Anaglyph is the technical name for a technique of making images that have a stereoscopic 3D effect - so rather than appearing flat like a picture they appear to have depth like objects in the real world.
The anaglyph technique uses glasses with coloured filters to make it so that each eye sees a slightly different view. You can read up on how they work and how to make them yourself on Wikipedia. It's actually quite easy with modern technology, but the technique is quite an old one.
There are applications outside entertainment, and anaglyphs can be used help visualisation in science and design. Examples include viewing microscope images and models of chemicals. You can see some anaglyph photographs in the 3D gallery on the firrs webpage.
This video is mainly a bit of fun, but it shows how the anaglyph technique can be used in moving images. You can watch a much higher quality version here.
Saturday 16 February 2008
Friday 8 February 2008
Is it wood, is it bricks or is it lego?
Time to practice your French with this post. One of the big new things coming over from continental Europe is "massive wood construction". This is an extension of the idea of a traditional log cabin - in which the walls are solid wood - but updated with modern hi-tech manufacturing methods. So instead of irregular round logs you have nice regular building blocks.
This provides very good insulation keeping the heat in and the noise from outside out. It's also greener than conventional fired clay bricks - which require more energy to make and produce more carbon dioxide in the process.
Obviously it requires an awful lot of wood, but the good thing is that cheaper, low quality, wood can be used. As there is so much of it, the force is shared over a bigger area, meaning it doesn't have to be nearly as strong or as stiff as the wood used in a timber frame building.
You might see this type of construction more often in the next few years for buildings like schools and hotels.
The first video is an explanation (in French) of one particular system of massive wood construction (there are others). Notice the computer controlled robotic cutting and drilling machines. Wood manufacturing really is like this in the 21st century.
The second video, which has no sound, shows the same system being used to actually construct a building. Notice how accurately the pieces fit together thanks to the precision manufacturing.
This provides very good insulation keeping the heat in and the noise from outside out. It's also greener than conventional fired clay bricks - which require more energy to make and produce more carbon dioxide in the process.
Obviously it requires an awful lot of wood, but the good thing is that cheaper, low quality, wood can be used. As there is so much of it, the force is shared over a bigger area, meaning it doesn't have to be nearly as strong or as stiff as the wood used in a timber frame building.
You might see this type of construction more often in the next few years for buildings like schools and hotels.
The first video is an explanation (in French) of one particular system of massive wood construction (there are others). Notice the computer controlled robotic cutting and drilling machines. Wood manufacturing really is like this in the 21st century.
The second video, which has no sound, shows the same system being used to actually construct a building. Notice how accurately the pieces fit together thanks to the precision manufacturing.
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