A Camera that generates 3D Models in Real Time

Posted on February 8, 2013 by

Given the recent success of tablet computers, there’s been no end of experimentation with this closed form factor. Apple and Amazon are now making mini-tablets that are barely larger than a phone.  And some cheeky vendors are now calling their phones… ‘phablets’.

So this monster tablet from Lynx A immediately caught my eye. The LynxA Camera actually has stereo cameras embedded in this beefy slab, so it can scan/generate 3D models in real time.

The Lynx A 3D modeling camera in Scene Modeling mode

Fig 1 -  The Lynx A tablet scanning and generating a 3D model of the room in real time.

It helps that this huge slab’let also has an LCD screen, so you can immediate spot and correct ‘holes’ in your 3D scan in realtime. The Lynx also has three different scanning modes: 1) Scene mode – for areas up to 1000 s.f.; 2) Object Modeling mode – for singular objects that are scanned by walking around them (below); and, 3) Motion Capture mode for animators.

The Lynx A 3D modeling camera in Object Modeling mode

Fig 2 – The Lynx 3D slab’let being used in “object mode” to scan a human figure.

The Lynx A was created by Lynx Laboratories, a Texas-based company comprised largely of students from the University of Texas at Austin – the technology that went into the camera was developed at the university.

Lynx Laboratories is currently raising production funds for its device, on Kickstarter. You can be the first to get a Lynx for a pledge of only $2,600. That’s a bit spendy but the price will likely come down if you can wait a bit.

Thanks for reading and being a valued subscriber to FormFonts 3D Model Library.

Source:  Lynx Laboratories

Posted in Uncategorized

TESLA Launch Event and FORMFONTS 3D ‘Models By Request’

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

We’ve written about LA production designer Ed Haynes before. Back in October 2011, we interviewed him to learn a more about his process and how he uses FormFonts 3D models in his workflow.

Ed grew up in a noble family of architects and interior designers. To be different, he went into set design, and his cannon of work ranges from theatrical set design, trade show booth design, restaurant concepts and interior design, and most recently – the Tesla Model S launch.

For our loyal subscribers like Ed, FormFonts will make 3D SketchUp models on demand. Ed requested the TESLA Model S, and we were happy to oblige. Our world class 3D artist Gabriel Concha jumped at the challenge to model the beautiful electric vehicle.

Tesla Model S. Car, vehicle, sedan, electric, automobile, tesla, model, s, american, prototype

Fig.1 -  TESLA Model S – 3D SketchUp model made by request, for Ed Haynes, by FormFonts.com. (Regular readers will know that Gabriel has something of a transportation fetish).

Below are some renders of the TESLA event, courtesy of Ed Haynes. The first two images are of the MotorTrend Car of the Year unveiling at Skyline Studios in NYC, and the bottom image of the Hangar, was the reveal of the new Tesla Model X at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorn, CA.

Ed is currently working on “some fun retro concept renderings from Stella Artois for next year’s Sundance Festival, but I can’t release that until after the event.”  We can’t wait to see those. We love this Belgian beer and of course, Marlin Brando…”Stell’AH!”

Check out Ed’s website Carbonmade, and thank you for being a valued FormFonts 3D Model subscriber.

Posted in 3D Models, Architecture, Interior Design, PreViz, Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Z-Space : Holographic 3D with Spatial Persistence

Posted on December 22, 2012 by

The Z-Space display is being developed by a California company called Infinite Z.      By tracking user’s eye movements with 3D glasses, the display creates not only the illusion of 3 dimensionality – but unlike most 3D systems -  it persists the object in fake space.

This ‘visual persistence’ means users can actually ‘look around’ or ‘look under’ an object floating in 3D space.  The effect is visually stunning and transformational. The display becomes a true spatial database, rather than a simple 3D POV projection.

Fig-1, ‘Z-Space’ Display enables persistent 3D visualization, so you can look at objects ‘in the round’.

The technique, which the company calls “Virtual Holographic 3-D,” also lets you manipulate virtual objects as if they really were floating just inches in front of you.

Why it matters?  The results of interactive and persistent 3D are stunning, and may open new vistas in design, animation, and computer gaming, and augmented reality.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to the worlds largest subscription library of professionally made 3D SketchUp components - FormFonts3D Models.

Read More:

 

Posted in 3D Models, 3D Tech, Augmented Reality, Holographic Technology, Reality Hacking, Revit, SketchUp, Virtual Reality | Tagged , , , , , ,

Digital vs. Analog Design – Støckel quests the limits of Representation

Posted on December 20, 2012 by

It’s difficult to teach young architects how to make objects (and surrounding spaces) relate to one-another in an intentional way. Intentionality requires the mastery of abstract concepts like order, harmony, contrast, proportion, scale and repetition.. not to mention enviable craft in physical 3D model making.

The rigors of real-world spatial literacy are also no match for the ease of digital form finding. Using powerful and accessible 3D modelers like Rhino and SketchUp, first year students can produce visually stunning and sophisticated forms, albeit with almost no intentionality.

Only the best design studio instructors have the discipline, creativity, and skill to substitute rigor for reward. And even then, they are few and far between. Consequently, 3D software has effectively destroyed what little pedagogy (if any) schools of architecture were able to muster previously.

Well, so much for intentionality. It’s all about expressiveness these days anyway!

Perhaps that’s why I love the new exhibition of Danish Artist Tommy Støckel’s work. Støckel uses off-the-shelf materials like printer paper and styrofoam to build environments that look startlingly digital.

Fig 1 -  Paper-Made Art Installation of Berlin-based Danish Artist Tommy Støckel.

Støckel has worked in digital media before, and it seems clear he enjoys bending the representational limits of digital vs. analog.  In 2007, he used Second Life to build Primitive Collection Field, a piece of land art that completely subverted the meaning of the term.

In his Escher-esque installation (below), Støckel lifts implied dimensionality from a 2D pattern of shade and shadow, gently into 3-dimensional space. And it’s these representational paradoxes -  the shifts between 2D and 3D, pixel and voxel, and digital vs. analog, that seem to inform Støckel’s work on an ongoing basis.

Fig 2 – 2006 Installation view – Frankfurter Kunstverein.

Architecture design studio instructors could learn a lot from Støckel’s work – it reinvents traditional craft in a digital idiom that is fun, sophisticated, and accessible to a net-native generation of new young designers.

Why does it matter? Design is a procedural art of decision-making. Without physical craft, there is no impedance to design thinking. Naive designers are trapped in a friction-free media, and cannot access the economy of decision-making that comes from real-world physicality.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to FromFonts 3D Models.
Author – Fred Abler.

Read more:

 

Posted in 3D Models, 3D Tech, Architecture, Artists, History, PaperCraft, Physible, Reviews, SketchUp, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Shape Shifting TouchScreens

Posted on December 18, 2012 by

Someone once asked me why Starbucks makes such an elaborate ritual out of ordering coffee. My sarcastic answer was; “So people who don’t have much to do, can feel like they accomplish something substantial every morning.. just by ordering coffee!”.

But putting all sarcasm aside for a moment:  precision does have its pleasures.

My all time favorite keyboard is the early IBM electronic keyboard. Nothing enhances the feeling of precision keyboarding like the patented mechanical ‘buckling springs’ used in these keyboards.

The name refers to the fact that the coil spring tensed between the keycap and a pivoting hammer.. buckles at a certain point in its downward traverse, providing auditory and tactile feedback to the keyboard operator

In other words, as the characters flow to your fingertips, you are given an overwhelming sensation that you are quite literally, and metaphorically.. ‘crushing it’.

500P1050844.JPG

(Above) The IBM ‘buckling spring’ patent diagram and keyboard, and (below) the new microfluidic touchscreen from Tactus Technology.  A panel replaces the glass top layer of an iPhone 3. The user must depress a button to type a number.

These subtleties are not lost on Tactus Technology, a start up in Fremont, California, that is prototyping touch-screen hardware with buttons that emerge when you need the feel of a physical keyboard, and then disappear when you don’t.

Their approach, in which a fluid-filled plastic panel and cylindrical fluid reservoir replace the usual top layer of glass, is among a crop of emerging technologies aimed at adding tactile feedback to make screens feel like old-fashioned keyboards.

Personally, this shape-shifting technology can’t get here soon enough for me. Back to the Future!

Thanks for reading and subscribing to FormFonts 3D Models.

Sources -  MIT Technology Review

Posted in 3D Models, 3D Tech | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

The Pixel Dies – Video Replaced by 3D Vector Graphics?

Posted on December 17, 2012 by

OK, forgive the ambitious headline, but researchers at the University of Bath released their new vector-based video codec at this week’s CVMP 9th European Conference on Visual Media Production held at Vue Cinema in Leicester Square, London.

The bold claim is that the newly-developed codec could make pixels obsolete within five years, according to its creators.

Fig 1- New Vector Based video codec may obsolete pixels as the privileged digital format for video. Image Courtesy of Bath University.

Unlike traditional bitmap graphics, which are made up of an array of pixels, vector graphics consist of lines, curves and shapes that are based on geometric formulas. Not only do they take up far less memory than bitmaps, but sections of them can also be enlarged without any loss of resolution.

Such a loss-less digital format could be especially valuable for future-proofing the display of vector-based video (let’s call them Vexels). As LED/LCD screens get increasingly larger and higher resolution, the video resolution could also scale lossless-ly.

This is because the codec apparently has some clever means of procedurally applying bit-maps to the geometry surface, and refactoring the texture as the surface size increases.  Details are scarce, but to learn more check out the links below.

Read More:   Is the Pixel About to Die?  – University of Bath

 

 

 

Posted in 3D Models, 3D Tech, Reality Hacking, Theory & Concepts | Tagged , , , , , ,

Foldify – 3D Paper Art made on your iPad

Posted on December 13, 2012 by

Foldify is a simple, easy-to-use app for creating papercraft art on your iPad.

The concept is pretty basic: use the iPad to create digital papercraft art that can be broadly customized with colors, facial features, designs and more, and then quickly printed out, cut and folded to make paper creatures or objects.

FoldifyFoldify papercraft

Fig 1 – Foldify paper craft cutouts (left) and finished 3D figures (right).

The app is for the iPad only right now, and it will cost $1.99 on launch, but will be priced higher later.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to FormFonts 3D.

Read more about Foldify on GigaOm and at Foldify.

Posted in 3D Models, For Fun, Maker Movement, Minimalist Movement, Origami, PaperCraft, Theory & Concepts | Tagged , , , , , , ,

STAPLES – Introduces 3D Printing Service in Europe

Posted on November 30, 2012 by

STAPLES, the office superstore, has been doing some serious shape-shifting in response to the global economic chaos. It recently laid off hundreds of workers in Europe, and closed under performing stores in the U.S.. STAPLES is also leaning out to remain competitive the inevitable Office Depot + Office Depot merger.

It would seem STAPLES is ripping a page from the KINKOS/FEDEX playbook, and focusing on technology and mobile communications. Yesterday, STAPLES announced it will introduce 3D Printing services in stores in Europe. Presumably if all goes well there, the U.S. stores will follow.

Fig 1 – MCOR IRIS color 3D Printer that will be placed in-store at STAPLES.

Unexpectedly perhaps, STAPLES 3D printers are going to be a bit more PRINTER than what we usually think of (i.e. Makerbots, Cubes, etc.).  The Mcor IRIS printer actually uses sheets of paper instead of the more expensive and temperamental ABS plastics spools. The Iris can also handle color much more easily.

The Iris works by cutting out 2D slices from letter-sized paper and gluing them together to build the model, making it perfect value-add for a place like STAPLES. Lord knows they have stacks of paper, and the Iris has some pretty good color ink technology. This means STAPLES can offer colored parts that won’t disintegrate on touch.

Staples has been wrestling with the decline in paper use of late, especially in recession weary Europe. Its first quarter earnings fell 5.6 percent this year, largely due to declines in European business.  European governments have cut back sharply on paper and office supplies, which are… well, the staples of STAPLES business.

Staples has annual sales of $25 Billion U.S. annually. About 44 percent of total company sales are derived from core office supplies, a Staples spokesman said, and roughly 10 percent of sales is in paper, said Joseph Feldman, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group in New York.

I can’t help wonder if we’re not seeing a VHS vs. BETAMAX shakeout here? It seems unlikely, but Sony’s technologically superior video tape format lost out to VHS because one industry, pornography, chose the lower fidelity and less expensive format.

Reportedly, the cost of Iris paper-based 3D models is about 5% of other machines that use plastic feedstock. The downside of these paper printers is that they’re relatively slow and complex models may required next day pickup. Not all bad for building in-store traffic.

Thanks for reading and subscribing to FormFonts 3D Models – the worlds largest subscription library of professionally made 3D models.

Read More:

Posted in 3D Models, 3D Printing, 3D Tech, Architecture, Digital Cutters, Digital Fabrication, Kirigami, Maker Movement, PaperCraft, Physible, Services, SketchUp, Technical Origami, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , ,

PhotoSurreal – Camera Emphasises Time over Space

Posted on November 19, 2012 by

Jay Mark Johnson—an architect and renaissance man— purchased a $85,000 rotating slit-scan camera for high-resolution panoramas. (The camera records vast landscapes sliver by sliver.) Finding the accidental effects of motion in front of the camera strangely poetic, he experimented with stopping the rotation and honing in on one tiny area.

The photographic images below are the result.

los osos (compressed time waves series) Jay Mark Johnson.

Fig 1-  Waves on the beach in Los Osos, California.  Los Osos. Form the compressed time wave series. -  Jay Mark Johnson.

This surreal look is possible because the fixed-position slit camera ‘scans’ the environment through a single vertical slit. Whatever passes that slit by gets registered in a narrow line. Over a period of time, which the artist can control, it registers line after line.

The final result is a bunch of these lines all pushed together. In this sense, you could say each photograph is a time graph – it’s actually a composite of hundreds of very skinny photographs glued together with time read on the Y-axis.

Priscilla Electric Lodge #47-0. Jay Mark Johnson.

Fig 2 – Priscilla Electric Lodge #47-0.  Somehow, we think Salvador Dali would approve.

Thanks for reading and Subscribing to FormFonts 3D Models.

To read more about this innovative photographic technique and the artist, use the links provided below.

Posted in Architecture, Augmented Reality, GeoPorn, Landscape Architecture, Reality Hacking, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , ,