ENHANCE THAT IMAGE!!!!!

A groundbreaking video that demonstrates hyper-complex photo enhancement tools at work. Eeeeek, no one is safe anymore.

Embed iTunes Artwork in MP3 [script]

The great script will take all of the iTunes downloaded album art and embed it directly in your MP3. That way, your album art will never get lost or have to be re-downloaded
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/download.php?sc=embedart

Hunt for the Memristor [AI]

Currently we are stuck in a lo-fi era of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that shouldn't even be called AI. Our current systems are limited to strict sets of data and extremely specific rules in order to get decent results. Below is an excerpt from a great article giving hope to AI that would truly deserve the AI title.


========================================================

Memristor minds: The future of artificial intelligence

EVER had the feeling something is missing? If so, you're in good company. Dmitri Mendeleev did in 1869 when he noticed four gaps in his periodic table. They turned out to be the undiscovered elements scandium, gallium, technetium and germanium. Paul Dirac did in 1929 when he looked deep into the quantum-mechanical equation he had formulated to describe the electron. Besides the electron, he saw something else that looked rather like it, but different. It was only in 1932, when the electron's antimatter sibling, the positron, was sighted in cosmic rays that such a thing was found to exist.

In 1971, Leon Chua had that feeling. A young electronics engineer with a penchant for mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, he was fascinated by the fact that electronics had no rigorous mathematical foundation. So like any diligent scientist, he set about trying to derive one.

And he found something missing: a fourth basic circuit element besides the standard trio of resistor, capacitor and inductor. Chua dubbed it the "memristor". The only problem was that as far as Chua or anyone else could see, memristors did not actually exist...

...read more

Convert photos to a 3D bump map

Photo


Bump Map


This site turns sets of 2D images into 3D bump maps. To do this, you will need five to fifteen photos of your object that overlap at least 80 to 90 percent. Frames from a video could work well.

View more in Quick Look

OS Xs Quick Look feature is an awesome addition (10.5 Leopard and above). In the Finder view on a mac, just select one or more files and press the spacebar to get a quick preview of the file(s). The downside is that natively, OS X only supports the most common file formats available. The good news is that people have made plugins that extend Quick Look to support other formats!

I gathered the most useful Quick Look plugins for me and zipped them up here, so you don't have too hunt them down. Check here find more Quick Look plugins.

My Quick Look Bundle (zip of bundle)
• BetterZip - Compressed files (ZIP, SIT, TAR, GZip, BZip2, RAR, 7-Zip, CPIO, ARJ, LZH/LHA, JAR, WAR, CAB, ISO, CHM, RPM, DEB, NSIS, BIN, HQX, DD)
• BrushView - Adobe Photoshop Brushes
• Entourage - Entrourage 2008 emails
• EPS - EPS files
• ColorXML - XML files
• FLV (you will also need the quicktime plugin Perian to view FLVs)
• Illust - Adobe Illustrator files
• ColorCode - Most script / code files (see all formats supported)

Installing Quick Look Plugins:
1. Unzip them to the folder ~/Library/QuickLook.
2. Restart the Finder by typing Command+Option+Esc, select Finder and click the "restart" button there.

Star Trek Facial Recognition Graph

This software analyzes video to display the amount each face appears in a video. [via Face Mining]

Wii Graffiti

Concept for controlling a painting application on a giant digital display with a wii controller (Wii Sray).
[via Gizmodo]


WiiSpray Teaser from cldfx.com on Vimeo.

Touchscreen dialing for the blind [Android]

Speakerphone [audio plugin]

If you ever needed to run your sound through a megaphone, cellphone or some other thing like a toy, look no further...that is if you have $450 bucks. It offers everything you need to simulate just about any speaker source.
Official Site
Online Store

Video demo

3D to cloth pattern [software]

Plushie is a free app that lets you draw a simple 3D character and then calculates a sewing pattern for you to print out and sew a plush toy!
Check out the app »

Plushie's Author, Yuki Igarashi has done some other really cool projects for her P.H.D.





[via 3D Thing]

Pro Tools 8 [tips & tricks]

Professional video tutorial (1 hour):
An extensive Pro Tools 8 video tutorial that is only $10 from www.Multi-Platinum.com is a really great resource to learn more.


Additional online video tutorials:
Overview - http://www.vimeo.com/1872172
Midi Editor - http://www.vimeo.com/1932414
Score Editor - http://www.vimeo.com/2121604
Zooming 1 - http://www.vimeo.com/1587043
Zooming 2 - http://www.vimeo.com/1587189


Tips & Tricks:
At the bottom of this post is a list of the most common and useful key commands and tips (for me) for making Pro Tools 8 efficient to use.


The twisting knife of Digidesign:
It took hitting some walls to realize these things:
1. There is no built-in metronome. In order to make one, you have to create a new track for it, and add a plugin that generates the clicks. As I understand it, this is a legacy practice from the old mixing console days. One benefit to it is that you now have the power to change the volume or have multiple types of metronomes for various parts of a track. This is great when your recording quite and loud parts together, since mic's pick up the click track in headphones in a quite recording.
2. If you use an external drive, it must be a firewire hard drive that is formated with Mac Extended Journaled.
3. You must use Digidesign or M-Audio hardware when ever you use Pro Tools. Unlike every other DAW like Logic, you can't just hang out and edit your mix without being plugged into an external sound card of some kind. If you do need to move around, M-Audio is a better choice for the price.
4. Mbox is not the same as M-Audio.
5. M-Powered Pro Tools only works with M-Audio devices and Pro Tools LE only works with Digidesign/MBox devices.
6. What am I missing? Got any others you can share with the group??


There is still good in the world:
Even with the draconian tactics that Digidesign employs, the good things outweigh the bad (what it feels like to be mad and relieved at the same time).

After watching these tutorials and practicing the key commands for half a day, I was more fluid within Pro Tools in one day than I ever was in the year I used Logic. Not only was I faster at the basics, but the track comping features & midi editor themselves are the best ones I have ever used.

===============================================================
===============================================================

All Key Commands
http://www.keyxl.com/aaac31a/263/DigiDesign-ProTools-7-keyboard-shortcuts.htm


Main Edit Window
Cmnd+E Separate Region at Selection
Cmnd+H Heal Separation
Cmnd+Shift+Selection Insert Silence
Option+A Zoom to fit all horizontally
Cmnd+Option+Ctrl+Down Zoom to fit all vertically
Cmnd+] or t Zoom in
Cmnd+[ or r Zoom out
F6+F7 or F7+F8 Smart selection tool
Cmnd (while dragging) Temporarily disables grid mode
Cmnd+Shift+E+selection Insert silence (make sure SHUFFLE & GRID mode are on)
Cmnd+Shift+L Toggle loop playback selection (temporary)
Ctrl+Cmnd+P Toggle loop playback selection (fixed). The right facing arrow that appears at the top of the timeline at the loop start point can be moved to pre-roll before the loop starts.
Cmnd+= Show / Hide Mixer Window
Shift+M Mute selected track(s)
Shift+S Solo selected track(s)
Shift+R Record enable selected track(s)
Ctrl+Option+minus Toggle track view volume
Ctrl+Option+Cmnd+Right / Left Cycle to next / previous track view
Ctrl+Up/Down+Track selected Change height of selected track
Ctrl Toggles audio scrub tool on
P Move selection to previous track
P+Shift Grow selection to previous track
Semi-Colon (;) Move selection to next track
Semi-Colon (;)+Shift Grow selection to next track
Tab Jump to next start / end point on selected track. This is really great for cleanup when having to edit many crossfades or start and end fades.
Option+Tab Jump to previous start / end point on selected track
Tab+Shift+Left / Right Grow selection to next start / end point
Option+Tab+Shift+Left / Right Grow selection to next start / end point
Cmnd+G+Select multiple tracks Create Mix/Edit group for multiple tracks
Cmnd+Drag transport controls Re-arrange controls in header
Click on bottom part of track region overlaps to use crossfade tool
Click on upper right / left of track region to use the quick fade tool. Adjust quick fade types in Preferences / Editing.


Playlist Editing (Track Comping)
Main Edit Window commands from above apply
Ctrl+Cmnd+Click Track Header Show / Hide playlist(s) on selected track(s)
Ctrl+Option+V+Selection Promote audio
Cmnd+G+Select multiple tracks Create Mix/Edit group for comping multiple tracks at once (eg: drum tracks that have separate tracks for each mic)


Midi Editor
F6+F7 or F7+F8 Smart selection tool
Cmnd (while dragging) Temporarily disables grid mode
Double Click on note Add / Subtract midi note with predefined length
Double Click and drag Add an array of predefined midi notes
Cmnd+Click+Drag on note Change note velocity
Option+Click+Drag on note Duplicates note
Ctrl+Shift+Click on note Slice / Heal note


Mix Window
Option Click on section title Hides sections: Inserts A-E or Sends A-E
Right Click on I/O output Rename Bus or I/O

Best music browser ever!!!

It's Christmas and I finally got what I wanted. A music browser that helps one find music by using the objective qualities of music like tempo, melodies, rhythm, awesomeness, etc.... Well, it's not out yet. It's just a thesis project, but I can't wait!!!!!

More info about the software here »

Fast sketchup model building

LittleBigPlanet [Game]

LittleBigPlanet is a very cool game for the PS3 that allows you to create your own levels. It's like the power of robotic lego's at your fingertips.

I would have never known how cool this game if I didn't have someone show it to me because it takes about 8 hours of playing till you have enough status to really start making anything. Essentially you can make anything out of switches, pistons, motors, shapes, springs etc... It's like a fantasy sandbox of cool capabilities. All this is wrapped up in a nice sonic / visual package that effortlessly reflects the style of Michele Gondry. The videos below highlight some unique uses of the tools.

Last night I went out and bought a PS3, just so I could play this game :)

Gradius (Side-scrolling shooter):


How to make a gravity defying car:


How to make an OR Switch:


Calculator (LittleBigComputer)


Little Big Planet - Playstation 3

The Matrix runs on WIndows XP

Sampled video sequenced with body suit

A body suit controlled by Eboman to modulate and sequence samples recorded from a live video camera. Mattijs Kneppers built the software to make this all happen in Max/MSP for Eboman.


» Mattijs Kneppers website
» An interview with Mattijs from Cycling '74
» Mattijs Kneppers Cycling '74 user page

RjDj - iPhone Generative Music

RjDj is a generative music toolkit for the iPhone that uses PD (PureData) patches as it's engine. The first version of the app comes with six scenes to play with and more scenes to download at the RjDj site. A scene is similar to a song only that the user contributes and influences it using the iPhones microphone and/or accelerometer.

Scenes can be created and shared by anyone that has PD and installed on the iPhone!!!

» Official Site
» Download RjDj from iTunes
» Download more scenes

» Making and installing scenes
» RjDj & PD


Overview:


Beatboxing with the WorldQuantizer scene:

HowTo: Recover blurred text

Recovering Censored Text Using Adobe Photoshop CS3 from Tom Robinson on Vimeo.

Learn more »

Get the code here »

Photo Tourism 3D-Photo Browser

This 3D browser elegantly solves a lot of the problems with the first version. It's great to watch simply to see how problems were solved. The video gets more and more juicy up until the end.

This was presented at Siigraph 2008.
People: Noah Snavely, Rahul Garg, Steven M. Seitz, Richard Szeliski
Resources: University of Washington, Microsoft Research
Learn more »

Get PhotoSynth »

Real-Time Gradient-Domain Painting

Click to play the video »

Project Page »