camera angle. Looking at each spike here,
or box here, represents the location where an image is captured
and then we can zoom in and see what it looks like.
Once we got this data we can export it to different
formats, for such as html, x3d, all those common 3D formats.
People have been doing something similar like this for
some time, but no-one has ever come close at this stage to
achieve the highest possible quality.
(Dr. David Lovell) Once you take a physical specimen
into the digital domain it becomes accessible, available and able to
be analysed in new and different ways.
We need to use technology so we can understand
nature fast enough that we can do something
about the impacts that human beings are having on it.
(Dr. Beth Mantle) Having 3D models of insects is going
to open up the collection to users who can't physically
access the collection, and it also protects the
integrity of the specimens we have here.
(Dr. John La Salle) The Atlas of Living Australia is a national
initiative for sharing biodiversity information through the web.
These 3D models will add a new dimension to the
Atlas of Living Australia. We will use them to inform quarantine,
pest management, biodiversity research, and just people
wanting to know more about what lives around them.
(Dr. David Lovell) We need to accelerate the rate at which
we can understand the natural world in which we live.
(Dr. John La Salle) Our goal is that our great grandchildren
will enjoy the same Australia that we do today.
[Music plays]