Home » Archives for December 2009
ArsTechnica has a review of the upcoming V-Screen for the Sony PSP, which brings a simple pseudo-3D effect to the handheld portable. It’s based on a theory from Tom Kopke, who discovered that a simple Fresnel Lens in front of the display creates a fake 3D effect by adjusting the focal distance.
“This all got started when Tom Kopke mentioned that it might be possible to have a flight simulator display with a more realistic, 3-dimensional sense of depth by mounting a fresnel lens in front of the monitor.This sounded implausible to me at first… but Tom is a physicist who works on simulator display systems for the U.S. Navy so I had to take his proposition seriously,” Rick Lee writes in an explanation of the effect. “[Kopke] explained that the lens allows you to view the monitor with your eyes focused out nearer to infinity instead of two feet in front of your face…. In the science of simulation, this is called a ‘collimated display.’”
Several stores sell the lenses, which retail for as little as $20. Wikipedia has a great writeup on Collimated Light if you want to learn more.
via $40 gets you stereoscopic pseudo-3D on the PSP. No… really.
Hardware, Science 3d, display, lense, stereoscopic
Researchers at Wright State University have been closely analyzing the flight patterns and aerodynamics of dragonflies in attempts to recreate the effect in a computer simulation. After several years of painstaking research, they’ve finally developed a working simulation that they visualized using TecPlot.
“The visual results showed the exact motion of a dragonfly taking off, including its body motion and wing deformations,” says Dr. Dong. “Now, by varying our validated mathematical model, we can begin to understand with great confidence how a dragonfly manages its wings to create the forces needed to lift its body up under a variety of conditions. Next, we need to repeat the process for other stages of flight like hovering, maneuvering, and landing.”
See videos of their simulation results after the break.
via Contours – The Tecplot Newsletter: Article.
Read more…
Science cfd, simulation, tecplot, visualization
Avatar has really impacted the visual effects and digital cinematography industry in a huge way, bringing previs, CG rendering, motion capture, and direct video into a single seamless real-time package that opens a whole new world to directors and filmmakers. AWN has a great writeup on what James Cameron and Rob Legato were able to accomplish, and what it might mean in the future.
Thus, thanks to the virtual cinematography workflow created by Rob Legato, allowing Cameron to observe directly on an LCD monitor how the actors’ CG characters (or avatars) interact with the CG Pandora in realtime and direct scenes as though he were shooting live action, digital and live action moviemaking have become one. In other words, everything you've heard or read about the new digital paradigm or 5D has now become a reality. Which also means that pre and post are obsolete, compositing will have to be redefined and so might previs.
via Avatar: The Game Changer | AWN | Animation World Network.
Graphics "motion capture", avatar, previs
As 2009 winds down, VizWorld nears the end of it’s first year in development, and what a HUGE year it’s been! A few great milestones:
But that’s not all, this year we’ve also brought our new Job Forum online, and our semi-weekly “Resource of the Week“. We’ve watched readership rise several times over as we close in on the 1-million pageviews a month, and watched the RSS subscribers rise to close to 1000! In fact, there has been so much interest from vendors, public relations representatives, and providers that we’ve decided to implement a formal advertising campaign. Our new Director of Marketing will work with companies in the graphics ecosystem to increase their exposure amongst our readership, and maintain the quality of advertising and news you’ve come to expect here.
So, 2009 was a great year for VizWorld, and we hope 2010 will be even better! Thanks to all of you for making VizWorld the success it’s been!
Website feature, Website
People have scoured the exposed CRU emails and compiled all of them into a massive timeline covering 30 years of information contained within, presenting it as a huge PDF.
You have to see this to believe it. Look up close and admire the detail while you despair at how long science has been going off the rails. To better appreciate the past and what was exposed by the CRU emails, the time-line chart consolidates and chronologically organizes the information uncovered and published about the CRU emails by many researchers along with some related contextual events. That the chart exists at all is yet another example of how skilled experts are flocking in to the skeptics position and dedicating hours of time pro bono because they are passionately motivated to fight against those who try to deceive us.
via The Climategate Timeline: 30 years visualized « Watts Up With That?.
Science climate, climategate, infographic, popular, timeline
The result of last month’s merger of GenArts and WonderTouch have just resulted in the first ever release of Particleillusion for AfterEffects, as an integrated plugin that brings the full functionality of Particleillusion into the popular compositing package.
Like its stand-alone sibling particleIllusion 3.0, pIAE is built on the industry’s most robust 2D particle generation engine. As a result, it features the same highly acclaimed speed and ease of use that have made wondertouch products so popular with more than 10,000 compositing artists around the world. In addition, pIAE provides access to the thousands of existing wondertouch emitters — downloadable presets designed to allow users to effortlessly create natural, high-quality effects such as smoke, fire, explosions, sparkles, fireworks and countless abstract effects — without ever leaving the After Effects environment.
Buy it from Wondertouch for $299, only $179 if you’re already a ParticleIllusion customer.
via WONDERTOUCH BY GENARTS SHIPS PARTICLEILLUSION FOR AFTER EFFECTS | The Briefing Room.
Graphics aftereffects, genarts, particleillusion, plugin, software, wondertouch
While sequencing the genomes of complex organisms, like humans, remains a costly and time-consuming process, simpler organisms, like bacteria, can be sequenced relatively trivially. A new paper featured in the upcoming issue of Nature covers the results of 200 dispered organisms and shows a fascinating genomic graph of the results.
A new paper takes an approach that’s less driven by self-interest. Its authors surveyed hundreds of strains of bacteria and archaea that we know how to culture, and picked 200 of them that are broadly dispersed across the tree of life, based on the sequence of a ribosomal RNA gene. They’re now in the process of completing the genomes of all of them, and the paper serves as an interim report.
via Presenting a genomic encyclopedia of bacteria (and archaea).
Science biomed, genome
Winterbrose is offering a new texture pack every day from now through the 5th of January for free, although getting it takes a bit of work.
Visit www.WINTERBROSE.com everyday from 25-Dec-2009 through 5-Jan-2010 to receive a brand new set of 100+ textures that have never before been released to the public. You must search the site for the icon (a set of gift boxes) and click on it to download the ZIP file. Collect all 12 sets which include a FREE Personal Use license (see notes) to get you started right away.
In addition to getting the individual textures, each pack contains a chance to win a free commercial license. Full details on their site.
via Winterbrose – 3D Graphics & Tutorials for Creative Minds.
Graphics free, list, texture
Ford is using the same motion-capture technology used by Hollywood (in films like Avatar) to track human movements inside virtual cars, allowing them to better analyze human motion and design cars around it while avoiding expensive physical prototypes.
“This technology enables us to evaluate many vehicle exterior and interior alternatives in a virtual environment from any location — in the driver’s seat or hundreds of feet away from the vehicle – with animated characters and vehicles,” said Elizabeth Baron, a technical specialist in Virtual Reality and Advanced Visualization at Ford.
One room in the lab projects images onto three walls and the ceiling, producing interiors and exteriors at actual scale. If this technology really makes developing vehicles easier and less expensive, look for Ford to use it even more over the next couple years as it continues its drive to return to profitability by 2011.
via Ford Using Motion-Capture Tech to Help Improve Ergonomics, Design – Wide Open Throttle – Motor Trend Magazine.
Science "motion capture", automotive, ford, virtual reality
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