The good old days? A scene like this is now the stuff of horror shows. But, by the way, it looks like women may survive in order to rule the world. (Source: JPR) This was shaping up to be a terrible trade show season, now it’s turned into a no trade show season. The unthinkable happened in February when … Read more
The Covid-19 is a very very bad thing, but if it gets us out of a trade show…
The United States has endured a maddening and frustrating log-jam in getting enough medical supplies and getting them to where they’re needed. US automakers have announced plans to mobilize their plants in response. Ford has announced plans to work with GE and 3M to manufacture ventilators for Covid-19. Tesla and General Motors are also pitching in. The fact is, these … Read more
Might as well get the dorky lead out of the way: TurboSquid has released the Kraken. Kraken Pro, that is. Kraken is the company’s brand for its management system built to handle tens of thousands of 3D models. Last year, in June, TurboSquid introduced Kraken Enterprise, built for large businesses, big box stores, and retailers to support a range of … Read more
The data is out there and there’s more of it every second. Founded in 2011, Cesium is a software platform for 3D geospatial data. The company grew out of the aerospace industry when a team from AGI (Analytical Graphics Incorporated) spun off to develop a streaming content engine for geospatial data. Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi said they saw a trend … Read more
Epic’s latest acquisition, Cubic Motion of Manchester, England, consolidates the work the two companies have been doing in virtual production. Game engines have been adapted for virtual production probably since at least 2013 or so. Tinkerers in film production were quietly playing with game engines as a tool for interactive capture with the advantage of realtime rendering so that filmmakers … Read more
Shiny happy people: Twinmotion now has the ability to import characters. It also features a variety of vegetation options. (Source: Epic) Visualization is an important tool for architects, so important that it has traditionally been sent off to specialists, which can be an inconvenience for fast changes and quick updates. Twinmotion, by Epic, is being developed as an easy-to-use content … Read more
Join AMD and you too can have a ball on your cheek If any company in the computer industry can be described as the comeback kid, it’s AMD. All but written off eight years ago, AMD has risen out of the ashes with remarkable momentum and accomplishments. The company has grown market share in all segments from Client to … Read more
Autodesk had a very good 2019, thanks primarily to the work it has been doing in construction and AEC. But also the company says they have successfully made the transition to their subscription business model, grew their cloud-based services by a convincing percentage, and demonstrated they’re in a position to add growth. A good argument for subscription: now that the transition … Read more
The Khronos Organization is a consortium creating open interoperability standards to foster cross-platform development. Their roots are in OpenGL, so graphics will always hold a special place in the organization’s growing list of interests. Khronos has recently announced a collaboration with the Smithsonian on the Open Access Initiative, which will open the floodgates to new content and easier content creation. … Read more
The Finnish headset company Varjo is building no-compromise VR. In 2019, the company started making a strong case for its high-resolution products including its VR-2 headsets and its new mixed reality headset, the XR-1, being sold to developers. The company has been iterating on the same design built around human-eye resolution, integrated eye tracking, and support for industrial applications. The … Read more
Autodesk has numerous small projects for its generative design program, including its collaboration with Volkswagen on a showcase 1962 hippie bus, ongoing work with Airbus, and a collaboration with General Motors on auto parts. Generative design allows designers to define constraints for a part, the elements that are absolutely required such as strength, thermal limits, size, material properties and then … Read more
