Category: Digital Imaging

Mankind has always dreamed about experiencing flight like the birds do. We’ve come a long way, but flying planes, even hang gliding, still doesn’t capture what it is like to actually be the bird. Well, Birdly gets us several steps (er, flaps) closer.

It’s official. We have become so lazy that we even need a remote to take selfies. I guess the selfie stick didn’t make things easy enough for those who like to take duck-lipped selfies. I guess you could always ask others to take your photo if you are lazy and want a better looking image, but that may lead to your handset being stolen.

If the proliferation of drones had you crafting tinfoil hats by the dozen, you’d better set up an aluminum mine. Drone and camera maker Aeryon recently revealed the HDZoom30, a drone-ready camera that lets operators effortlessly take clear pictures of unwitting criminals (and then some) even from 1000ft.

New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) students Rosalie Yu and Alon Chitayat came up with Skin Deep, an art installation that’s best described as a virtual form of body painting. They made 3D models of themselves then created a program that allowed people to draw on those models in real time.

If you can believe it, today marks the 25th anniversary of Adobe Photoshop. This photo retouching and enhancement application has been part of my daily routine for at least 20 of those years, so it’s definitely had its impact on my work and creative life.

Celluon’s PicoPro is a tiny, battery-powered projector that fits in the palm of your hand. It can project clear images on any white surface without the need for external hardware other than a smartphone. It can use HDMI or wireless devices that support Miracast wireless video as its sources.

I have mentioned before that growing up we played a bastardized version of Dungeons & Dragons because we didn’t like rules. We also never once used a game board. In fact, we didn’t even know there were game boards.

Last month, we learned about Live2D, an application that combines multiple illustrations into one 3D model. Here’s another upcoming time-saving application for animators. Currently in development by Quantum Matrix, Quantum Human is an Autodesk Maya plugin that can turn a static 3D model of a body into a character that you can animate, render or use for motion capture.

Last year we saw a couple of 13.3″ E-ink readers. Chinese company Dasung Tech used E Ink’s similarly-sized Fina electronic paper display (EPD) module to create a 1600×1200 USB monitor. It’s meant to be a secondary display and even has a detachable stand.

Instead of a sewing machine, Studio Swine used a CNC mill to make its eye-catching Meteorite Shoes. The studio used a 3D scanner to scan meteorite samples at the Natural History Museum. They used the resulting 3D files to create a design for the shoes’ upper.

I really like the idea of having a 3D printer and scanner in my house so I can make things. I don’t know what exactly I would make, but I would totally scan anything I could fit on the plate and then print it out.

Ad-blocking software is a double-edged sword, but overall I still think it needs to exist. But as Sean Tejaratchi so effectively explained, the barrage of ads online is nothing compared to what’s happening in the real world.

Last year, Microsoft Research made headlines with its IllumiRoom concept, which extends video from a console or media player to the walls and objects around the TV. A company called Catopsys is working on an similar but theoretically much better version of IllumiRoom called Immersis.

Okay… so you have a selfie stick, I’ll forgive you. You’re ridiculous, but I’ll accept a lot of ridiculous. If you have a selfie stick designed solely for taking photos of your own ass we all want to hit you with a crowbar.

From Blade Runner to CSI, popular fiction often stretches the capabilities of photography in the service of plot. But technology has a way of catching up. Last year, psychologists Rob Jenkins and Christie Kerr were able to extract identifiable faces that were merely reflected in the eyes of a photographed person.

3D animations based on illustrations sacrifice a significant amount of quality in their transition from 2D. You can see it in games like Ni No Kuni, Valkyria Chronicles and the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series. Their models look great from afar, but you can see they look flat in some areas up close.