VizWorld.com

CNN has another infographic online showing the growth in population, CO2 emissions, and electricity consumption from 1950 to present around the world.  The chart looks pretty, but I have a few issues with it:

• Comparing disparate values – Population vs Tons of Emissions vs Watts.  What’s the relationship between them?
• The use of Circles.. that overlap rather messily

But it does do a rather effective job of showing the explosive growth in the Asia markets.  What do you think?

Powering the Earth – CNN.com.

Science cnn, infographic

The Simpsons has just  celebrated their 20th anniversary, and CNN Entertainment published this “Simpsons Comedy Chart” showing the various influences of the brand.

However, in doing so, “The Simpsons” stands on the comedic shoulders of many that came before — and has influenced countless works that have arrived since. Here are just a few of the roots of the “Simpsons” comedy tree and the branches of those it gave life to. (The following, illustrated by the doughnut at the top of the story, is by no means complete, and each member has its own, sometimes overlapping influences.)

via The ‘Simpsons’ comedy tree – CNN.com., via CoolInfographics

Graphics cnn, infographic, tv

Looks like those “unofficial’ 3d Bluray demos at CES won’t be so unofficial afterall, as the Blu-ray Disk Association has finalized and updated the specifications for the upcoming 3D standard, and it looks like 2010 might be the year of active shutter glasses geekiness.

The key details? First, that the Blu-ray Disc Association has chosen the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec to store 3D, so that even though it is now providing a full 1080p frame for each eye, it will only require about 50% more storage space compared to the 2D version, and all discs will be fully backwards compatible, in 2D, on existing players. Better than backwards compatibility, the PlayStation 3 will be forwards compatible with the new discs — a new HDTV setup (the spec promises to work with plasmas, LCDs or projectors equally well) with IR emitters and glasses will still be necessary.

via Blu-ray 3D specifications finalized, your PS3 is ready — Engadget.

Hardware 3d, bluray, stereoscopic

CGHeute has an interview with Till Nowak, discussing his newest work “Salad” which shows an interesting arrangement of fruit, as shown.

I used 4 Main. Lights and two arrays of 14 Point-Lights. I often use point-light configurations in order to generate soft shadows. The more lights the more you use, the soft shadows, I usually use 7-10 Lichter. In Maya, I would recommend to use Spot Lights, 3DS Max but there is hardly any difference in rendering times between Spot and Point Lights. This kind of lighting a scene for me is the most intuitive and compared with global illumination or “real” Area Shadows, rendering times are very low. The complete image “Salad” has only 10 Minutes to render necessary and at a resolution of 4000 ×4000 Pixels. For this illumination technique, it is important to the Shadows and decay Area are selected for each light.

Making of “Salad” | cgheute.

Graphics makingof, vfx

The trailer for the next Iron Man movie is now online, showcasing War Machine, Whiplash, explosions, bombs, and more stuff blowing up than you can count. Looks like a great summer flick, opening in May 2010.

See the trailer after the break.

Read more…

Graphics ironman, movie, trailer

Gizmodo is conducting a user poll: Do you prefer a single massive screen? Or a multiple monitor setup?

Once upon a time, I was partial to multiple screens. It's one of the things that got me into Macs: Back then, they were the only computers that could handle multiple screens as a single desktop, seamlessly. I would have Photoshop on full screen on the main one, use the right one for palettes, and the left one for other programs, like mail.

I’m partial to multi-monitor all the way.  I’ve got a pair of 30″ Cinema Displays on my desk at work, and find it difficult to function with a single monitor anymore.  I wonder what “Spaces” counts as (multiple desktops on a single display).

via Do You Prefer a Single Huge Screen or Multiple Smaller Displays? – Huge screen vs multiple screens – Gizmodo.

Hardware display, survey

The FTC has added new allegations to the anticompetitive investigation that’s been underway on price fixing related to the Atom and Ion chipsets, this time focused on the GPU.  The timing is a bit strange, given Intel’s recent retreat from the GPU market and failure of Larrabee, but here’s what the FTC says:

Intel has responded to this competitive challenge by embarking on a similar anticompetitive strategy, which aims to preserve its CPU monopoly by smothering potential competition from GPU chips such as those made by Nvidia, the FTC complaint charges. As part of this latest campaign, Intel misled and deceived potential competitors in order to protect its monopoly. The complaint alleges that there also is a dangerous probability that Intel’s unfair methods of competition could allow it to extend its monopoly into the GPU chip markets.

Of course, it didn’t take long for NVidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang to respond:

The GPU is critical for common applications like graphics, video and photo processing. Today’s filing is sorely needed to stop Intel from using unlawful tactics to lock out the GPU and block consumers from its revolutionary benefits.”

via nTersect Blog – NVIDIA.

Hardware intel, legal, nvidia

Anatomy Tools has announced a new suite of 5 workshops specializing in Human and Creature anatomy ranging from beginner to advanced.  Each class only holds 20 members and signups are open now.

“We specialize in teaching artists anatomy, it’s what we do! because without question, anatomy is “the” fundamental foundation for artists who wish to master the recreation of organic forms. We can identify with each of you where your anatomy skills are now & give you the fast track to where you want to go, & why not learn in 1 week, what it can take artists years to accomplish”

via Anatomy Tools – Workshops.

Graphics anatomy, class, model, training

Here’s the links for today:

• 29 Great Texture Packs
• Man And Cat At The End of the World – Great animation made entirely in After Effects
• Photoshop Tutorial: Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons

Graphics pixels

Back in 2002, Thanassis Tsiodras decided to begin investigating the power of SSE on the new Athlon CPU’s and wrote a rather complex real-time Mandlebrot zoomer program.  Now, 7 years later, he revisits his code and rewrites using NVidia’s CUDA to startling effect:

In less than one hour, I went from my rather complex SSE inline assembly, to a simple, clear Mandelbrot implementation… that run… 15 times faster!

Let me say this again: 1500% faster. Jaw dropping. Or put a different way: I went from 147fps at 320×240… to 210fps… at 1024×768!

via A realtime Mandelbrot zoomer in SSE assembly and CUDA.

Science cuda, nvidia, programming