DESIGNERS. Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, is continuing to push the boundaries in personal manufacturing. Two new offerings in the Autodesk 123D family are designed to empower more people to imagine and create things, and share them with others whether for fun, learning, or profit.
With the software (now in public beta), you can quickly and easily capture 3D models from the world around you, then turn the 3D models into your own artistic creations.
Autodesk 123D Catch
This application uses the power of cloud computing to quickly transform digital photos into photorealistic 3D models. Anyone capable of using a point-and-shoot, mobile phone, or digital SLR cameras to snap a series of photos of objects, people, or scenes can use 123D Catch to generate impressive 3D models. For example, you can create your own personal avatar or favorite vacation scenes in 3D. The app also has built-in sharing capabilities with short movies or animations for viewing on mobile devices, YouTube and other social media channels.
Autodesk 123D Make
Available as a new,free technology preview for the Mac, this application converts digital 3D models into 2D cut patterns that can be easily assembled with low-cost materials such as cardboard, wood, fabric, metal or plastic.The cut pieces come together to create a physical representation of the original digital model. With 123D Make you can create art, furniture, sculptures or other quick prototypes to test how a design will look in real life.
Autodesk developed this technology to act as a digital engineer to individuals who want to create 3D models for products they might eventually want to produce and sell. 123D Make is designed for creative self-expression or for people who can’t find what they’re looking for in mass-produced item and decide to make it on their own.
“Today’s DIYers need a range of cutting-edge 3D tools to make the most of the artistic and economic opportunities in the emerging maker movement,” said Samir Hanna, vice president of Consumer Products at Autodesk. “Autodesk is committed to removing obstacles to creativity and innovation in this time of the new industrial revolution.”
The Autodesk 123D family also includes the Autodesk 123D desktop application, enabling makers to bring ideas to life by designing highly precise and makeable objects/ The Autodesk 123D Sculpt app is for sculpting and painting 3D creations on the iPad.
Inventors, tinkerers, artists, entrepreneurs, and arts and crafts enthusiasts can use the Autodesk 123D portfolio on a variety of platforms and devices, with access to content, Autodesk fabrication partners and social connections at a single destination.
PHOTOGRAPHERS. This year, PhotoPlus Expo featured eight sessions designed to help professional photographers make the transition from shooting stills to shooting video. In the two seminars I attended, Vincent Laforet and Tyler Stableford showed excellent examples of the types of commercials and short films that have been produced with video-enabled DSLRs or hybrid video/still cameras.
In each seminar, attendees seemed primarily interested in learning more about what types of gear they might need, and how to get help with audio production and video editing. (I’m currently compiling a list of resources that can help answer some of these questions.)
But first, it’s important to understand why you might want to consider adding video capabilities to your photography business. You may be surprised to see how diverse the opportunities will be (and why not every video production must be as elaborate as the set up Laforet used to shoot the Famous Footwear commercial shown above).
1. The demand for online video is starting to explode.
Now that high-quality video can be transmitted through the Internet to mobile devices, tablet computers, smartphones, digital signage, and wall displays in stores, museums, and homes, the demand for professionally produced content is really just starting to ramp up.
Online video is being used not just for entertainment and gaming, but also for advertising, training seminars, product demonstrations, customer testimonials, resumes, facility tours, corporate events, book promotion, and much more.
Some applications listed on the Cinestories website include: corporate meetings, 5- to 7-minute wedding storybook films, bar/bat mitzvahs, cultural performances, sporting events, festivals, concerts, birth announcements, family music videos, senior music videos, vacation films, day-in-the-life videos, government and corporate training, documentaries, and short films.
2. Traditional buyers of photography services will be spending money on video.
Advertisers, corporations, and publishers are becoming increasingly interested in the economics and targeted reach of “Web TV” for which lower-budget, high-quality content will be produced to attract niche audiences with special interests. The rise of Web TV is opening up a vast, new middle ground between the low-budget/low-quality user-generated content we watch on YouTube and the big-budget, premium-quality Hollywood productions we see in movie theatres or on network TV.
Here are just a few random examples and statistics that help explain why the demand for video services will grow:
According to JWT Intelligence, magazine publishers will expand into broadcasting. In addition to producing video for the iPad versions of the magazines, publishers such as Hearst, Time Inc., and Meredith will be supplying content to the 100 new channels of original content that YouTube soon will be launching. Content will range from 30-second clips to 30-minute episodes.
The number of people who watch online videos has been increasing. According to comScore, 180 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in August, 2011 for an average of 18 hours per viewer. An October 2011 survey conducted by Burst Media found that 71.6% of web users watch online video content in a typical week, with 39% watching between one and five hours per week. In their Visual Networking Index Forecast, Cisco predicts that by the year 2015, online video will account for two-thirds of all consumer data traffic.
The Burst Media survey showed that 18% of online video viewers took some kind of action after seeing an online video ad. A survey by Internet Researcher showed that online customers who view product videos are much more likely to buy than visitors who don’t watch videos. A Forrester Research study found that having video on your website substantially increases the likelihood that your site will appear on the front page of Google search results.
According to e-Marketer, spending on online video ads is expected to rise from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $5.5 billion in 2014.
3. Individuals are being encouraged to have videos professionally produced.
A recent article in More magazine (for women over 40) emphasized the need for job-seekers to get a professionally produced video resume. According to Catharine Fennell, CEO of VideoBIO, “Filming a video shows that you’re confident, innovative, and an early adopter. A great video is about making a personal connection with your audience, sharing experience, and establishing credibility.”
Authors, consultants, and conference speakers are being advised to add video to their websites as well. Perhaps the same people who hire portrait photographers for head shots will want to have web video “portraits” shot during the same session.
4. Filmmakers are adopting motion-picture cameras that can shoot stills.
One of the hybrid motion/still cameras that filmmakers have quickly embraced is the $50,000 RED Epic camera, which captures 14 megapixel raw frames at 120 frames per second. The camera was used to shoot feature films such as “The Social Network” and “Contagion”and is currently being used to shoot “The Hobbit.” (The camera has also been used by photographers Bruce Weber and Greg Williams to shoot covers and spreads for fashion magazines.)
In an article in the September 2011 issue of Rangefinder magazine, John Rettie notes that high-end cinematographers have also “responded enthusiastically to the high-quality video that can be obtained from a DSLR at a fraction of the cost of a sophisticated movie camera.”
Based on the successful use of the ground-breaking EOS 5D Mark II DLSR in Hollywood movies and TV shows, Canon has announced the Cinema EOS System for use in the motion-picture production industry. The announcement, which was made on November 3, includes seven new models of Cinema lenses that are compatible with Super 35 mm-equivalent sensors, an all-new digital cinema camera for high-resolution movie production, and the development of a new Digital SLR camera with 4K movie function.
5. Eventually, lower-cost, higher-resolution cameras may empower everyone to “capture the moment.”
One advantage of shooting high-res video is that you won’t miss capturing that perfect, decisive moment that can make a great photograph so memorable. As powerful hybrid cameras inevitably become more affordable, more and more of your current clients will be able to grab terrific still shots from their video footage.
For example, the new Scarlet-X camera from RED Digital Cinema is designed to further “democratize superlative cinema and professional photography.” Priced at under $10,000, the Scarlet-X allows professional photographers and cinematographers to simultaneously capture true 4K motion footage and 5K RAW still content and “never miss a shot.”
In his session on “Cinematography with a DSLR” at the PhotoPlus Conference, Vincent Laforet showed some of the breathtakingly detailed still photographs that he grabbed from video footage shot on the the RED Epic camera.
When Laforet asked photographers to imagine what type of imaging power might be in the hands of consumers five years from now, someone in the audience piped up, “What’s next? A RED Epic smartphone?”
6. Continuing advances in technology will alter existing markets.
In his Rangefinder magazine article, Rettie describes learning to shoot DSLR video from Canon Explorer of Light Bruce Dorn. His article includes this quote from Dorn: “In a perfect world, photographers could easily create a profitable livelihood by simply developing their own unique style, and delivering it to an endless stream of well-heeled and breathlessly excited fans. We would each spend our days effortlessly doing our thing, being appreciated, and never worrying about the relentless evolution of image-making. In reality, the delivery medium is constantly changing, and so is demand.”
In my next video-related post, I will list some of the videography-related sessions that will be presented during the major photography conventions in January and February, 2012. If you have additional training resources that you would like me to include in future posts, send me an e-mail at: eileen.fritsch (at) creativesatworkblog (dot) com.
ARTISTS. The next time you write a statement about your art, read it aloud to see how it sounds. If more exhibition organizers start making tour information available on mobile phones, you may be asked to submit oral commentary about your work along with your written statement.
For example, visitors to the “30 Americans” exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. can dial a provided number to take a self-guided audio tour of the Gallery on their cellphones.
The “30 Americans” exhibition is a wide-ranging survey of works by many of the most important African-American contemporary artists of the last three decades. The Corcoran Gallery of Art staff used technology supplied by OnCell to record audio clips of the artists’ personal commentaries on their paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, and videos. Museum visitors follow prompts to hear the artists describe their work.
OnCell is a company of mobile-imaging experts who are passionate about the arts and education. Since the firm was founded in 2006, they have worked on more than 1,000 projects in the U.S. and internationally. OnCell’s mobile tour technology allows museums and historic sites to create powerful learning experiences using audio, images and video for visitors along with additional “edutainment” features such as quizzes and text messaging.
PHOTOGRAPHERS. While many seminars at the PhotoPlus Conference in New York next week will focus on teaching photographers to shoot video on high-end DSLRs, check out some of the new accessories that will put more imaging power in the palms of iPhone users.
EyeSee360 Enables iPhone Users to Shoot and Share Panoramic Videos
EyeSee360, a leader in one-shot 360 video and panoramic imaging, has announced the availability of GoPano micro, an iPhone attachment that lets everyday users create 360 panoramic videos. The company has also introduced the GoPano App and a panoramic video-sharing network.
“Panoramic video has been available to pros for years but this is the first time the technology has been made more accessible and simple to use,“ said Brad Simon, President of EyeSee360.
Using an innovative 360 lens and software, the GoPano micro offers iPhone users the ability to record everything around them simultaneously. Using the GoPano micro is as easy as snapping the two-piece case onto the iPhone along with the 360 lens. At that point you simply press record to capture the action occurring around you.
Uploading videos is just as easy. To share video experiences with friends and family, you can upload video on gopano.com or through the GoPano app. You can view the most popular videos (or your friends’ videos) right from your iPhone or by visiting gopano.com. You can also share your videos on popular social media websites.
GoPano micro is now available for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Purchase it for $79.95 through the store on the GoPano website or at B&H, Adorama or Amazon.com. It will arrive at select retail outlets later this month.
EyeSee360 was founded in 1999 as an offshoot of Carnegie Mellon University, The company has applied decades of research in robotic vision, image rendering, and software interface expertise to the challenge of creating interactive panoramic still images as well as prerecorded and live 360 panoramic video.
CineSkates Introduces Camera Dolly for iPhone 4 and 4S
Cinetics is the Kickstarter-funded company that created the CineSkates camera dolly for shooting more fluid video on DSLRs. Now, the company has announced a CineSkates System for iPhone® 4 & iPhone 4S.
In addition, the company has launched the CineSkates Showdown–a video contest for CineSkates users. The showdown will include a category for iPhone videos.
CineSkates is a unique set of wheels that attach to a tripod and enable you to put your video camera in motion. CineSkates for DSLRs are designed to work specifically with the GorillaPod Focus™ tripod and a ballhead. New to the CineSkates System for iPhone is the Glif™ tripod mount.
If you are among those who backed the company on Kickstarter or have already bought a CineSkates system, you can enter the CineSkates Showdown Video Contest for the chance to win $500 cash or a SXSW Film Festival pass. Voting will begin on November 30, and winners will be selected based on viewer feedback on December 21, 2011. The contest will consist of 5 categories:
Cinematic Sequence
Timelapse Photography
Stop-motion Animation
Creative CineSkates Set-up
Mini Camera (shot with iPhone®, Android™, GoPro®, and other small cameras)
Cinetics was created to “to create innovatibe tools for filmmakers and photographers that combine the power to captivate with the luxury of portability.”
ARTISTS. ArtRage is a painting and drawing package that can be used to produce natural-looking artwork on your iPad, Mac, or PC. Developed by Ambient Software, ArtRage digitally simulates the experience of “painting” using your computer or tablet screen as the canvas. The “oil paints” smear and blend, and the “watercolors” flow together to create soft, wet gradations, just as they would in a traditional art studio.
ArtRage painting of Arielle Kogut by David Jon Kassan @StonehengeNYC
With the new iPad version (1.3) announced October 12, you can share the paintings you create on you iPad via Facebook, DropBox, and deviantArt, and export to a wider range of image formats via iTunes and email. For example, you can export your “paintings” as PNG or JPG files to the iTunes shared file space or send PNG, JPG, or native PTG files via email.
Also new is the ability to record your paint strokes. With this feature, you can playback your iPad painting in ArtRage 3.5 Studio on your Mac or PC for further editing, save your paintings for posterity, produce higher resolution output for large-format printing, or create tutorials to communicate the artistic process. In the tutorials, you can include annotations that explain certain techniques or add Note Bubbles or Spotlights that draw the viewer’s attention to certain areas of the canvas.
"Screamy Screamy Night" Mashup of vanGogh and Munch recorded for playback by Barbara Lietzow
Ambient Design Ltd. is a New Zealand-based global software development and publishing firm, specializing in creative applications and user interfaces for artists of all ages and all levels of competency, including professionals, hobbyists and students.
After attending a recent Display Technologies Conference sponsored by the market-research firm DisplaySearch, technology PR expert Andy Marken sent me an interesting paper entitled, “It’s Not About the Personal Device, It’s About the Personal Content.” In the white paper, he summarized some of the predictions made at the conference and observes that continuing advances in screen technologies may ultimately change how we use computers.
And, he wonders if seeing these advanced screen technologies in movies and TV shows such as “Minority Report,” “NCIS:LA” and “Hawaii Five-O” will help speed mainstream adoption. Here’s a quck rundown of predictions Marken came up with, based upon presentations from the analysts and developers who attended the display technology conference.
Computing power won’t disappear, but will continue to evolve.
Marken writes that, “The IBM PC that recently marked its 30th anniversary looks Stone Age next to our tablet system and smartphone. In another 30 years, even these marvels will join the ranks of memorabilia at the Computer Museum.”
He believes today’s hugely popular tablets and smartphones are just waypoints along the road: “In 30 years, you’ll wonder why you even carried them with you to get your information, news, data, and entertainment.”
The computer as we know it will fade away.
“Why do you need a personal device when cloud computing, cloud storage and virtual computing are here?” asks Marken. The smart network is rapidly rising and an Internet layer protocol called IPv6 has been rolled out globally.
“In its simplest terms, IPv6 is an Internet layer protocol for providing end-to-end datagram transmission across multiple IP networks.” writes Marken. What this means is that: “You’ll have your own phone number (ID) and the network will be smart enough to know where you are so your communications—written, video, audio—can be routed to the nearest enabled device – your car, TV, shopping cart display, fast food digital sign, watch, clock radio, you name it.”
If you start to wonder if technology might be moving too fast, Marken cites statistics that suggest the rate of change will only speed up: “Intel estimates that over the next four years, there will be 2 to 3 billion Internet users (approaching half of the world population). And, there will be more than 15 billion (Internet) connected devices.”
He predicts that as chip sizes continue to shrink and become increasingly complex, we’ll see a healthy mixture of general-purpose and specialty processors that use less and less power to perform more and more tasks: “It probably shouldn’t be too hard for the chip folks to put the- CPU, GPU, video, encryption, baseband and other operations in something so small it will work in anything, everything.” Increasingly, the devices are all connected over the wireless mesh networks to larger and larger “systems” that manage content traffic and store personal information as well as company and general information.
Information will be personalized. Today, people want to control their own information gathering. Interactive display signage kiosks such as the one shown below are an important step in meeting the consumer’s wants/needs. The kiosks allow you to ask questions tailored to your wants and needs and then recommend which products might right for you. These types of kiosks will eliminate the need for the traditional sales clerk. If the kiosks can help you make good buying decisions, the theory is that you will be a more satisfied customer.
“Semi-intelligent signage is already being used around the globe to enable consumers to view and learn more about products and determine which ones they want to purchase,” Marken points out. Some of the more advanced systems even have a virtual mode that shows you wearing or using the product.
Displays will help you make decisions on the go.
A subway-system display island that enables you to use your smartphone to make an instant purchase and have the products delivered to your home is a logical first step. “Consumers will go to a 3D interactive digital sign, make a selection, ‘try it on,’ make the purchase and be on their way. It sure beats shopping with the wife.” writes Marken.
A rudimentary alternative is already being tested in South Korea by HomePlus, one of the country’s largest retailers. It lets you shop at display areas and use your smartphone to scan a barcode to place an order which is delivered to your home. One reason this technology is being tested in South Korea is because by the end of this year, almost half of the 49 million residents of South Korea will have smartphones.
The next steps will be to view the product on digital signage anywhere in 3D, virtually try it on or work with it, and purchase it using your personal ID. Your personal ID could be a scan of the iris of your eyes, a thumbpint, or automatic facial-recognition.
Screens are changing…rapidly.
“A lot of folks say the industry is trying too hard and people just don’t want 3D TV and a bunch of dumb glasses.” say Marken. But he predicts that “In five years, you’ll wonder why people said 3D TV would never take off. You won’t remember being entertained in 2D. Until then, sit back, live with it, enjoy it.”
Although quality 3D content is woefully lacking, and few people like wearing the glasses, these issues are likely to get resolved sooner than we might think. Based on what he learned at the trade show, Marken predicts that as interactive 3D screen technology continues to improve, the demand will grow, and eventually, “They’ll not only be in your family room but everywhere you go.”
Touch screens will also become more ubiquitous. Marken notes that on almost every new system you interact with, you expect to simply tap the screen a few times and get the information you want: “Watch a little kid come up to your notebook and watch them instinctively try to enlarge or shrink pictures with their fingers. Only your TV is a passive screen, but that too will change.”
At the DisplaySearch-sponsored conference, analysts predicted that LCD displays will grow at a compound annual rate of 39 percent through 2014 and there will be screen technologies to keep us entertained everywhere, all the time. Soon, you won’t even think twice about walking past large interactive signs.
“We’re already comfortable digital signage, and just expect it to present information and images in a clean, crisp form,” says Marken. “The use of static printed signs in stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, educational and worship facilities, and businesses are rapidly being replaced with solutions that bring the information to life.”
What sparked all this enthusiasm about new screen technologies and the changing face of computing? Check out the video “A Day Made of Glass” made possible by Corning.
Because a glass company produced it, this video highlights the many different types of glass that will make advances in screen technology possible.
“The thing we noticed in the video is there is computer power everywhere but none of the ‘computers’ we’re used to interacting with today,” says Marken. “And it all looks and feels so natural, so logical. Your information is available to you wherever you are, when you want it…heck, it will probably be telling you before you ask. We’re just not sure who will be storing it all, and managing it all for us.”
Personally, I regard Andy Marken as a credible source. Like me, he’s watched how rapidly technology has evolved just over the past 30 years. We have both witnessed multiple incidents in which skeptics have initially scoffed at certain technologies only to see those same technologies gain widespread acceptance in five years or less.
The most recent example, of course, is the Apple iPad. Remember how it was initially dismissed as “just a larger version of the Apple iPod touch.” That’s one reason I agree with Andy’s assertion that 3D screens will gain widespread acceptance sooner than today’s skeptics might think.
DESIGNERS. Ponoko has made a new material available for 3D printing projects: Glazed Ceramics. The objects are printed with an alumina silica ceramic powder and sealed with porcelain and silica. The ceramic pieces can be coated with a lead-free, non-toxic white glaze that makes them food-safe and heat-resistant.
A ZCorp 3D printing machine is used to form each ceramic piece layer by layer, using an inkjet head to deposit binder onto a bed of compacted powder. The powder is layered and cured in succession until the object is formed.
The Materials section of the Ponoko website provides a detailed description of the ceramic printing, firing, and glazing process as well as design tips.
Other materials that Ponoko can 3D print include durable gloss plastic, gold plate, stainless steel, superfine plastic, cardboard, corrugated card, upholstery leather, felt, russet leather, verge tanned leather, aluminum, PETG, acrylic, styrene, silicone, melamine finished MDF, hardboard, bamboo, veneer MDF, and plywood.
This application uses the power of cloud computing to quickly transform digital photos into photorealistic 3D models. Anyone capable of using a point-and-shoot, mobile phone, or digital SLR cameras to snap a series of photos of objects, people, or scenes can use 123D Catch to generate impressive 3D models. For example, you can create your own personal avatar or favorite vacation scenes in 3D. The app also has built-in sharing capabilities with short movies or animations for viewing on mobile devices, YouTube and other social media channels.
