Monday 31 January 2011

A tantalizing little video: Shyscapes




is a mesmerizing and entertaining short motion graphics fine art video from Misha Shyukin's Bachelor graduate project.

Misha requests viewers watch the video with eyes half closed and not view it in full screen mode, otherwise if you watch the video with your eyes half closed but in full screen mode, its likely that you will get drowsy.

The enthralling accompanying music track is 'Tristana' by Nils Frahm, courtesy of Erased Tapes Records.

Thursday 27 January 2011

The Nimmo Bay Experience: An Interactive 360 Video Panorama via a helicopter


"Fly in a Helicopter over Nimmo Bay Fishing & Wilderness Resort and a 150 mile track of the Beautiful British Columbia coastal mainland. Hover over pristine waterfalls, race down rivers and over oceans, explore 10,000 year old glaciers, forests, snow capped mountains reaching through clouds and amazing fishing spots secluded and hidden away from the world."

The video panorama, here, works the same way as a photographic panorama in that the viewer swings the image around, left, or right, or up or down except zooming in or out in this video panorama doesn't appear to be possible. Nevertheless you can control the view of the camera the whole time by depressing and dragging your mouse on the video once it's playing.

The entertainingly harmonious Canadian Tenors singing Hallelujah provides an added appreciative dimension, to the whole experience !



If you enjoyed this be sure to visit the Nimmo bay website for further heli-ventures.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

3D Cube Illusion


Illusions, feed the brain with intrigue and entertainment, none more so than an outline of a cube appearing to float in an art gallery, until the video begins with hits haunting music, the illusion unravels.

Thank You Bill


Tuesday 25 January 2011

A little history of Parkour


The entertaining historical documentary footage film clip, below, is from a Paramount newsreel shot in 1942, of two men practicing their art of jumping and stunt climbing, as it was simply referred to as then.

The first minute of the video is Italian-American amateur stuntman John Ciampa, and the remaining newsreel is performed by Arnim Dahl. the film was  likely meant as promotional aid for both men who eventually got work as stunt doubles in the 1950's and 60's movie industry.

Arnim Dahl mostly worked as the stuntman for leading actors, like, Albert Lieven, Curd Jürgens and Kirk Douglas but was also involved in a number of publicity activities, such as when he performed a stunt from the roof railing of the Empire State Building in New York.



Among the startling acts he performed throughout his life (1922 - 1998) were his more than 40 times in hospital, with more than 100 fractures, amounting to more than 4 years of his life in a hospital. Nevertheless a survivor of an extreme sport, that became known as parkour which in name was birthed and made famous by David Belle.

The music track on this video is from the 1977 film soundtrack of Gizmo and its either "Pieces of Dreams" by Joe DiSabato or "The Stunt Runner" written & sung by Nicholas Hollander ?

Thursday 20 January 2011

The Formula, a fractal math journey


Tom Beddard has created inspiring and entertaining landscape animation from a Mandelbulb, which is a 3D version of the Mandelbrot fractal. He has made it "with a GLSL shader that uses the GPU to raytrace the fractal's mathematical surface - no polygons or models - it exists purely in mathematical space!"

Although Tom refers to this work as a music video collaboration with 'The Formula', I view it as another mighty fine example of media art, that is where and or when audio and moving images work in complete synchronous symphony and harmony.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Breathtaking Media Art Animation: One Rat Short




absolutely stunning and entertaining short story produced and directed by Alex Weil ....

is a very moving mix of visual f/x, music, sound design and story.......

from creative design studio, Charlex.



Saturday 15 January 2011

Dramatic news video and panoramas of Brisbane's flooded CBD


Totally dire flood predicament causes anguish  and despair with floating detritus playing havoc across the Brisbane flood plain ripping at the very hearts of architecture, infrastructure, lives and families.

"Watching Australian TV you might be forgiven for thinking you're in the middle of an apocalyptic Hollywood movie going crazy with the CGI. From the gunmetal gray skies to the torrential rains and powerful floodwater tossing cars around as if they were Hot wheels toys you can't but feel a tremor run down your spine." Liz Pereira

There are 18 people confirmed dead and up to 20 something still missing after 6 days. 1000's of homes completely destroyed, 10's of thousands of people have had to leave their homes knowing that they will come back to utter environmental devastation ?

A couple of days ago Geoff Mackley and Bradley Ambrose who are in Brisbane covering this unfolding disaster,  documented some unique perspectives of the raging torrid down the Brisbane river, cajoling dozens of boats as other items smash into bridges over the Brisbane River.



The river has since reduced its girth and the long and grinding road for clean up and rebuilding is underway. Go here to read more about how the flood unfolded and how the community is now dealing with it.

Peter Murphy has some captured some really excellent photographic panoramas of the devastating floods here.

Also, Australian online mapping company Nearmap, has released a flyover map of the flood devastation, in "super high resolution and you can zoom in and see a walnut on the ground without it pixelating." via

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Aquatrack: Civil and Military Amphibious Load Carrier


is a ubiquitous use vehicle on land water snow and ice and exists as only one fully functioning demonstration unit that never received one order !

Aquatrack is capable of reaching places where most others can't. Aquatrack can move from highway into difficult terrain and then into 3 meter breaking waves without stopping.

It has a "5 tonne cargo capacity, capable of carrying a vehicle, stores, or personnel on land and sea. Driven by its tracks or twin variable pitch propellers or both together, it can operate on roads, harsh terrain, mud, soft sand or frozen waste and, without any preparation, move from land into river, lake, or rough seas.

At the shoreline, Aquatrack can enter or leave the water through surf 3 meters high, using both track and propeller drive until completely free of the shoreline area, At sea, Aquatrack's twin variable pitch propellers give speeds (fully laden) of up to 10km/hr. Aquatrack can remain fully operational in sea state 3 (wave height 0.61m), and survive in sea state 5 (wave height 3.05m).

The cargo deck area of the standard vehicle is 4.3m long by 2.6m wide but variations can be provided to meet individual customer requirements. This configuration can accommodate up to 5 tonnes of cargo. Possible loads include stores and equipments; up to 40 seated personnel; or up to 28 seated personnel and a vehicle (subject to vehicle size)." Source.


The documentary styled video here highlights the extreme conditions that this amazingly well engineered vehicle can work in, including how it can help clean up oil spillages and rescue people from floods.



Jane's Police and Homeland Security Equipment has a link to a more detailed overview of this incredibly useful amphibious machine.

Sunday 9 January 2011

Paritet Ellips: sci-fi fish-eye catamaran


is a luxurious high speed catamaran from a Russian boat manufacturer that traverses the water at zippy cruising speeds of 65 knots. The Parite Ellips has a twin hull design  of aluminum and magnesium alloy construction, 9m long by 4m wide or 28 by 12 feet.

From inside the cool aerodynamic design bubble frontal, passengers get an enclosed  panoramic view shielded from sea spray and wind.

On the face of it, this conventional catamaran with unconventional looks, seems to offer much fun and entertainment to be had by all, but at  approximately 200kUS$, is it merely an expensive novelty ? Or is it a likely set piece for some future blockbuster movie ?

Nevertheless :-)  "Beyond its resemblance of an extraterrestrial fish, the interior of the Ellips is quite lavish with its Recaro seats, shower room, two refrigerators, plus an 800-watt stereo system, a GPS, and an autopilot system. There also is an electronic compass, auto-pumps, an automatic anchor device and a canopy with side windows." via

Say, who's up for a seriously cool holiday getaway, currently on offer somewhere in the vicinity of the British Virgin Islands.



The music track from about 20 seconds into the video is abstracted from one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons that's been over dubbed with a drumming track.

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Researchers invent Solar cell printing technique on delicate materials


MIT research scientists, Karen Gleason, Miles Barr and others, have invented a technique of  printing solar cells on a variety of very delicate papers and plastics.

"The new method, called oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD), involves spraying a vapor of a monomer and an oxidizing agent onto a substrate. The monomer and oxidizing agent polymerize when they meet and form PEDOT plastic. The plastic itself is conductive, but the conductivity can be further increased up to 1,000 times by controlling the substrate temperature so that small nanopores form, which can be laced with highly conductive silver particles." physorg

The video here, demonstrates how the printed solar cells can tolerate a significant amount of bending and stretching with minimal effect to its properties. The researches fold a piece of printed solar cell paper into an airplane, and show the device generating current.

According to the researchers, the printing technique could also be used for other applications like printing electronics on fabric and other flexible displays.

Monday 3 January 2011

Dustball: Wirelessly controlled robot vacuum cleaner concept


Dave Hakkens intentionally set about designing a robust vacuum cleaner that could easily move over cables, doorway thresholds and flexible enough to be pushed or kicked in any direction to clean dusty floors.

Dave's DustBall design was inspired by hamster ball and the same way an old computer mouse works - an internal sphere controlled on two axes enabling the ball to roll in any direction by shifting the weight of its internal components. When the Dust Ball is full, it rolls back to its charging station and glows indicating that it's ready to be emptied.

The clever promo video complete with zappy sound bed of the concept vacuum cleaner convincingly demonstrates its potential use in future office environments and airport foyers.

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