T. rex buffs take note. The Smithsonian Institution will soon release a scan of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that can be printed in 3D at home.

The Smithsonian is among museums around the world that are using 3D scanning and printing to help restore and preserve collections and make art and artifacts more accessible.

In July, the Smithsonian American Art Museum will display 19th century sculptor Hiram Powers’ Greek Slavealong with a video of how it was 3D scanned. Visitors will be able to download the image and make copies from home on 3D printers, which are becoming more popular as their price tags drop.

“In a way, it’s democratizing the collection,” said Karen Lemmey, curator of sculpture at the museum in Washington.

Galleries are using the imaging to collect data on objects that can later be used to construct and print digital three-dimensional models. While less than 1 percent of all art globally has been scanned, the process is gaining traction, according to scanning software maker Autodesk Inc. And while the quality of replicas is improving, it’s not to the degree where there’s much concern about forgeries, experts agree.

The Smithsonian Institution has scanned about 40 items since 2013, such as a wooden boat sunk during the American Revolutionary War and a life mask of Abraham Lincoln. About two dozen scans have been posted online, and 25,000 data sets have been downloaded, according to the museum. The most popular: a Woolly Mammoth, with 5,000 downloads, said Guenter Waibel, director of the Digitization Program Office. Two dozen more scans will be released in coming months, including the T. rex, he said.

“The challenge we’ve set right now is how do we go from dozens to hundreds to thousands -- and eventually to tens of thousands of scanned objects,” Waibel said in an interview.

David Fuller's view

What an interesting, educational and accessible world we inhabit.  My four grandchildren, from the ages of 6 to 2, all know far more about the world than I did as a late adolescent.  They do not get to play outside as much as I did but that can be managed and their brains seem to be much more developed.