Are really simple and charming idea by Quasimondo aka Mario Klingemann.
Just in Time Renderer
This is a renderer I wrote a few years back for an Austrian crystal manufacturer. It hasn’t been publish until now. It is called JIT because it adds colour just in time. Basically the most computationally intensive lighting is calculated ahead of time so that it can be pieced together in the browser in real time, just in time.
It is intended to take the place of photographs for a large number of products that vary only in colour. This saves a lot of time and effort and enables one to adjust the scene afterwards to suit, for example, a change in corporate design.
A Wedding Band in 11 Mouse Clicks
The other day I created a ring using Google Sketchup which I then 3D-Printed using Shapeways. Having used 3D-Max, Rhino, Blender and other modeling software, I was really impressed at how easy Sketchup was. Here is a quick demo of how easy it really is.
I used quite a few short cuts to get down to 11 clicks but it doesn’t take long to remember these. I am sure you won’t be too worried about wasting a few clicks on the tool bar either.
It is also very easy to enter the exact inner diameter so you know that the ring fits. If you click once with the circle tool then enter the radius and press enter, a circle of that radius will be created.
Ideas I Wish I’d Had
I am starting a new category with this post. Sometimes I see projects and just think “Wow, I wish I had thought of that”. This will be the place that I keep a record of all such ideas.
I will start off with Geoffrey Mann’s “Attracted to Light”. The form of the light shade is the form of a moths flight pattern around the light source that attracts it. Time is simply represented in form, kind of like a 3d long exposure. The idea couldn’t be more simple but still gets everything right.
Geoffrey Mann - Attracted-to-Light 1. Photo: Wadedemasiado
It is quite an old project by now, especially in terms of 3D-Print. However, it is often the first project that comes to mind when I think about ideas that I wish I’d had myself.
Geoffrey Man - Attracted to Light 2. Photo: Sylvain Deleu
Since “Attracted to Light” Geoffrey has completed a number of other projects like Crossfire and Blown which are well worth checking out too.
Mesh Bust: “What do I look like to my computer”?
My first response to this question was a simple time-laps video of my working day through the perspective of my computers webcam.
I then looked at how it would create its own representation of me staring at it. The result is a script that starts with a flat mesh. It then moves each vertex point in a random manner and then compares the rendered mesh with an image of my face. It repeats this process over and over trying to get closer to the image it has of me. I use a fitness algorithm which influences how much the vertices move dependent on the how close its part of the image is to the source image.
The geometry it creates is quite different to my face, but when rendered on the screen it is a fare approximation. It reflects the fact that a computer model of someone is build quickly but does not necessarily represent reality.
A Better Way to Keep My Keys
I have always though that the keychain can’t be the best way to keep my keys. I got tired of searching for the right key last week and decided to do something about it. Whilst I could have raided my girlfriends nail polish collection and color coded my keys, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.
As an avid biker I often find the need for a 5mm allen key. Since I don’t make a habit of wearing a bike tool on my belt I am often left wanting. I only really need the 5mm allen key so I am going to replace the others with a philips head and a flat head screwdriver.
Decoded Conference
I will be speaking at the Decoded Conference in Munich on the 15th of October. LIA, Prof. Herbert W. Franke, Jer Thorp aka blprnt, Kate Hartman and the chaps from eboy will also be holding talks. It should be a really interesting day, so grab you tickets!
toxiclibs Decimated Spline Verticies
I have just tried out the Splines in ToxicLibs. What I found really great was the decimation function.
The word decimation comes from the Roman form of punishment in which a regiment was divided in groups of ten. One soldier in each group was killed by the other nine.
The problem with interpolating between points in that you get lots of points close together when the control points are close together. You can see this where the triangles are really small in the image below.
What the getDecimatedVertices function does is give you the points on the spline spaced out evenly. You can see in the image below that the triangles are all of a similar size. This gives a really good quality mesh which reduces the risk of getting artifacts whilst rendering.
Circle, Sin and Simple Harmonic Motion
Looking through some processing sketchs from a 2005 backup I found this sketch. I seem to remember having seen this visual explanation somewhere before but thought it interesting enough to recreate it.
It is a really simple use of animation to explain a rather abstract concept. The relationship between simple harmonic motion, a circle and sin becomes immediately clear.
It kind of reminds me of the ancient (pre Pythagoras) Chinese proof of the Pythagoras theorem that doesn’t even need words.
iOS Stencil Kit for Wireframing an App
I have been doing quite a bit of iOS development lately and have looked at different ways of communicating and developing interface ideas. The easiest for everyone is still the pencil, at least in the early stages. The great thing about pencil drawings for a mockup is also that everyone understands straight away that it is not a layout mockup and can concentrate on the structure of the interface.
To help sketch interface elements there are these great stencils available for iPhone, iPad, Android, etc…
