Amazon’s upcoming smartphone will have a unique, gesture-based interaction method that involves tilting the phone to access new information and control on-screen elements, including flipping between pages, according to a new BGR report. This illuminates much more clearly some suggestions about head movements leading to some gesture-based features mentioned in previous reports about… Read More
Check out this Kickstarter campaign for KitRex, which is basically a 3D paper velociraptor that you build yourself. 3D paper velociraptor? I’m in. You build the googly-eyed dinosaur by folding and tabbing together specially cut pieces of high-quality Bristol board. It balances on its feet. You can put googly eyes on it, feathers, and what ever you want.
This project came about because of a homework assignment in which creator Lisa Glover was asked to research a manufacturing process and demonstrate it in a unique way. So she researched industrial origami, and in about 50 hours she had designed, cut, and built a wearable 15-ft long velociraptor out of cardboard (shown above). When she decided to wear it to a costume party, needless to say she was the star of the evening. While you can’t buy her velociraptor costume, you can own this smaller, 3-foot-long version of the paper velociraptor.
KitRex is starting out by making paper raptors, but hopes to go on to make a complete paper menagerie of dinosaurs, including the mighty T. Rex.
The project has already made more than 12 times its original $8,000(USD) fundraising goal, because people love them some dinosaurs. If you want one for yourself, pledge at least $20 over on Kickstarter by April 29.
[via The Mary Sue]
Where exactly am I? That’s the question Nokia is facing, not in its position following the Microsoft deal that will see it shed its phone business, but in how it’s … Continue reading
Google’s Project Tango 3D mapping phones are in short supply – only around 200 out in the wild for developers to try – but that hasn’t stopped a teardown on … Continue reading
Mixed Dimensions (MXD), a Jordanian startup now relocated to Silicon Valley, is aiming to simplify the 3D design process by building browser-based 3D design tools designed for the mainstream and for touchscreen usage, along with a cloud platform for sharing and browsing 3D objects, and locating related 3D print services. Read More
Just because virtual reality displays let us interact with 3D interfaces doesn’t mean there isn’t room for the ol’ two-dimensional view inside of them. Oliver Kreylos, a developer who’s been working with 3D software for nearly 30 years, recently demonstrated a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) client that sends a 2D feed of a desktop computer to a 3D virtual reality environment.
Oliver’s VNC client allows him to open and interact with any number of 2D desktops on a virtual reality environment. Why would you want to do this? Well for one, you can reverse telecommute: imagine working in an island paradise environment while you’re actually in the office. Because you can (theoretically) open multiple desktops at once, the setup also supercharges multitasking and group meetings. You can watch a video walkthrough while playing a 3D game, look at a hundred fullscreen documents at once, have multiple large video chat screens like they do in science fiction flicks and more.
As you’ll see in Oliver’s demo video, developers can also make 2D applications that interact with the 3D environment. In his demo he measured a table that was in his virtual space and then used a Razer Hydra to send those measurements to Microsoft Excel on his 2D desktop.
We really don’t know how far the rabbit hole goes with this one. Note that the video below may cause dizziness because of the constant change in perspective. It almost made me throw up to be honest. I’m ill-equipped for the future.
Head to Oliver’s blog for more on his custom program. I wonder if you can emulate this feature on the same computer that’s running the VR environment. That would be more useful, although it would probably take a beefy computer to pull it off. Also, watching Oliver’s demo, I can almost – almost! – visualize a four-dimensional space, where you can fit infinite 3D environments. Now I’m really dizzy.
[via Fast Co. Design]
We can’t enter the digital world like the Flynns did just yet, but thanks to the Oculus Rift, you may be able to experience what it’s like to duke it out in a light cycle. Custom video game machine maker Luis Sobral aka The Arcade Man made an arcade game featuring Tron’s famous vehicles based on the virtual reality headset.
Luis calls his project RiftCycles, a game where players take part in an “immersive virtual reality light cycle battle, fighting in an arena with their bikes until “deresolution”.” To make the experience more authentic, Luis also built two light cycle models out of cardboard and metal for players to ride on.
Watch out for CLU and head to Luis’ website for more on RiftCycles.
[via Gadgetify]
Who would have thought mist to be the key element that marries interaction to technology? Take a look at the innovative MisTable, the brainchild of Professor Sriram Subramanian and Dr … Continue reading
As far as newspaper ads go, the classifieds are an especially boring section of tiny text and identically spaced columns. But it doesn’t always have to be so! This ingenious little ad for Corona’s kitchens by Colombia-based designer Felipe Salazar plays with the geometry of classified ads. An entire kitchen, complete with gas hood and stove, pops right out at you. You can’t do that with Craigslist.
It’s not every day that you see an internet-based 3D engine pushing a game to virtual reality with one line of code. That’s what’s been demoed this week as HTML5 … Continue reading
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