Photo Fun!

This site has a creative way to integrate your photos into other photos. The final composites are interesting, and fun. Try it with your own images here http://www.photofunia.com/

ROBOT MINDS

Robots are on the Minds of many these days...here's a nice couple of ways web designers, game designers, and other digital artists are using Robots as a basis for design.

Mercedes Benz Safety

http://safe.mercedes-benz.co.uk/home.php

Six Revisions - Review of 22 Creative sites using robots

http://sixrevisions.com/design-showcase-inspiration/22-creative-uses-of-robots-in-web-design/

Six Revisions - 30 Artworks of Robots

http://sixrevisions.com/digital-art/30-beautiful-artworks-of-robots/

Fast Rounded Corner Boxes!!

I know it doesn't sound like much, but if you've ever wanted to have a nice little background for a table, or an element with rounded corners of a certain size, Photoshop can often be "too much sugar for a dime". This site, www.roundedcornr.com has just the ticket. It's simply a very quick way to generate web ready graphics, ( boxes actually ), with rounded corners, colored backgrounds, and even text! It's worth checking out if this is something you need on occasion for you media projects. Have fun!

Obscura ROCKS

The Hard Rock Cafe is all touchy feely these days. Check out this article on CGW!

CGW.com

HELLO RACER!

Interactive media is an interesting art form. In most cases it is a commercial art form, but with some developers, the lines between commerce and art are blurred a bit more than others. I was exposed to a very nice example this morning while reading over my Twitter list. The designer / developer's site is http://www.helloenjoy.com. This site is currently under construction, but the design for the logo screen will have me going back for more once they have it all up and running. There is plenty of information about the company here on their Blog http://blog.helloenjoy.com/

HelloEnjoy works in Papervision3D, (which they also invented), and Unity3D, (a relatively new game development engine that has exploded onto the market, quickly moving up into the 4th most popular game engine in the World spot). The fact HelloEnjoy is even using Unity3D is a huge compliment to the Unity guys, but enough about the tools. Take a look at the Art and Design that HelloEnjoy is sharing with the World as they ready their official site launch by having some fun with this www.helloracer.com. It's simple, pleasant, casual, whimsical, and expertly executed. I Love this stuff.

HelloEnjoy!

Interactive 3D Beyond Games

It has been a long while since I posted something here. I have been distracted. One of my more recent distractions is a little known game development environment called Unity3D. http://www.unity3d.com. If you are a developer of 3D animation, games, visual fx, or interactive development, you owe it to yourself to dig in a bit to this program. The basic version is FREE by the way.

When I began programming in HyperCard, I thought wow, this is the coolest thing. I can make images, text, buttons, and windows, and link it all together with HyperTalk. One of the biggest developments in this environment was the game Myst. A huge success, this was the first pre-rendered 3D game, and it was spectacular. I was inspired then to pick up 3D as well. Then on to Director, Maya, Houdini, Flash, and on and on and on...Fast forward 17 years.

I currently have a digital media company, Blind Squirrel Digital, that produces media based projects from digital signage to interactive games, websites, kiosks, visualizations, and interactive forensic animation. I also teach at a local community college in digital effects and simulation and game development. Regardless of my experience, and all of the things I have seen thus far in my career, I know the best is still yet to come. My goal now is to inspire those around me in whatever ways I can to recruit for the media blizzard that is coming. All I can say is Unity3D is going the right direction, and I'm happy to be in the mix.

Digital Signage & Messaging

As I continue developing software for digital signage applications, I also continue looking at the various solutions available. Some solutions have been developed over years of development. It occurs to me that regardless of the amount of time that a company has been working on a software solution for digital signage, the tools available, such as the internet, broadband access, RFID, and other technologies, are still very new, and therefore, to some degree, trump the experience card of the older developers. In fact, in some ways in is a hinderance to the older companies as they now have to come up to speed with their own technology, or be left behind by those of us embracing the latest tools. This is an interesting issue for the larger companies as they are faced with the "ivory tower" crumbling beneath them. Customers are smarter than 20 years ago about technology. They generally have a knowledge of what they want to achieve, and how they want to do it. They also have expectations of what a digital signage application is supposed to be able to do under the hood, not just on the screen. They want to choose.

Even though the cost is coming down for the hardware involved, and the price structure for software driven signage is literally all over the place, there are still a large number of potential customers that operate under the idea that they don't need a form of digital signage. I am guessing, that at some point in history, a hand written sign was fine too. This ripple in the marketing strategy for businesses is here to stay, and educating yourself on how your business or organization can use digital signage or messaging is an important step forward. One of the main issues at hand with marketing has always been appealing to the younger crowd. If you are not looking to do that with technology, such as digital menus, message boards, or signage, or even the iPhone or iPod Touch, then you may be missing the boat. These aren't fads, they are the new TV. People are more and more on the go. Mobile. Kids have always been mobile, and with the younger set getting older every day, mobility and the ability to advertise to mobile people is more critical than ever. And the techniques to do so are challenging.

The complexity of this newly re-formed industry in terms of technology dwarfs the CRTs mounted in your local bar showing the game. The customers in the early adoption process of these emerging technologies should give the tree a good shake so as to make sure all of the fruit falls. Otherwise, they may just settle for the sour fruit already on the ground.

Stanford's 3D Photo Sensor...nice

This is a very cool way to photograph something. Not stereography, but true depth of field! Check this article out.

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9874436-39.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20