This piece is written by Harry AKA Plant Boi, Instigator at PLANT GANG.

With expedition #1 complete, both myself and Steve return to the UK. After a successful pilot, PLANT GANG has its first collection of 3D model specimens with associated scientific metadata. And best of all, we can now share some of the initial elements of these scans!

So you want to understand the process? Here’s a quick run down…

• We start with image capture, generating between 500-1000 overlapping images of our object from all angles! We then use photogrammetry software to align these images and from this we can then generate a collection of coordinate points representing our specimen in 3D space...the point cloud (see first image in the row above).
• Next comes generating meshes. In this stage the point cloud is covered with a 'material' that makes a solid 'mesh' (middle image), filling in the geometric sides between the points!
• Finally, the colour information from each pixel used to generate our point cloud is calculated to create the coloured texture ‘material’, which is then placed onto our mesh for our final photorealistic models (see the final image above).

Beyond the additional morphology and colouration provided by our 3D models, we wanted these models to be scientifically grounded and therefore share the same associated metadata as traditional 2D pressing specimens (see image above). We did this by collecting scientific metadata alongside our scans, from details of geolocation and habitat to the phenology and associated species. To further ensure their scientific accuracy before minting as NFTs these models are checked by a botanical expert to ensure their anatomical accuracy, with any tweaks necessary carried out by a 3D artist.

With this first collection complete, where to next?

Maybe we will hunt down a single rare specimen, such as Rafflesia arnoldii (the largest flower in the world) or an endangered plant species… capturing the essence of these plants in 3D forever. This future is up to debate, with the path to be shaped and guided by you, the PLANT GANG community.

This choice will be an important one, determining not only our plant specimens, but also where we begin our ReFi aims, hiring local botanists and funding regional conservation projects…allowing our digital assets to protect the physical.

So with this first expedition successfully complete we now get excited for the future including the development of the world's first virtual herbarium of 3D plant specimens, Expedition #2 and our initial NFT mint.

LFG (Let’s Fucking Grow!)