I’m pleased to report that Adobe has teamed up with Google on 3D, enabling Photoshop CS3 Extended to browse the Google 3D Warehouse, then download 3D models right into Photoshop.  The upshot is that Photoshop users now have direct access to a large & growing repository of free, community-driven 3D content. 

The plug-in and more info are available on Adobe Labs.  (Note: The team is working to fix a bug found in the Windows version at the last minute.  Therefore the Mac plug-in is up now, and the Windows version should be up tomorrow.)

Salty sea-dog Russell Brown has teamed up with friend & FX pro John McConnell to create a new Photoshop Films production, Software Pirates of the Caribbean. Despite Russell’s Malkovich-style multiplicity (playing a dozen characters, including the odd parrot), the credits swear that "No Russell Browns were harmed in the making of this feature."  Heh–most excellent stuff, and I do believe I caught some ace usage of the Wilhelm Scream :-).  A little advice to Russell: just don’t try to transport that mustache across state lines.

In related news, you can see the same 3D ship used in the movie get attacked by a sea monster, all inside Photoshop CS3 Extended, in Russell’s new tutorial.  The good folks at Daz3D, creators of the sea monster, are making the file downloadable for free for use in Photoshop.  And elsewhere Terri Stone shares some piratical photos from the just-wrapped ADIM Conference, where attendees had their heads scanned & turned into action figures.  More on that soon!

No sooner did Adobe announce Photoshop CS3 Extended than we started seeing developers pop up with interesting new solutions.  Among those just announced:

• Strata has announced three new plug-ins for Photohop Extended, all demonstrated in this four-minute video.
  • Strata Design lets you drop 3D objects into 2D photos, matching perspective and lighting.  The trick is that it leverages Vanishing Point’s new ability to export perspective planes as 3D objects.  From there the plug-in can drop in models, move them around, and do a high-quality rendering pass to make the models fit the scene.
  • Strata Photo can transform a series of photos (taken of an object sitting on a specially printed piece of paper) into a 3D model for use in Photoshop.
  • Strata Live connects Photoshop with Acrobat, exporting 3D models for viewing inside PDFs.  (Did you know that Acrobat does 3D?)
• 3Dconnexion (a part of Logitech) has announced that their SpaceNavigator for Photoshop.  Here’s a video demonstration in which marketing mgr. Tad Shelby shows the device controlling a 3D model in Photoshop Extended.  At less than a hundred bucks, it seems like a steal for any serious 3D user (and it works for 2D, too).

More good stuff is on the way as well:

• NewTek has announced LightWave Rendition for Adobe Photoshop, bringing LightWave’s lighting and rendering tools to Photoshop (I’ll link to more details when they make ’em live);
• eFrontier, the folks behind Poser, plan to release a free exporter to make their models compatible with Photoshop;
• Daz 3D is cooking up some great stuff as well;
• And various other parties have irons in the fire as well (more details to come).

All in all, it’s really exciting to see developers already building upon the 3D story in Photoshop Extended.

I’m no expert on 3D modeling & rendering, and for all I know this kind of imaging may now be common.  In any case I was blown away by the lifelike quality of Max Edwin Wahyudi’s rendering of South Korean actress Song Hye Kyo (make sure to check out the full-res version). [Via Mark Maguire]  For a far less aesthetically pleasing 3D portrait, check out my Britney moment.  Awful…!

Wow–Friday’s face-finds were pretty cool, but this technology takes things in a whole new direction.  Volker Blanz and his collaborators have analyzed hundreds of human faces, then built a representative mesh that can be adjusted along various axes (male to female, young to old, gaunt to fleshy, etc.).  The model can then be mapped to a photo in order to reshape a face (e.g. open a mouth, add a smile), change its orientation in space, or even replace it altogether.  This
5-minute video is well worth a watch, and you can find additional bits on Volker’s site.  I can imagine tons of potential applications.  [Via Gregg Wilensky]

Speaking of mixing 2D & 3D, at Macworld Google demoed a new version of SketchUp, the simple-to-use 3D package they acquired last year.  It features tools that in some ways resemble Photoshop’s Vanishing Point, allowing users to attach planes & other shapes to a photo, then generate 3D artwork; check out this demo video.  (Careful: On #3 the demo artist’s frenetic zooming is a little nausea-inducing. ;-)) Whereas VP is geared towards painting/cloning/healing in perspective, SketchUp is geared toward building full 3D models.  Nifty stuff.  [Via]

Wow: When an object shows up at Sears, you know it’s getting kind of mainstream–especially when it’s priced in the range of a decent laptop.  The company is now selling the CompuCarve Woodworking Machine, an $1800 device for "printing" 3D designs in wood. [Via]   Elsewhere, John Dowdell links to Bathsheba Grossman’s lovely metal sculptures, created using "a metallic deposition printer with laser binding before the final baking and a bath in molten bronze."  And AKI International offers laser-cut 3D mannequins and packaging. [For more on 3D input & scuplture, see previous entries.]

Sure, the Nintendo Wii is getting lots of attention for its motion-sensitive controllers, but several other input projects have popped up recently:

• The Reactable is a "state-of-the-art multi-user electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface."  That is, you can drag objects around a flat-screen surface, twisting and aligning them to produce sound (I’ll stop short of saying "music"^*).  Check out the very cool videos. [Via]
• Tai-Chi is a series of acoustic sensors that turn any surface into a touch-sensitive computer interface.  Here you can see it tracking a finger, among other objects. [Via]
• The Onomy Tilty Table is a large display that can rock back and forth, moving the image on screen as you move the table.  This makes it quick for cruising across large images, from geographic imagery to the AIDS Quilt. Check it out in action.  The latest version will enable twisting to aid navigation. [Via]
• SandScape lets users interact with a landscape model made of sand, watching interpretations of the results projected back onto the sand.  So you could, for example, sculpt a new form in the sand, then see water flow patterns projected onto the surface. It’s easier to see it in action than to describe.  More info is here.   [Via]
• 3D Connexion (corporate cousins of the Logitech guys behind the NuLOOQ "Adobe mouse") have introduced the SpaceNavigator, a $49 puck optimized for navigating 3D spaces (e.g. Google Earth).
• Robert Hodgin (of Flight404 fame) created a large interactive video wall in conjunction with Saturn’s hybrid vehicle launch. Grass and text ripple as users walk by; more photos and here.

^* The audio output remains, however, more listenable than Shatner doing Rocketman. [Via Hughes]

• The team at Front Design (see previous) demonstrate in this video how they sketch freely in the air using nothing more than a pen, while a system of cameras captures the strokes in 3D space.  From there a laser solidifies liquid plastic layer by layer.  Ultimately the finished piece of furniture rises from the molten bath T2-style.  Wicked. [Via]
• The crew at Make Magazine uses the 3D capabilities of Adobe Reader to good effect in their most recent issue, using PDF to display a 3D representation of the "spud gun" they describe building.  (If you haven’t updated Reader in a while, this might be a good time to grab the new version 8.0 [Update–Whoops, not quite yet; but the current 7.0.8 will do the trick].) [Via]
• The ZScanner 700 describes itself as "the first self-positioning, real-time surfacing, 3D laser scanner."  Translation: for about $40k you can walk around any object, scanning it in real time, sucking the results into your laptop via FireWire. [Via]

• The team at Front Design (see previous) demonstrate in this video how they sketch freely in the air using nothing more than a pen, while a system of cameras captures the strokes in 3D space.  From there a laser solidifies liquid plastic layer by layer.  Ultimately the finished piece of furniture rises from the molten bath T2-style.  Wicked. [Via]
• The crew at Make Magazine uses the 3D capabilities of Adobe Reader to good effect in their most recent issue, using PDF to display a 3D representation of the "spud gun" they describe building.  (If you haven’t updated Reader in a while, this might be a good time to grab the new version 8.0 [Update–Whoops, not quite yet; but the current 7.0.8 will do the trick].) [Via]
• The ZScanner 700 describes itself as "the first self-positioning, real-time surfacing, 3D laser scanner."  Translation: for about $40k you can walk around any object, scanning it in real time, sucking the results into your laptop via FireWire. [Via]

Wrapping up a packed week at Adobe MAX, on Thursday a number of teams provided glimpses of what they’ve got cooking for the future.  Jen deHaan has provided a great overview, taking notes during the session.  Some highlights:

• Fireworks is now geared towards rapid prototyping.  Dani Beaumont dragged buttons and other widgets into a Fireworks doc, set JavaScript parameters, exported the results to MXML, and opened it in Flex.  If this trips your trigger, you can sign up for their beta.
• Adobe is working with Yahoo on integration with the Acrobat Connect (neé Breeze) communication platform. Peter Ryce & Dean Chen showed PDFs being displayed directly through Connect (using the Flash Player).
• Hart Schafer pointed out spectral view in Soundbooth, where you can visually eliminate unwanted noises using tools much like Photoshop’s Healing Brush.  Played a bahw-tschicka-WAaoow funk groove appropriate to Dirty Vegas.
• Scott Fegette demoed cross-browser compatibility checking in Dreamweaver, plus a CSS Advisor on Adobe.com that lets users share solutions, add comments, rate articles, etc.
• Beau Amber of Metaliq showed new Zoomify components written in ActionScript 3.0. Fast and smooth loading of a 1.2GB file through Flash Player. [More thoughtful chin-pulling ensues.]
• Michael Kaplan displayed an interactive, 3D Razr phone running inside a PDF. A Flash UI inside the PDF caused a 3D hand to appear and dial the phone, which then proceeded to play Flash video on its (virtual) screen.  And at this point, the audience completely lost it.

You know, Adobe (the old, pre-Macromedia Adobe) had great technology for years, but in my experience the company was often a little shy and unassuming about promoting it. When the Adobe-Macromedia deal was announced, a designer remarked, "Adobe will make Macromedia grow up a little bit, but Macromedia will take Adobe out clubbing."  I see that now happening, and I’m getting visions of Michael rocking out to The System Is Down. 🙂

Wrapping up a packed week at Adobe MAX, on Thursday a number of teams provided glimpses of what they’ve got cooking for the future.  Jen deHaan has provided a great overview, taking notes during the session.  Some highlights:

• Fireworks is now geared towards rapid prototyping.  Dani Beaumont dragged buttons and other widgets into a Fireworks doc, set JavaScript parameters, exported the results to MXML, and opened it in Flex.  If this trips your trigger, you can sign up for their beta.
• Adobe is working with Yahoo on integration with the Acrobat Connect (neé Breeze) communication platform. Peter Ryce & Dean Chen showed PDFs being displayed directly through Connect (using the Flash Player).
• Hart Schafer pointed out spectral view in Soundbooth, where you can visually eliminate unwanted noises using tools much like Photoshop’s Healing Brush.  Played a bahw-tschicka-WAaoow funk groove appropriate to Dirty Vegas.
• Scott Fegette demoed cross-browser compatibility checking in Dreamweaver, plus a CSS Advisor on Adobe.com that lets users share solutions, add comments, rate articles, etc.
• Beau Amber of Metaliq showed new Zoomify components written in ActionScript 3.0. Fast and smooth loading of a 1.2GB file through Flash Player. [More thoughtful chin-pulling ensues.]
• Michael Kaplan displayed an interactive, 3D Razr phone running inside a PDF. A Flash UI inside the PDF caused a 3D hand to appear and dial the phone, which then proceeded to play Flash video on its (virtual) screen.  And at this point, the audience completely lost it.

You know, Adobe (the old, pre-Macromedia Adobe) had great technology for years, but in my experience the company was often a little shy and unassuming about promoting it. When the Adobe-Macromedia deal was announced, a designer remarked, "Adobe will make Macromedia grow up a little bit, but Macromedia will take Adobe out clubbing."  I see that now happening, and I’m getting visions of Michael rocking out to The System Is Down. 🙂

• HP has posted some behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the "Hands" commercials I love the way 3D has grown ubiquitous to the point where it can completely disappear into the storytelling. [Via Maria Brenny]
• Teddy is a Java-based tool that enables freeform sketching to create 3D shapes, turning simple strokes into tubes, boxes, and more.
• Conjuring visions of high school physics, a developer has made it possible to sketch and create 2D physics simulations.
• In Shinybinary, Nik Ainley combines 2D and 3D techniques to produce some lovely (and anything-but-lovely) creations.
• The NYT made excellent use of 3D animation in Flash to illustrate last week’s Manhattan plane crash.  The quality and completeness of the work they could produce in less than a day’s time is pretty amazing. [Via]
• Auryn Inc. makes software that gives 3D models a painterly look (a la Monet or Van Gogh).

Some nice motion graphics work to share:

• The ad campaign for the new Honda Civic features a rad homage to the movie Tron; check it out in high or low res. [Via]
• Meanwhile the campaign for Honda’s new CR-V features some beautiful, understated 3D work from design shop Superfad. I really like Coffee and Popcorn spots. More here.
• Director Michel Gondry does amazing work^*, and now his video for the White Stripes’ The Hardest Button to Button has been honored with a terrific Simpsons spoof. [Via Russell Williams]
• And speaking of bands, album covers come alive (and are quickly killed off) in this ultra-(cartoonishly)violent battle of the bands. [Via]

^* [Seriously, if you like this stuff at all, treat yourself to this little collection of his work. It’ll be the best $15 you’ve spent all week.]

Veteran engineer Steve Perlman has unveiled Contour, a system for capturing facial details in 3D space. The system goes beyond traditional motion capture methods by covering actors’ faces in phosphorescent powder, then recording their movements from multiple angles. The NYT story features a quick video of the results, and Studio Daily’s got more background on these developments.
Speaking of 3D capture,

• Human Eyes offers photographers a system for creating 3D data using off-the-shelf equipment; here’s an example of the output.
• Capture devices continue to decrease in size and price. Next Engine’s 3D desktop scanner costs $2,495 and is about the size of a cereal box. [Via]
• Microsoft researchers this week unveiled Photosynth, a system for analyzing a large number of 2D photos to generate a 3D fly-through. They depict related research in this video.
• Hardware makers continue to step up and deliver hilariously large amounts of processing power, as with this 80 billion pixel-per-second Nvidia expansion unit. (Somewhat of a bummer, the $17k box is not equipped with actual tank treads or a smokestack.)

Developments like these, combined with tools like Acrobat 3D driving proliferation, mean we’ll be seeing more & more approachable, practical 3D implementations. Interesting times ahead.
PS–On a more analog 3D tip, check out Richard Sweeney’s beautiful paper sculptures. [Via]

The work of two artists is opposite & complementary, creating flatness in space & depth in flatness:

• Felice Varini creates 2D images in 3D space, producing the appearance of flat shapes when seen from a particular spot. Samples of his work are collected here and here, and an animation on his own site depicts how the illusions emerge & disintegrate based on one’s perspective.
• Kurt Wenner rightly calls himself a “Master Street Painter,” producing amazing images that create the illusion of depth on asphalt, concrete, and stone. On his site he discusses the impermanence of his medium, comparing fragile chalk renderings to music & calling their creation a performance.

[Obligatory, if completely tenuous, Photoshop-related tie-in: anyone remember the impossible object that formed the original icon for Photoshop plug-ins?] [Thanks to Marc Pawliger for the links.]

The work of two artists is opposite & complementary, creating flatness in space & depth in flatness:

• Felice Varini creates 2D images in 3D space, producing the appearance of flat shapes when seen from a particular spot. Samples of his work are collected here and here, and an animation on his own site depicts how the illusions emerge & disintegrate based on one’s perspective.
• Kurt Wenner rightly calls himself a “Master Street Painter,” producing amazing images that create the illusion of depth on asphalt, concrete, and stone. On his site he discusses the impermanence of his medium, comparing fragile chalk renderings to music & calling their creation a performance.

[Obligatory, if completely tenuous, Photoshop-related tie-in: anyone remember the impossible object that formed the original icon for Photoshop plug-ins?] [Thanks to Marc Pawliger for the links.]