Awesome 3d

A volumetric display is one that can display images with height, width, and depth. James Brown, aka Ancient shows how he created a display that uses spinning LED panels to create 3D moving images via persistence of vision. He mounted its components inside of an acrylic sphere so it looks like a high-tech crystal ball. Like all cool gadgets, it even plays DOOM.

Most locks on doors and cabinets are pretty ordinary. 3D animator fkt likes to dream up designs for unique lock mechanisms, which make the process of locking things much more interesting to observe. Here’s a playlist of some of fkt’s amazing concept locks, each of which looks like it could be turned into a real-world lock with enough maker skills.

This unique rocking chair from South Korean artist Muddycap has a design that makes it look like it’s in motion all of the time. Its jagged edges create the illusion of movement, much like pond ripples. Like Muddycap’s other wild chair designs, it only exists as a 3D model, but we’d love to see it put into production.

Luma AI’s mobile app makes it easy to capture spatial 3D models of objects and even landscapes using your smartphone. You can share or embed the scan as a 3D video or export it as a 3D object. It’s fairly low-fidelity at the moment, but it’s enough to be useful. You can check out user-created 3D videos on Luma AI’s website.

Whether you’re a snail or a gazelle, you must move around to survive in this world. In the latest comparison video from RED SIDE, they animated the vast differences in the movements of all kinds of animals, from ants to elephants and everything in between. Watch it in 4K if you’ve got the bandwidth, and find out if a human can outrun a hippo.

Cityframes makes incredibly detailed 3-dimensional maps of cities from around the world. They’re available as small collectible blocks they call Cubes or expansive maps called Frames that cover larger areas. Their bundles let you mix and match different sizes to fill an entire wall. Each map is 3D printed from biodegradable plastic set into a wooden frame.

It’s easy to take the high-fidelity 3D graphics in today’s video games for granted, but a lot of artistry, hardware, and software goes into every frame you see on screen. Branch Education provides an in-depth yet understandable explanation of the processes and technology at work when rendering video game graphics.

Visual artist Alex Le Guillou created these glorious digital sequences of trees using dots to represent their complex, organic shapes. He used LIDAR scans of the Tasmanian forest and digitally manipulated the 3D models to create this incredible footage. Created for the documentary The Giants: The Extraordinary Story of Bob Brown and the Forest.

Swiss artist Simon Berger creates portraits by tapping sheets of glass with a hammer. While many of his pieces are 2-dimensional, he has created some amazing 3-dimensional works by cracking multiple layers and then stacking them together into a cube. His glass skulls are truly amazing to behold.

RED SIDE used computer graphics generated in Unreal Engine 5 to simulate various human-made explosions. The video starts with the minimal impact of a small firecracker and culminates with the deadly force of Tsar Bomba, the most powerful atomic bomb ever detonated.

The game QWOP challenged players to make a 2-dimensional figure walk using their keyboard to control its limbs. The 3D platformer Baby Steps takes this idea to the next level, asking gamers to move a character through a variety of challenging environments by controlling only his feet. Coming to PC and PS5 in 2024.

The latest version of Sony’s Spatial Reality Display has a 4K screen that can show realistic 3-dimensional content without glasses or a VR headset. Its 27″ screen is much larger than the first model and has an upgraded vision sensor and improved depth of field and resolution. Now we need a version for gaming.

French artist MOKA pays tribute to the characters of their childhood by creating virtual trophies of their heads. Among his digital creations are taxidermied versions of Pikachu, Mario, Luigi, Toad, the dog from Duck Hunt, and the ghosts from Pac-Man. MOKA hopes to make real-life versions of these trophies using a 3D printer.

CGI technology keeps getting more impressive. But it still takes a lot of time and effort to create photorealistic environments. Wren from Corridor Crew introduces us to a tech called Neural Radiance Fields, aka NeRFs, which can produce a texture-mapped 3D environment with realistic lighting from 2D photographs.

Most driving games involve competitive racing. But Anslo’s driving game is about relaxation. The browser-based Slow Roads drops you behind the wheel of a virtual car as it drives along an endless, procedurally-generated road filled with scenic vistas. You can control the car using your keyboard or mouse, or enable autopilot.

Rather than using paint, artist bihuashiyuge uses plaster as her medium. Here, she shows off a bit of her sculpting technique as she creates an intricate 3D relief image of The Great Wall of China. Her 3D dragon is equally impressive.