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Fully Reviewed: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet

29 Nov, 2011 by Jeffrey Matthias in REVIEWS, TECH

I declared a couple of months ago that Lenovo had marketed its ThinkPad Tablet to the wrong crowd. It’s 10″ screen and pressure sensitive stylus made it stick out as the first real contender for the title of Cintiq-on-the-cheap. Lucky me, someone at Lenovo read the post and offered up a review unit. Of course, I couldn’t pass that up. So… after a few couple of months using this thing as much as I could, I am walking away with mixed feelings about the device. Overall it’s a good piece of equipment, but depending on what you are looking for out of a tablet, it is either the solution you’ve been waiting for or yet another tease. Hit the jump for a full review.

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Friday Smackdown

25 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

Large balls of fire shot down from the catapult batteries. No one had noticed, but it seemed as though anything that came within a 500 foot proximity of the keep’s wall immediately became liquid, ignited by the faintest light. Out of it’s depths shown two wee, beady eyes, beaming with the strength of a million suns and these links.

Bruno Gentile – If you’ve played games like Prince of Persia or Far Cry II, you’ve probably wept seeing the visuals. This is the guy that does (some of) them.
Chimps vs Humans – Short term memory? Compared to chimps, we don’t have any. Thanks Daniel!
Please poach me – Looking for a job, unhappy about the dank coffee and bad lighting. Have someone poach you.
Alpine coasting – A single pipe, you gliding down it, no brakes. Oh yeah, this is in the mountains, going down the mountain… all of it.
Giant Tesla Coil – Two ten story Tesla coils shooting electrical arcs across the sky. What I’ve always wanted atop my home or each shoulder.
Pepper spraying cop – Spraying innocent young college protesters. Who would do such a thing. This is that guy in various pepper spraying situations. hilarious.

The Chrysalis Project Puts 3D Design on the Web in a
Very Cool Way.

23 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in DESIGN, FAB

3D modeling apps can’t make it to the web soon enough and Chris Chalmers of Bios Design Collective could very well be pointing the way. His new, custom lamp fab site Fabripod is the foundation of a Kickstarter project set out to combine 3D design and web based visualization in a ingenious way… and as far as I’m concerned, Chris is on the cusp of defining the future of interactive 3D apps and how we can create and make our ideas. It’s the Chrysalis project, a project combining Grasshopper and Processing to deliver online Making App. Sound strange? Not to worry, we spoke with Chris about the project and how it’s shaping the future of design.

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The Best [Non-CAD] Design Apps. Your Choice?

22 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in DESIGN

Not to get all personal with you on a Tuesday, but how many different design apps do you use? The non-CAD variety – the apps that help you document, store, take notes and generally be a nuisance to those who don’t like your repeated requests to join GMail or a Dropbox? There are likely a few and from the looks of this snazzy infographic cooked up by work-app discovery site BestVendor, you’re headed to the cloud and will likely smash anyone who badmouths your favorite app. Do you use any of these?

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3D Systems Adds a Bit More Color, Plans to Acquire ZCorp

22 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in FAB, NEWS

Whoa buddy, 3D Systems continues their 3D print related rampage through the additive manufacturing industry gobbling up companies to compliment their forward looking plans of content-to-print domination. It seems no company is safe from having MILLIONS of dollars thrown at them, if they’ve got the “strategic fit’ 3D Systems CEO, Abe Reichental, is looking for. With ZCorp it’s multi-color 3D printers, but don’t forget, they have those slick hand-held 3D Scanners as well. What’s it all mean?

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The Mesmerizing Kinetic Sculpture of U-Ram
Choe’s ‘Guardian of the Hole’

18 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in DESIGN, ROCKIN'

I’m all for kinetic sculptures that look like they could disembowel you, devour you, the move your remains through their undulating, kineticly cool structure. U-Ram Choe who is know for amazing metal work mixed with an array of glass, coils, resin, electronic bits and movement has a new sculpture showing in New York at the Asia Society Museum until December 31, 2011. If you happen through the Big Apple, you’ll want to see it. If you don’t, you’ll want to see this mesmerizing video.

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Friday Smackdown: OnOnOnOnOnOn

18 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

The dust tumbled off the sill of the open window as his boots fell one after the other against the plank floor. “Why you’re full of nothing but prunes and palaver!” came the voice from the corner, “Going on as you do with this and that and the other and I’ll tell you what, you son of a gun, I’ll beat you silly and…” In all the beguiling talk, out spilled these links.

Ted Lockwood – And this is what amazingly creative character design, nay, artistry looks like.
Muppets do Nirvana – Don’t knock it, until you hear it. – Thanks Irene!
Biomimicry War – From Crab bots and Gecko bots to super strong octupus camo and Mollusk armor. Thanks Martyn!
My Robot Nation – Design and 3D print your very own robot army.
News360 – A super cool news article app. Pulls in content from other sources based on the site you’re at. Has bot Mobile and browser apps.
Marcel the Shell – It’s disturbing to me that a shell, with one eye, rides a bug, or a catepillar, and sleeps on a muffin when staying at a hotel.
Ronnie Koff – The works of the man who rebranded Science. Imaginary Forces director Ronnie Koff.
Rollercoaster sculpture – If you ran fast enough, you might be able to make it around the loop. Ready, set… Via MSNBC photoblog.
Brave – The new trailer from Pixar for the movie Brave, releasing June 2012 at a theater near you.

T-Splines V3.3 Sneak Peek – Re-Topo Tools Will Blow
Your Mind

16 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in CAD, FAB

This is a special guest post from Sky Greenawalt of School Street Design who writes about CAD/CAM tools and the process he goes through in the quest to create high-quality composite parts at BetterLivingThroughCNC.com. Catch his webinar on T-Splines V3.3 retopo tools and applying T-Spline surfaces to mesh data, November 29th. Register here.

Well folks, here it is, the thing I’ve been dying to blog about. T-Splines version 3.3 is nearly here, and for some reason the stars have aligned with my purchase of an EXAscan laser scanner and this newest T-Splines version. I must be lucky, but whatever it is, I have literally been doing happy dances around the shop. Here’s what all the excitement is about.

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Luxion Drops KeyShot 3 Bomb, Animators Rejoice

15 Nov, 2011 by Bruce Buck in CAD, NEWS

Hear that noise? No? That’s because it’s the sound of stunned silence emanating from all those who’ve been waiting and clamoring for their favorite real-time rendering program to bring the simplicity and ease of photo-rendering to their world of… animation. Well, prepare for the shock-wave that’s about to peel your keyframin’ fingers right off… Luxion releases KeyShot 3 today, and it’s about to get real interesting in the radical world of rendering. Hot off the presses:

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The Most Beautiful Mechanical Typeface Your Eyes Will Ever See

14 Nov, 2011 by Josh Mings in DESIGN, ROCKIN'

If you were to wad up a piece of paper, throw it in my face and yell, “what’s your favorite artistically represented graphical element!” I’d have to wipe the blood from my lip, pinch my elbow skin and scream from the depth of my lungs, “A decent, yet imaginative typeface!” Nothin’ better in my mind, and it’s with much thanks to a fine young Italian designer named Riccardo Sabatini that I find myself gaping in face-wrinkled glee at his succulent san serif typeface of steam machine succulence, Mekkanika. Dine.

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