Ever wanted to access your 3D models on your iPhone, take a photograph of your surroundings, then place the 3D model in the photo? No, well at least now the option is on the horizon.

(more…)

By Algorithmic Artisans NERVOUS SYSTEM

Inspired by the complex forms of radiolarians (amoeboid protozoa that produce intricate mineral skeletons), where intricate pattern is integral to structure, these shapes derive from a simulation of spring meshes which form mirrored catenoid surfaces. Nervous System have created interactive software to morph, twist, and subdivide each design, transforming a simple mesh to a complex patterned structure.

The final design is built up layer by layer in durable nylon plastic using Selective Laser Sintering, a kind of 3D printing. These forms would be impossible to create by traditional manufacturing methods. The process imparts the pieces with a coral-like texture, while the slight flexibility of nylon and airy design.
(more…)

Office dA is a Boston-based firm whose principal partners are Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani. The work of Office dA is diverse in scope and scale, ranging from the broader scale of urban design and infrastructure to architecture, interiors and furniture design. Of particular interest to Ponoko users is their use of CNC in the realization of their impressive furniture design, including the Laszlo Files, Vero Dresser and Otto Table.

(more…)

A free CAD resource for digital designers

Cadyou is a community launched by Tom Moor in late 2008 whose goal is to create a resource of free, high quality files for everyone to use, available in the Public Domain and under Creative Commons licenses.
(more…)

Detail of an ‘Oasis in a Corn Desert’ by Min|Day

The Lake Cabinet by Min|Day is the primary built feature in the master bedroom of a vacation house on a lake in rural Iowa. The Lake Cabinet challenges the modernist notion of the detail as the expression of a joint {between two or more elements}. The piece is essentially an 11’-4” x 6’-0” x 1’-6” storage cabinet lifted 12” above the floor. The architect studied the form of water ripples from several photographs of the lake. From these they developed a range of parameters for a computer animation of the behavior and interference of rippling water. The result is a massive cabinet with a surprisingly supple surface quality.
(more…)

Under the tuition of Arthur Hash, State University of New York at New Paltz uses Ponoko to teach students digital manufacturing.

The Master of Fine Arts Program in Metal/Jewelry at the State University of New York at New Paltz has been ranked #1 in the nation in the recent 2009 U.S. News & World Report list of America’s best graduate schools.
The Metal/Jewelry graduate program ranked first in the nation in the Fine Arts category. In addition, New Paltz’s Master of Fine Arts Program overall was named among the 100 best in America, according to U.S. News.
(more…)

The Brand in your Hand…..

Reebok has launched the very first shoe customization application, allowing users to customize and buy their uniquely designed trainers right from their mobile phones.

Inside Mobile was the agency that created the application. “Your Reebok” is now available in the iPhone App Store in Britain and the United States only…..

“The strategy was to develop a mobile service that embodied the theories of long-tail marketing - mass individualization - by delivering an application that was about people and not technology or marketing,” said Dusan Hamlin, managing director of Inside Mobile.

The application offers three of Reebok’s most iconic silhouettes: The Freestyle, the Classic Leather and the Ventilator.
The designer/consumer can change up to 23 different areas of the shoe with a choice of 19 colors, four material options and adding personalized text. The designs can either be shared with friends or the whole world direct from the application via GPS map etc…

This isn’t Reebok’s first mobile initiative. Reebok launched a mobile social networking campaign to promote its Freestyle Hi model by letting targeted consumers interact with the shoe design in December 2008. The campaign let consumers design their own shoe and send it in to itsmy.com, share it with friends and put it in the background of their page, but this is the first mobile customization application that closes the sale…..

I would love to know what anyone in the U.S. or U.K. that has a chance to try the application thinks??

Those of us in lesser countries can live vicariously through you or watch the video of the app in use on YouTube..

Via Mobile Marketer

A Family of Free Web Tools for Remote 3D Reconstruction

Maarten Vergauwen and Luc Van Gool have developed a group of web tools, allowing users to upload digital images to their servers where they perform a 3D reconstruction of the scene and report the output back to the user. They also provide a tool for producing and visualising the 3D scene using the data computed from their servers. Originally developed for the use of 3D information in the field of cultural heritage now everybody can now make pictures in 3D, with a regular photo camera and the free ARC 3D website.

You only have to take a number of pictures from an object from different angles, load it onto the website and you will be notified when you can pick up the 3D photo from the ARC 3D ftp-site. With the ARC 3D model viewer you can generate your 3D model, ready for viewing on the internet. For this you need to save it as a vrml or x3d file and download a 3D viewer from the internet for viewing in a webbrowser. You can also save the model in other higher quality formats. The free MeshLab software provides professional tools to enable you to refine and enhance your 3D model.

Just in case you could not pick it, the photo of the Baptisterium, Pisa, Italy is above or left, and the 3D model on the right or below…. (Photo: Bas Bogaerts)

Thanks to my new friends at FreeFormFab

Now you can design your own pillow using Inmod’s Pillow Design Studio. Choose from over 50 themed patterns and fine-tune your favorite color schemes. Design an entire pillow collection.

Using a web-based Flash Application, Inmod, has launched a custom pillow design service that will allow people to design pillows and order pillows in a flash - all from the semi-comfort of home (assuming you do not have any pillows yet).

Visitors who want something unique but don’t want to design pillows themselves can utilize the Design Shuffle feature that generates a design combination completely at random. While users may design a single pillow, Inmod’s selection is robust enough to enable the creation of entire collections for complete home design. Collections can be added to the cart for purchase or saved and re-accessed at a later date. Custom pillows join design-your-own bedding, fiberglass ball chairs, and stereo egg chairs in Inmod’s exclusive Design Studio.

Here is what design shuffle landed me for $50..

ok

via Trendhunter

Fractal growth patterns emulated to grow table.

Fractal Table II is the evolutionary next step of Fractal Table I which was introduced to the public in Milan 2008. It takes functional needs, such as stability and usability, into account.

Fractal Table II by Platform is a result of studies into fractal growth patterns that can be found in nature and which can be described with mathematical algorithms. Per definition a fractal is a fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole, a property called self-similarity.
The fascination for us as designers lies in the objects’ grown and organic nature but also in its structured and mathematical quality. Both in terms of size and complexity Fractal Table pushes the manufacturing process to its limits.

Fractal Table is produced by Materialise as a single piece SLA in epoxy resin. Its dimensions in cm are: L98 x W61 x H42.

Treelike stems grow into smaller branches until they get very dense towards the top to form a quasi-surface. The structure starts quite unorganized at the bottom and gets progressively organized till it ends in a regular grid, thus a progression from an approximate fractal to a fractal with exact self similarity. To achieve this result different CAD software, both for nurbs modeling and polygon modeling, was used.

Platform was founded in 2007 by Gernot Oberfell (1975) and Jan Wertel (1976).
They share a strong interest in new technologies and processes and at an early stage in their careers discovered the possibilities of computer aided design. Software is not just used as an everyday tool, but becomes through experimentation a source of inspiration, and helps discovering new and exciting form languages. Their work combines these experiments with the logic and beauty of organic forms and the reality of product design: the right use of materials, production processes and ergonomics.