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Friends Don't Let Men Buy Bananas
Are these bananas ripe enough to eat? Eight percent of men have absolutely no idea. That's about how many men have red-green color deficiency, a condition that makes it hard for them to distinguish the greenish-yellow of an unripe banana from the brownish-yellow of a ripe one.
Women are far less likely than men to be color-deficient in this way. That's because red-green color deficiency is a recessive trait linked to the X chromosome. With two X chromosomes, a woman has a much better chance of getting at least one good copy of the genes necessary for normal color vision.
IKEA Slowly Shedding Photography in Favor of Computer Renders
Of the two images above, one of them is a computer render and one of them is an actual photograph. Can you tell which is which? If you can’t, why should IKEA?
The Wall Street Journal reports that IKEA is slowly moving away from using photography in its catalogs in favor of CGI for its online and print publications.
12% of the company’s images this year were created by a graphic artist rather than a photographer, and next year that figure is expected to grow to 25%. No, it’s not that the company’s 208 million catalogs look better with computer fabrications — they’re simply cheaper and easier to produce.
Using CGI instead of photos offers some attractive benefits. Instead of creating and discarding entire living spaces for photo shoots, graphic designers can simply whip one together on a screen. Instead of replacing entire sets of furniture to change the color, they can use a few simple clicks and keystrokes.
It’s all part of the Swedish furniture giant’s overarching plan of cutting costs and increasing productivity.
The company first began experimenting with CGI back in 2005, after three computer graphic interns succeeded in recreating the image of an IKEA chair digitally (the image was later included in that year’s catalog to test its believability). Fast forward seven years, and the company is now retraining photographers in its massive 285-man, 94,000-sq-ft photo studio to work with computer rendering.
Check out the story over at the Wall Street Journal for an interesting quiz that tests whether you can recognize renders from photos. As for the two images at the top of this post, the top one is the render. Could you tell?
The Next Battle for Internet Freedom Could Be Over 3D Printing
By: RICK KELLY
Remember SOPA?
In case you've forgotten already, earlier this year some Congressional legislators attempted to protect intellectual property through the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The language in the bill was far-reaching and ambiguous; thus prompting concern that application of the law would extend beyond its intent.
TechCrunch’s own John Biggs explained that SOPA “would allow the US government to essentially ‘turn off’ part of the Internet that it doesn’t like.” Many people reacted adversely to the proposed legislation and after a wave of activism encouraged by non-profits, corporate titans, and thought leaders, SOPA never came close to being enacted.
The internet has traditionally represented freedom to many people. It has become a global commons where information is rapidly and freely proliferated, unimpeded by governments or corporations. The fear that this freedom would be lost formed a large part of the backlash against SOPA earlier this year. Soon, we will face another wave of potentially liberty-limiting legislation involving our internet activity.
What will be the source of this legislation? 3D printing.
To date, 3D printing has primarily been used for rapid commercial prototyping largely because of its associated high costs. Now, companies such as MakerBot are selling 3D printers for under $2,000. Acurrent project on Kickstarter is attempting to raise funds for a 3D printer with a price of $1,199. Given the typical price and product cycle we’ve seen in the past, it would be no shock to see 3D printers selling for under $500 in a few short years.
Eventually, 3D printing will enable individuals to print just about anything from the comfort of their own homes. Already, hobbyists who own 3D printers are creating jewelry and toys. In the commercial space, 3D printing can print homes, prosthetics, and replacement machine parts.
3D printers can also print guns and synthetic chemical compounds (aka drugs). In July, user HaveBlue reported on the AR15 forum that he had used a mid-1990s. 3D printer to create a fully functional .22 caliber gun. He wrote: “It’s had over 200 rounds of .22 [caliber rounds] through it so far and runs great!” The 3D printed portion of the gun was printed in plastic with a reported material cost of about $100.
The potential policy implications are obvious. If high-quality weapons can be printed by anyone with a 3D printer, and 3D printers are widely available, then law enforcement agencies will be forced to monitor what you’re printing in order to maintain current gun control laws. Otherwise, guns could become more widely available and firearms permits won’t matter to someone like James Holmes or Jeffrey Johnson. They can circumvent firearms laws by simply printing their weapons from a 3D printer for under $100.
That is, unless federal agencies monitor every CAD file sent to a printer, whether or not it is harmless. Monitoring of every file sent to a printer means that federal agencies would need access to every home and office network.
It is likely impossible that the government will be able to successfully prevent every illicit item from being printed, chiefly because a 3D printer would not have to be connected to the internet to print from a local computer. However, you can expect that a time will come when perhaps well-meaning politicians will attempt to prevent guns and synthetic drugs from being created using 3D printers. If passed, the resulting laws would be draconian in their invasion of privacy while simultaneously ineffectual in preventing the creation of the products they seek to prohibit.
Either we allow for the ambiguity that freedom and unregulated 3D printing will bring, or we enforce far-reaching laws that may decrease liberty without changing results. For those who appreciate the internet because of its democratizing effects and freedom, I believe the choice is clear. We should decide now that we will oppose any law that attempts to undermine freedom on the internet, no matter the consequences.
Ikea Uses Fake, Digitally Created Rooms Inside Its Catalog
When you're flipping through the IKEA catalog and wondering how they make all that easy-to-assemble furniture look so good inside that lovely apartment, know this: it's fake. As in, it doesn't exist. As in, it was made on a computer by a 3D graphic artist.
Keeping Lighting Direction Consistent
I'm a major devotee of Darrel Tanks. I have invested in nearly all of his DVD, which are top shelf stuff, and I enjoy every single one of them.
Darrel shows you how to focus on creating consistent lighting that will allow you to see where shadows should be placed and where the apexes in the subject's face should be.
Redhead Girl - ball point pens
"Redhead Girl is an amazing portrait that was drawn, believe it or not, entirely with only 6 different colored ball point pens plus black. This artist has truly mastered the art of using ballpoint pens as shown in this piece and any other in their gallery." -^Astralseed
"Redhead Girl - Ballpoint Pen" by Samuel Silva
Autodesk Lays Off 7% Of Entire Staff
Digital design giant Autodesk laid off 7% of its workforce Thursday, sources tell Mashable.
That totals around 500 employees — including a number of 3D developers and several product managers.
Many of the layoffs were handled on a one-by-one basis throughout the day, following the company’s disappointing earnings report.
“Our own execution challenges, combined with an uneven global economy, resulted in disappointing revenue results for the quarter,” said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and CEO. “The changes better position Autodesk to meet the needs of our customers. We are focused on working through our internal challenges as rapidly as possible.”
Autodesk’s fiscal second-quarter profits fell 9.3%.
An Autodesk representative tell us that while the company eliminated close to 500 positions Thursday, it plans to create that many new jobs over the course of the year.
“As part of today’s announcement, Autodesk shared plans for a restructuring related to executing on the company’s strategy including its continuing shift to cloud and mobile computing, “ the company said in a statement.
”While Autodesk is reducing its overall staffing levels in the near-term, the company will continue to invest in key development areas. In addition, the company intends to consolidate certain leased facilities.”
The restructuring is focused primarily of the company’s shift to cloud and mobile computing.
“This action allows us to continue to invest in recruiting and hiring people who can bring Autodesk the skills and experience that are critical for achieving our mid and long-term goals, says Bass. “As part of the ongoing platform shift, it’s clear to us that design and engineering software will move to cloud and mobile platforms. Cloud and mobile has been a major investment area for Autodesk over the past couple of years and this restructuring will accelerate our progress as we intend to further invest in employees with expertise and skill sets essential to this transition.
“Additionally, this restructuring helps us reduce costs and streamline the organization as a continuation of the activities we began earlier this year.”
Learn to say NO - to clients when necessary
Here is a snippet, from a great article, by Designer Paulo Canabarro
“When I started my freelance journey I would say YES to every job that I came across. I’m not sure if it was because of the money or just the excitement of starting a new project but I would take it without realizing it may not be worth it.”
Art Of Mentoring In Minneapolis
Cross the Mississippi River on Saint Paul's Marshall Avenue and it morphs into Minneapolis' Lake Street — a colorful kaleidoscope of cultures.
Preparing a wall for a mural.
As Lake Street's collection of murals grows, so does its sense of safety, beauty and community — thanks to groups of artist-activists.
Chicano artist Jimmy Longoria and his organization, Mentoring Peace Through Art, is one such group. The team paints local businesses with murals, Jimmy says, "embracing huge spans of wall, every inch covered in a jungle of graffiti-deterring, ribbony paint."
MPTA's goal: to "foster youth leadership through art projects, forge strong communities and fulfill expectations that art works."
Allison Muotka is an intern at MPTA. She listens to The Current
Frank Gehry Is Designing Facebook's New Office Building
Frank Gehry, the genius architect who designed the Wall Disney Concert Hall or the curve perverted one-trick pony who litters beautiful cities with Toontown buildings because he can't draw a straight line anymore (depending on your perspective), is going to be designing Facebook's new engineering office building. You don't even need to know architecture to know Gehry, he's an icon. This is a good thing because it proves Facebook has taste. But a horrible thing because its taste is so generically terrible.
Lessons from Lehrer’s Imagine for Cultivating Student Creativity
Everyone agrees that creativity is a key skill. But we’re not teaching our kids this skill. We’ve become so obsessed with rote learning, with making sure that kids memorize the year of some old battle. But in this day and age that’s the least valuable kind of learning. That’s stuff you can look up on your phone. If our graduates our going to succeed in the real world, then they have to be able to make stuff.
The new Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine
The new Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine uses Evernote's Page Camera feature to capture the pages of your notebook with your smartphone or tablet.
Evernote Page Camera is the iOS version for iPhone and iPad. Evernote Ruled Smart Notebook features the unique "Evernote ruled" page style with dotted lines designed to ensure a clean image when digitally capturing your notebook. Moleskine Smart Stickers introduce Smart Tagging into your workflow. When you capture a page with Evernote, the Smart Sticker icons become searchable, digital tags that make it easy to keep your ideas organized and to keep your digital and analog workspaces synced.
Each Evernote Smart Notebook comes with 3 months of Evernote Premium, which offers a number of added features to make your newly-digitized, handwritten content more accessible, searchable, and share-able.
Evernote Pocket Ruled Smart Notebook
Creative Scan-and-Draw Color-Changing Pen Design
Any artist or designer who works with color knows that the best inspiration and perfect coloration can often be found in real-life objects all around us. What if you could take your trusty drawing pen and simply scan any color you want and then turn around and draw with it? This innovative pen design by Jin Sun Park allows you to do just that. Next step? A complete texture selector and replicator?
A color sensor on the top of the pen registers the color of the object you select, which in turn is displayed digitally on the back of the device for verification. Red, green and blue inks are then mixed – much like in a traditional printer – to create your desired color.
Of course, such an invention has its limitations: space for ink and batteries are challenges to be sure, but presumably you would only use this periodically and would also transfer the color data in some cases directly to another electronic advice, thus saving ink. While only in pre-production and sure to be extremely expensive initially one could easily see this become a household gadget and essential tool for every artist and designer for both real-life and web applications.
What type of learner are you? [Infographic]
People learn in a variety of ways. Identifying and understanding your learning style can help you maximize your educational experiences by finding ways to make learning more efficient. The 4 main categories are visual, auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic. Which one are you? Read this infographic to find out!
10 best iPad art apps for painting and sketching
From established tools like Zen Brush to new upstarts like Sketchbook Ink, these powerful painting and drawing apps can help you start creating iPad art today!
When the iPad first launched it was pegged squarely as a media consumption device. To create professional art and design, you'd still need a fully-fledged laptop or desktop system running a full-fat operating system like Mac OS or Windows. Right?
Wrong. The iPad art apps in this list prove that Apple's tablet has moved beyond just being for media consumption and is fast becoming ripe for content creation. If you're an illustrator, artist or graphic designer, you can now work effectively on the move - sketching, painting, prototyping, and annotating photos. Invest in a good quality stylus and try one of these amazing iPad apps on for size...
http://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/art-on-the-ipad-1232669
3D World: CG tutorials and tips for animation, VFX and games artists
Now 3D World is more interactive than ever! Watch video tutorials immediately with the tap of a button; enjoy professional and student animation and VFX videos; and get all our tutorial files downloaded to your workstation! Plus: image slideshows, text-free artwork and more!
Alex Roman’s Architectural Visualization and Animation Book
I am so looking forward to this book. Alex Roman has revealed that he will shortly be releasing a book about his influential architectural visualization animation The Third and the Seventh. Though he has yet to release any specifics about content he says the book will contain "beautiful hires imagery artwork, philosophy and processes behind the short film". See the official site www.thirdseventh.com for more updates
Why Light Needs Darkness
http://www.ted.com Lighting architect Rogier van der Heide offers a beautiful new way to look at the world -- by paying attention to light (and to darkness). Examples from classic buildings illustrate a deeply thought-out vision of the play of light around us.
Architectural Drawings No Less Protectable Than Art
By ADAM KLASFELD
MANHATTAN (CN) - Architectural renderings enjoy the same copyright protection as Edward Hopper or Claude Monet's paintings of houses, the 2nd Circuit ruled, reviving a case that could hold major realtors accountable for infringement. Scholz Design says it produced drawings of three luxurious, tree-shaded houses, "Springvalley A," "Wethersfield B," and "Breckinridge A," which it registered in the Copyright Office in 1988 and 1989.
Although they were not detailed enough to serve as construction blueprints, the Connecticut-based company Sard Custom Homes used these renderings as a guide to build the homes, according to the court's summary.
Scholz says that Sard agreed it had no right to copy the images or use them for advertisements.
In October 2010, Scholz filed a lawsuit claiming that Sard broke this contract by sharing the pictures with Prudential Connecticut and Caldwell Banker, which put the images on their websites in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
U.S. District Judge Janet Arterton dismissed the case, finding that an architectural drawing must be able to serve as a blueprint for construction to be protectable.
A three-judge panel at 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected that proposed rule on Wednesday.
"We see no reason why Scholz's drawings depicting the appearance of houses it had designed should be treated differently from any other pictorial work for copyright purposes," Judge Robert Sack wrote for the panel. "Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper were famous for their paintings of houses, and Claude Monet for paintings of the Houses of Parliament and of Rouen Cathedral. None of these depictions of buildings were sufficiently detailed to guide construction of the buildings depicted, but that would surely not justify denying them copyright protection. If an exact copy was made by the defendant, as alleged, and as appears to be the case based on the evidence submitted with the complaint, that would appear to constitute infringement."
The panel chided the federal judge for stepping into the realms of art criticism, quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes as saying, "[i]t would be a dangerous undertaking for persons trained only to the law to constitute themselves the final judges of the worth of pictorial illustrations."
According to the decision, the realtors also contend that they have the right to use the drawings under fair use, which allows for the publication of copyrighted images for news reporting, criticism, scholarship and research. The appellate court would not consider the issue at this time because the district judge did not factor that defense in her decision. The case will return to District of Connecticut, and the realtors will have to pay Scholz for the costs of appeal.