Why my Psittacosaurus skeleton is free
A guy I’ve never met scanned a load of real Psittacosaurus fossils and put the files online for anyone to take. That’s why mine is free.
His name is Matt Christopher, dinosaur hunter on CGTrader. I took his scans, cleaned them up, fixed the geometry where it was full of holes, and cut the skeleton into parts that’ll actually print. Then I put it back out the way it came to me.
People ask why I don’t charge for this one when I charge for everything else. Because I didn’t make the bones. The printable version is mine and it took hours, but the shapes are his scans. I’m not putting a price on that.
If you just want the files, they’re on the Psittacosaurus skeleton page. Put it in the basket and check out — nothing to pay and no card needed. The download link comes with your order confirmation.
Where it’s ended up
It’s been out since 2021. People print it and send me photos, which is the best part of the whole thing.
Three museums have one, that I know of.
Dino Lab Inc in Victoria, British Columbia printed one and called him Taco. Their own print and art team did the work, and he stands in what they call the Ceratopsian corner. He’s there to make a point. This thing is the size of a big dog, and it sits on the same branch of the family tree as Triceratops. Kids get that faster looking at Taco than reading it off a sign.
He’s in their hands-on programme as well, so children actually handle him. A free file, printed by a museum, getting picked up and put down all day. I like that more than a glass case.
They credited me in their post too, without being asked.
Sauriermuseum Bellach in Switzerland has one in their exhibition. There’s another at the Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History, on a base with real fossils around it.
None of that came from me selling anything.
The other side of it
I’ve lost a lot of hours chasing people who sell my models. Listings that shouldn’t be there, print shops, files handed around. It wears you down and it makes you suspicious of everybody, which isn’t how I want to work.
So I’m careful the other way round. If I build on someone’s work I put their name on it. Matt Christopher’s name is on the product page and it’s in this post, and it stays there. Nobody made me do it. It costs me nothing, and I know what the other thing feels like from the receiving end.
What free means here
Download it, print it, stick it on your shelf or take it into a classroom. That’s what it’s for.
Don’t sell it. Don’t sell prints of it. Don’t put the files back out under your own name. I’ve had to say that more often than I thought I would.
