Introduction to ShapeJS

So today I got the chance to play around a bit with ShapeJS, an attempt of Shapeways to make parametric 3D modelling more accessible for programmers, and to make conventional 3D modelling more flexible for designers. It’s still in a beta phase, so what you get is a few examples and limited documentation. But this was more than enough for me to take a look at it. After playing around for a bit, I started working on a prototype as well.

Simple streamgraph Code sample

Here’s a simple code sample to create a streamgraph in D3.js. I found that there were not enough samples around showing how to make this graph and what kind of data is required. It is based on the sample on this Stackoverflow topic.

Add a translate sidebar to your Google Drive documents

I like using Google Drive; even so much that I’ve almost stopped using Word as my standard text processor. It’s just so easy to get used to editing your documents “in the cloud”. Just log in on some shady wi-fi network and start editing your documents! The research sidebar is one of the well-implemented features of Google Drive, offering a sort-of “mini-google” in a sidebar that automatically knows what you’re typing about, and offers some help on searching research articles, images and word definitions.

Designing 3D printable bumper for Nexus 4

A new phone a new project so it seems. When buying the new Nexus 4, I though this was a good time to invest some time in 3D printing. Would it be possible for me to a bumper for my phone, such as a bumper, and actually use it? I’ve always been pretty doubtful towards this technology in terms of “wear & tear”. Materials used for 3D printing always seem so fragile, and a good phone case/bumper should be the complete opposite; very durable and sturdy.

LEAP Motion experiences and plans

So I have been able to play with my LEAP motion dev Board for quite a while now, so allow me to write about some of my experiments. Mouse Control Curious as I am, I started a small utility to make the Leap control my mouse on windows. I know this is probably double work, since the final Leap board will be integrated with the OS, but I was just curious on how this could be done.

Leap Motion: A big leap for Interaction Design

I’m pretty confident you all heard of the Leap, a black box that will “revolutionize the way we interact with computers”. More than half a year ago already this box was announced with some spectacular examples, such as flying through a data visualisation and pinch zooming a world map. Of course, the mere fact that this device is able to track both of your hands real-time in tree dimensions allows for way more interesting applications than pinch zooming a world map, but nevertheless the introduction looked awesome.

Arduinomonitor 1.0.0.10 has arrived!

I have been improving parts of the Arduino monitor app for a while now. Yesterday I put all these tiny improvements together in the 1.0.0.10 version. Whats new in this version? Well I have a fancy dragbar to move the window around, and a (very much) improved scrollbar to navigate or zoom in on specific parts of the plot. Furthermore, it is now possible to change the baudrate, as some people requested.

First Experience with OpenFrameworks – Face detection and video

Last two weeks I have been working with OpenFrameworks quite intensively in order to realise an interactive video installation. In this post I’d like to share some wisdom with you about OpenFrameworks, because I came across quite some issues and not all the issues were documented elsewhere. OpenFrameworks is basically a very useful collection of C++ libraries, making it easy for (creative) coders to quickly create visual (interactive) software without reinventing the wheel.

Tinkercad – In browser CAD software

Where is the time that CAD software used to run on huge workstations and autoCAD books were meters thick? Today each category of software has been ported to run inside your web browser. So has the CAD software, in the form of TinkerCAD. And it’s actually pretty good! Tinkercad uses best of both worlds, the precise modelling of regular CAD software, combined with the easy of use of other 3D software such as Google’s Sketchup.

Arduino Monitor – An easy visualisation tool for sensor data

Do you have an Arduino, and are you sick and tired of staring at the Serial Monitor when trying to connect a sensor? Well then Arduino Monitor is exactly what you need! It provides a visual representation of all your sensor inputs, so you’ll have fancy graphics on your screen rather then a big list of numbers. Features features… Simultaneously plotting multiple signals, with show/hide functions for individual signals.