3D Imaging Lab

The 3D Imaging Lab enables acquisition and postprocessing of high-quality three-dimensional data using state-of-art micro-Computed Tomography (µCT) and structured light surface scanners, as well as 3D printing.

The lab is part of the University of Tübingen and is led by Dr. Gabriel Ferreira (scientific coordination) and Christina Kyriakouli (technician). It was established in 2021, after a larger equipment application was granted by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The running expenses (including the two associated positions) are maintained by the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP) [link: https://www.senckenberg.de/de/institute/shep/].

The equipment is available primarily for researchers of the University of Tübingen and Senckenberg HEP, but external academic and non-academic users are also welcome.

Lab equipment

Nikon XT H 320 µCT scanner equipped with four interchangeable targets, high resolution Varex Detector 4343 2880 x 2880 pixels. This is a flexible system, capable of scanning samples of multiple sizes (up to 100 cm and 100 kg) and reaching voxel sizes of 2 µm.

Artec Space Spider (0.05 mm precision) and Eva (0.1 mm precision) portable structured light surface scanners.ProJet 2500 Plus 3D printer, MJP printing technology, damage-free removable wax support.
Ultimaker S3 3D printer, filament printing with layer resolution of 20 µm and build space of 19x23x20 cm.
Anycubic Photon Mono M5s Resin 3D printer

Cost rates for the µCT:

Internal users		External users
Uni. Tübingen and SHEP*	Other users from Uni. Tübingen and SGN	Academic users	Non-academic users
0€ / h	35€ / h	80€ / h	200€ / h

*Applicants of the DFG research equipment proposal

Cost rates for the 3D surface scanners:

Uni. Tübingen/SHEP	External academic users	External non-academic users
0€ / Day	50€ / day	50€ / h

Cost rates for the 3D printer:

Prints / Technology	Uni. Tübingen/SHEP	External academic users	External non-academic users
ProJet 2500 Plus	50€ / 100g	50€ / 100g plus 60€ / day	50€ / 100g plus 100€ / day
Ultimaker S5 & Anycubic	7€ / 100g	7€ / 100g plus 40€ / day	7€ / 100g plus 70€ / day

Larger maintenance costs are to be covered by direct cost sharing by the respective users. The contribution is based on the number of equipment hours used and is invoiced to the applicant a after the appointment.

We also offer free access to three high-end workstations (32 core processor, 512 GB RAM, 24 GB GPU). The following commercial and free software are available for digital postprocessing:

FEI Amira/Avizo, Volume Graphics VGSTUDIO MAX, ORS Dragonfly, Artec Studio Professional, 3D Slicer, Blender, Meshlab, ImageJ.