Neko Ears – A Giant Leap For Furries Everywhere

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lSgEt5bIQ4&feature=player_profilepage]

A simple premise – Robotic cat ears that move autonomously, depending on your mood. Despite being more or less horrified with the specific application, it’s comforting to know that brainwave-sensing technology has reached the point where it can be applied to such ridiculously frivolous products. A different form factor, perhaps a “smart” mood ring, for example, would be preferable, or more pragmatically, light controls that dim and brighten in time with your mood. Taking advantage of a user’s mental state to automatically control a system of some sort definitely has potential, though.

Papercraft Mustang: No, Not the Horse.

Origami isn’t exactly my forte, but I do have an irrational love for papercraft, the art of exploding 3D models, printing them out on 8.5 x 11 paper, then cutting and gluing until an object takes form. This particular project finds the user creating these models based on his memory of a favorite automobile and recreating it at full scale, down to the individual widgets. There’s something really compelling to me about being to generate quite literally any form with only a printer, scissors and glue. The funny part is, 3D printers don’t inspire this same sort of devotion in me. I’m going to propose that the reason is the materiality of it all. Unless you’re scraping off layers of sand manually, 3D printing is a magical, hands-off activity. Papercraft, on the other hand, is almost meditative in its application of tedious manual labor. The human hand has a part in every fold scored, every flap glued. That said, papercraft is much more compelling when you, like this creator, generate the patterns yourself.

Generative Medusae: Giving Form to Function

[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/13244834]

I’ll admit this right up front – most generative mathematical simulations bore me to tears. I just can’t get enthused, despite the mathematical sophistication or the elegance of the logic. Maybe this is why I was never a very successful architect. Anyway! THIS, on the other hand, is captivating. Not only does the visualization give a physical form to the mathematics, it does so in a beautiful visualization that manages to capture the essence of those great Olde Tymey pen renderings! It’s worth checking out the link tot he whole project page, as well. As is so often the case, some of the janky development screenshots are even more aesthetically fascinating than the finished product.