Data from: The walking dead: blender as a tool for palaeontologists with a case study on extinct arachnids

This paper serves two roles. First, it acts as an introduction to Blender,
an open-source computer graphics program, which can be of utility to
paleontologists. To lessen the software's otherwise steep learning
curve, a step-by-step guide to create an idealized reconstruction of a
fossil in the form of a three-dimensional model in Blender, or to use the
software to render results from ‘virtual paleontology' techniques, is
provided as an online supplemental data file. Second, here we demonstrate
the use of Blender with a case study on the extinct trigonotarbid
arachnids. We report the limb articulations of members of the Devonian
genus Palaeocharinus on the basis of exceptionally preserved fossils from
the Rhynie Cherts of Scotland. We use these newly reported articulations
to create a Blender model, and draw comparisons with the gait of extant
arachnids to produce as accurate a representation of the trigonotarbid
flexing its limbs and walking as possible, presented in additional online
supplemental data files. Knowledge of the limb articulations of
trigonotarbid arachnids also allows us to discuss their functional
morphology: trigonotarbids' limbs and gait were likely comparable to
extant cursorial spiders, but lacked some innovations seen in more derived
arachnids.