The StudioGPU blog is showing off some of the new rendering features mentioned in a recent Renderosity review, and even goes so far as to show some of the results and how they compare to MachStudio 1.2.
Now if you’ve followed the recent Renderosity review, you know StudioGPU is actively working on additional rendering styles including ray-tracing. Well this image, using some StudioGPU radiance pass secret sauce is an early example of what you can expect. This is just a prototype, but you can see that the quality of light and color is cranked up even further.
Oh by the way, this new “In the StudioGPU Labs” image took about 60 sec. to render at 980 X 1200 with with x6 AA samples (36 samples per pixel).
The production of food to supply our growing population is an increasing concern around the world, and for those of us that enjoy our beefy hamburgers and steaks it is even more so as it really is a case of ‘it takes food to make food’. TheWhyFactory has a pair of videos that analyze the amount of food it takes to sustain a certain populated area, and then look at whether Urban Farming is a possibility to sustain an area. They visualize the amount of land mass would be required to grow the necessary food (both for human and animal consumption) on various diets, and then look at how that land mass could be converted “vertically” into towers via Hydroponics or traditional farming techniques.
First they look at the Netherlands and The Hague, and then another video looks at New York and Manhattan. See the videos after the break. Read more…
The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is finalizing a deal with AMD that will result in $56M CAD ($52.8M USD) to be paid over several years to AMD for R&D of the upcoming “Fusion” processors and accompanying software infrastructure.
“Our support will help AMD to revolutionize how we use computers — by creating a new generation of “fusion” processors that will move the computing experience forward in powerful ways,” Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello said. “This project has our government excited, because AMD’s innovations will be used in key sectors that we support, such as education, medicine and research.”
Primarily this will be in Markham, Ontario, where AMD already has operations that employ over 1,600 people including students and interns.
It was a month ago when we asked you go vote for Barbie to get a job as a computer Engineer, and the results are in.. Congratulations, we did it! In fact, Barbie is getting 2 new careers from the poll: News Anchor and Computer Engineer. While I applaud the decision, I do take a bit of issue with the ‘wardrobe’ they selected.
To create an authentic look, Barbie® designers worked closely with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering to develop the wardrobe and accessories for Computer Engineer Barbie®. Wearing a binary code patterned tee and equipped with all the latest gadgets including a smart phone, Bluetooth headset, and laptop travel bag, Computer Engineer Barbie® is geek chic.
They claim both Barbie’s are available for preorder on their site, although I cannot find them.
Image courtesy of Helena Stone of ChipChick. Check their site for a full 5-megapixel version of the image.
Next time you just need to make a few quick tweaks to an image, instead of firing up Photoshop maybe you should try out Aviary. Available online for a while, it’s gotten great reviews as an entirely web-based image editor, and as of this morning is completely and entirely free. Previously available in a “freemium” capacity (basically free, with paid premium features), it is now entirely free.
What the unlocking mainly does is remove a few minor annoyances that free users might have encountered before. You could always save your images and project files on Aviary and download them, but they were viewable by the searching public. Adding a personal watermark was also a paid-only feature, and all the tutorials weren't accessible—but now all that is gratis.
The UCLA Asia Institute will be hosting a presentation next Thursday (February 18th, 3:00PM – 4:30PM) from Professor Lewis Lancaster and Mr Howie Lan (both of UC Berkeley) where they will demonstrate a new visualization tool for large text analysis.
A demonstration of a new method of search and retrieval of word occurrence that displays results in abstract visualization. This system developed with support from the National Science Foundation and the Luce Foundation by Professor Lancaster and Mr. Howie Lan is based on the digital version of the Korean Buddhist canon. The interface system will provide a new approach to the study of the 13th century Haein Sa printing blocks content.
In addition to the demonstration, they will discuss how to deal with large datasets and search results that return thousands of hits at a time. The presentation is free.
BillShrink has posted an infographic on the numbers associated with Valentine’s Day. 180 million is the number of Valentine’s Day cards exchanged, not counting the mass packets of cards that children buy to exchange in classrooms. 120 is the number of men for every 100 women at age 20. No wonder women complain that they can’t find a good man. Hit the link below to see more numbers about Valentine’s Day.
The folks at The Pixel Farm have released the latest version of PFhoe, version 2.2. PFhoe is a match moving package used for converting live video into backgrounds suitable for inclusion in CG animation.
PFhoe provides a great place to start when tracking shots and learning the ropes and PFhoe’s Tools like the unique Import Wizard guides you through importing and setting up your footage by explaining the parameters that are needed to successfully track a shot. The simple one click tool set provides an environment even the most inexperienced user will get great results from.
Available for as little as $99 via their online store, it’s a must-have for anyone doing Video/CG Compositing work.
The New York TImes has created an interactive map of the Winter Olympic gold medalists. Simply click on a sport, such as Figure Skating, to bring up a list of events. Then select one of the events under that sport – such as women’s figure skating, to see a total of the Winter Olympic gold medal since the inception of the games. You can click the arrows to go forwards and backwards in time to see who won the Olympic gold medal for women’s figure skating in 1976 (Dorothy Hamill, in case your wondering). From the interactive infographic:
Some countries have dominated Olympics events for years. Norway, Sweden and Finland, for example, have won virtually all the gold medals for cross country skiing since 1924. The maps below show the current and previous gold medalists in the Vancouver Olympic events.
If you’re like me and snowed in today, grab a warm cup of coffee and get settled in and watch this great 100-minute long video from the Computer History Museum on the growth and success of Pixar. Recorded back in 2005, it includes:
Brad Bird, Writer/Director, The Incredibles, Pixar Animation Studios,
Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President, Pixar Animation Studios,
Alvy Ray Smith, Co-Founder of four centers of computer graphics excellence (Altamira, Pixar, Lucasfilm, New York Tech) and a Microsoft Fellow,
Andrew Stanton, Writer/ Director, Finding Nemo, Pixar Animation Studios ,
Michael Rubin, Moderator, Author of Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution
The StudioGPU blog is showing off some of the new rendering features mentioned in a recent Renderosity review, and even goes so far as to show some of the results and how they compare to MachStudio 1.2.
The production of food to supply our growing population is an increasing concern around the world, and for those of us that enjoy our beefy hamburgers and steaks it is even more so as it really is a case of ‘it takes food to make food’. TheWhyFactory has a pair of videos that analyze the amount of food it takes to sustain a certain populated area, and then look at whether Urban Farming is a possibility to sustain an area. They visualize the amount of land mass would be required to grow the necessary food (both for human and animal consumption) on various diets, and then look at how that land mass could be converted “vertically” into towers via Hydroponics or traditional farming techniques.
The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is finalizing a deal with AMD that will result in $56M CAD ($52.8M USD) to be paid over several years to AMD for R&D of the upcoming “Fusion” processors and accompanying software infrastructure.
Next time you just need to make a few quick tweaks to an image, instead of firing up Photoshop maybe you should try out Aviary. Available online for a while, it’s gotten great reviews as an entirely web-based image editor, and as of this morning is completely and entirely free. Previously available in a “freemium” capacity (basically free, with paid premium features), it is now entirely free.
The UCLA Asia Institute will be hosting a presentation next Thursday (February 18th, 3:00PM – 4:30PM) from Professor Lewis Lancaster and Mr Howie Lan (both of UC Berkeley) where they will demonstrate a new visualization tool for large text analysis.
The folks at The Pixel Farm have released the latest version of PFhoe, version 2.2. PFhoe is a match moving package used for converting live video into backgrounds suitable for inclusion in CG animation.
If you’re like me and snowed in today, grab a warm cup of coffee and get settled in and watch this great 100-minute long video from the Computer History Museum on the growth and success of Pixar. Recorded back in 2005, it includes:
VizWorld.com 
Comments