I know this isn’t very new, but I wanted to post for the sake of anyone who hasn’t happened across the site yet.
TheSelby.com is an amazing look into the workspaces and homes of some of the best creative professionals in the world. Be sure to grab the RSS feed from the link in the left-hand column. (They don’t have the site setup to do RSS auto-discovery)
Bruce Branit put together this great short film, World Builder, in which he visualizes the future of hands-on 3D modeling. World Builder is a futuristic mix between the Holodeck from Star Trek, Maya (or Sketchup, 3DsMax, Rhino, Modo, etc), and SecondLife. The film was produced with one day of live footage shooting and 2 years of post production.
World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.
We surely won’t be using our own World Builder, as pictured, any day soon… But I do wonder how long it will be before we have visualization systems this powerful and interactive. Just look at the progress in computer based modeling software that we’ve made in the last 25 years. Compare Pixar’s first (pre-rendered) animated short from 1984 to what can be visualized in real time with Luxology’s upcoming Modo 401. If experimental visualization tools like ILoveSketch (you must watch the demo videos) are any indication, we won’t have to wait too long for our own World Builder.
Of course progress will be exciting and difficult at the same time. It will be exciting as knowledge of a tool becomes less of a barrier to communicating ideas, but that is exactly what will make the people and industries that have invested so much time and money into learning current tools so defensive. We’ve seen the rise of the user-generated-web shift the production of entertainment from professionals to the masses, and I’d argue that the result has been the discovery of more great ideas and talent that used to be lost due to a lack of resources. Perhaps we’ll see the same shift happen in the design of artifacts.
@bencarey posted that Timbuk2 now has a few bags with Threadless prints on them! They have 4 right now, and I hope the number increases. They look great, and it’s exciting to see the Threadless art community spread onto other products like prints, wall graphics, and now bags.
I just wanted to pass on this Digg article. A book is for sale internationally that rips off many talented illustrators. It even provides full-resolution copies of their work on an included CD. Since it’s international, it’s difficult to take legal action against the distributors. The publisher seems to be completely fake. Help spread the word on this!
“Ridiculous new book rips off many, many illustrators’ work without compensation or permission. Even the ISBN and publisher’s info are fake. Pass the word: don’t buy this book, and give this company a bad name!”
Chris Jordan came onto The Colbert Report last night. He uses photography to try to convey the amount of waste we produce every day. The images are depressing, but beautiful at the same time. You can see the interview on Comedy Central’s website by following the link below. Colbert made it hilarious as usual.
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=111474