jo-ke,

You have mastered this presentation technique!

The only question I have is why would anyone want a collection of jackets exactly all the same?

Mike

Mike,

Check this out, http://www.wisegeek.org/where-does-dust-come-from.htm#didyouknowout

Mike

Here is a clever idea for attaching iPads or other slates to your desktop screen.

PIXO – Magnetic tablet mount for desktop computers
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pixoproducts/pixo-magnetic-tablet-mount-for-desktop-computers

Hi Guys,

I have just noticed PodRide, a velomobile that is meant to be a practical every day vehicle. The Swedish designer, Mikael Kjellman has produced a really well thought out and designed 'Car Bike' that could be ideal for rainy or cold climates!

From what I can gather the finished PodRide will cost in the region of €2500 but he offers lots of 'buy in' options on his IndieGoGo campaign, here,

PodRide a practical and fun bicycle-car
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/podride-a-practical-and-fun-bicycle-car/x/286680#/

I think its definitely one to keep an eye on particularly if the designer can, as he proposes, produce a reasonably priced self build kit.

Mike

Hi Guys,

Just read about Microsoft's "holoportation" that lets you augment someone else's reality!

The videos in the links below explain the ins and out and I must say that I'm impressed. Having clients understand designs will be much easier in the future with this type of tech. It will also definitely be a step up from Skype calls to my family in New Zealand and Oz.

Pricing looks to be in the $3,000 range but I imagine this will drop and production / sales ramp up.

TED2016: It’s a phenomenal time to be human
https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2016/03/25/ted2016-its-a-phenomenal-time-to-be-human/

Microsoft's "holoportation" lets you augment someone else's reality
http://www.gizmag.com/microsoft-holoportation-hololens-virtual-reality-hologram/42501/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers%26amp;utm_campaign=b9a08170b0-UA-2235360-4%26amp;utm_medium=email%26amp;utm_term=0_65b67362bd-b9a08170b0-76676071

Mike

Thanks Dale. When I see something that is well designed like the TILT I think its worth spreading the word.

I've just backed the 'TILT Retina: Ultimate Cooling for the MacBook Pro Retina by madMINDS'

Just a moment...

(www.kickstarter.com)

It will serve four purposes for me, better cooling, more comfortable lap working, addition USB ports (4) and a slot for a backup hard drive, all on the go!

BTW, it looks cool with that sexy aluminium finish!

Very clean design there Richard.

BTW, have you seen,

'Sustainable home can be built in four days using only a screwdriver'

http://www.popup-house.com/en/

http://www.popup-house.com/en/what-is-a-passive-h

I'm still reading about the 'patented' system and like what I see so far.

Mike

CowTech Ciclop - $99 Open Source 3D Scanner

"The CowTech Ciclop is a RepRap 3D scanner with a large scan volume, simple, yet elegant design, and a disruptive price point that blows any other laser scanner out of the water."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/701089851/cowtech-ciclop-99-open-source-3d-scanner

A great endorsement for SU+LO+Skalp

Good to hear and see you back in action Bryan

You're welcome Stuart. I'm looking forward to reading the story to my grandson for Christmas. Keep us posted of the development of the next book. I imagine there will be great interest in the graphics here.

Hi Stuart,

I bought the book and read / viewed on my iPad. I was fascinated with your use of SketchUp for the artwork, well done. I have also posted a 5 star review.

Mike

Well done Jacob, great concept and excellently presented. I'm glad to see you getting great feedback from Richard. Maybe you could team up with him and get the concept to prototype and to the market!

@willanie said:

I do like the added shape detail provided by the ambient occlusion shading. Can you get reflections?

I think so Will. Attached is an image from the AO site which shows reflections. I have not tried it out yet.

I've been using Visualizer since it first launched. It suits me as I'm not really into spending any time on producing renders. I was disappointed when they announced that they would not be further developing the application but at least they made the current version free to use.

A couple of days ago I came across AmbientOcclusion for SketchUp http://www.ambientocclusion-sketchup.com

Its much like Visualizer, couple of clicks and after a few minutes you have a render. It also offers the option of rendering in the SketchUp viewport which I rather like as against rendering in a window. After seeing the first in-viewport render I thought that Trimble SketchUp should buy this app and include it in SketchUp Pro ........ just a thought. It definitely would distance SketchUp Pro from SketchUp Make!

There are two versions of AmbientOcclusion, Lite at $39 which only produces mono renders and Pro at $89 that does color, textures and depth-of-field effects.

Its expensive when compared to Visualizer, originally at $20 and now free, but I think the output quality is far superior to Visualizer in far less time, just a few minutes for me in most cases, quite impressive.

I have emailed the developers and they advise that they have lighting among other features on the 'to do' list. Hopefully they will keep improving the plugin without making it bloated.

Here is a Visualizer and AmbientOcclusion render of a little project I'm working on. Both renders were done in around 3 minutes and I spent zero time fiddling around with settings.

**Ireland 1 Germany 0 (FIFA WORLD CHAMPIONS)

Wooooo Hoooo**

@gbing said:

Hi Mike, very interesting project!
But il was cancelled from kickstarter on August 25

Giovanni

When I advised them that I gave it a mention here they said they would be cancelling but returning with a new campaign. I'll post when I know more.

Hi Guys,

The Bevel 3D Scanner caught my attention yesterday on Kickstarter. This will be the first accessory of its kind that turns a smartphone or tablet into a 3D camera and to make things better it will be available at $50!

The process looks very straightforward as illustrated in these images.

The company advises that the Bevel isn't designed to be a 3D Scanner, but a 3D photography attachment. First and foremost it's about capturing moments and sharing them in 3D. However to use the Bevel as a scanner, you may need to use Cashew (their included app) to help process and download the model, and possibly a 3rd party software to clean and make manifold for printing.

At the moment, the photos taken with the Bevel can be downloaded directly from Cashew as OBJ, STL, PLY and DAE. Bevel's native file format, as well as export options, have not been decided on yet. So, it looks like it would be possible the get the model into SketchUp with Collada (.dae).

I've signed up for a Bevel as I feel it will be fun playing around with it and hopefully getting some small imports into SketchUp. I also think that innovative projects like this at reasonable pledge prices deserve to be backed as it can only lead to better and more ambitious devices.

The Kickstarter link is here, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/matterandform/bevel-3d-photography-for-any-smartphone-or-tablet

Mike