The Smithsonian Institute is making a collection of laser and CT scanned models of its exhibits available for online viewing as well as allowing for the 3D printing files to be downloaded for you to print replicas at home. The project which is known as Smithsonian X 3D uses a browser-based viewer to let you manipulate a 3D model of the scanned exhibits including that of a woolly mammoth and The Wright Flyer, the plane used by the Wright brothers in their maiden flight.

The Smithsonian has embarked on a mission to accurately scan many of its exhibits so that it can not only use the data for its own research but also create public access to the information. The hope is that the accurate 3D models will be used by people visiting the museums to see details of exhibits that they would be unable to normally as well as allowing people who can’t physically get to the museum to interact with the exhibits.

The Smithsonian is a collection of 19 museums covering a variety of fields but because of the vast size of the collection of artifacts the Smithsonian posesses they cannot exibit everything at once. Günter Waibel who is the Director of the Smithsonian Digitization Program Office says that “only 1% of collections on display in Smithsonian museum galleries, digitization affords the opportunity to bring the remaining 99% of the collection into the virtual light.”