microsoft photosynth, a new 3d interface for photos

Ever wish you could re-live some moments from a vacation or from a special occasion? Or how about see a 3-dimensional representation of a place you’ve never been before? Well now you can! Take numerous photos of the surroundings then bring them home and organize them (or rather let this software organize them for you) with photosynth. Or if you wish enter keywords into flickr and pull from a community of photographs to visualize places and things. Microsoft’s Photosynth brings a whole new social dynamic to photographs.

Microsoft’s new technology (powered by in part by Seadragon & DirectX implementing the new Windows Media Photo format) actually recognizes similarities in different photos and then ’stitchs’ an actual 3-dimensional representation of the place. Not only that but photosynth also allows you to browse actual high-resolution images in a fast, easy, intuitive manner without having to wait ages for high-definition images to load.

Check out the tech preview:
Microsoft Photosynth

Photosynth, a new technology from Microsoft Live Labs that takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space.We’ve assembled a few collections for you to play with, and we’re working on adding more. In the future you’ll be able to “photosynthesize” your own photos, but we aren’t there yet.

the best free fonts the web has to offer

free fonts:
http://www.fonts500.com
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/fonts/
http://www.betterfonts.com/
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.urbanfonts.com/
http://neatfonts.com/
http://creamundo.com/ (9800 fonts)
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.abstractfonts.com/
http://simplythebest.net/fonts/
http://openfontlibrary.org/
http://www.typenow.net/themed.htm (themed)
http://www.searchfreefonts.com/

free font managers:
http://www.adobe.com/products/atmlight/download.html (Adobe Type Manager Light)
http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html (The Font Thing)
http://opcion.sourceforge.net/ (Opcion)

identify a font:
http://www.identifont.com/
http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

type tester:
http://typetester.maratz.com/

brand names:
http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/

create your own font:
http://www.fontifier.com/
http://pentacom.jp/soft/ex/font/edit.html (FontEditor BitfontMaker)

got one to add? let me know in the comments!

adobe releases new creative suite 3 (CS3)

Largest Software Release in Adobe’s 25-year History Revolutionizes Creative Workflows

SAN JOSE, Calif. — March 27, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 product line, a revolutionary offering of tightly integrated, industry-leading design and development tools for virtually every creative workflow. Adobe’s new Creative Suite 3 line-up unites the best of Adobe and Macromedia® product innovation to provide designers and developers with a broad spectrum of creative options for all facets of print, web, mobile, interactive, film, and video production. There are six all-new configurations of Adobe Creative Suite 3. These include, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Design Standard editions; Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium and Web Standard editions; and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium (see separate releases). Rounding out the product line is Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection which combines 12 of Adobe’s new design and development applications in a single box—the most comprehensive creative environment ever delivered.

The majority of Adobe Creative Suite 3 editions will be available as Universal applications for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs and support Microsoft® Windows® XP and Windows Vista™. Customers will experience increased levels of performance and speed running Creative Suite 3 natively on Intel-based Macintosh systems and the latest Windows hardware.

“Creative Suite 3 is the biggest launch in Adobe’s 25 year history and a milestone for the creative industry,” said Bruce Chizen, chief executive officer at Adobe. “This release reflects the powerful integration between Adobe and Macromedia and how our products bridge the gap between designers and developers. With new workflows that streamline collaboration and impact the development of rich content, designers and developers now have the creative license to engage audiences across virtually every medium.”

Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) Home Page:
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) Press Release:
http://www.adobe.com/…/032707CreativeSuite.html

amazing new billboard concept

Here’s one for ya! Finally a creative use of materials for billboards. Ian Hart has proposed this innovative billboard design idea using GE Lexan EXL semi-transparant resin. The resin used blurs the scene behind it and best of all it’s weatherproof. Perfect for an exterior application such as this — an advertisement for something fast! Currently the ads are concepts but a great use of materials. All-in-all it’s a great advertisement, a use of a static material to produce a dyanmic image and provides a memorable image associated with all things fast. This is one ad I’d love to see while driving.

Picture of proposed billboards:

[Source: http://ianhartcw.com/]

paint.net 3.0 released

Great freeware app to replace MS Paint.

About Paint.NET
Paint.NET is free image editing and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.

Screenshot:

Download Paint.NET 3.0

microsoft expression – designer tools

these tools have been in testing for quite a bit, but just recently available to the general public. microsoft expression studio (web / blend / design / media) are a suite of applications directly competing against adobe’s creative suite. gone are the days of Paint and Publisher, now are the days of microsoft’s designer tools, aka expression studio.

this software suite goes above and beyond the adobe suite in regards to the capabilities of a single application. for example, with expression blend, one can edit code and graphics simultaneously to make a very clean and simple interface together. expression media can handle digital pictures, images, AND video, allowing for seamless editing, publishing and presentation capabilities. expression web has the ability to create standards-based web sites, css editing, rich data presentation, build web applications, and integration into server technology.

simply put, it’s a very impressive and competent design suite for the masses.

Microsoft Expression Studio

Better Designer Tools for Better End-User Experiences

Microsoft Expression takes your creative possibilities to a new level. The professional design tools and innovative technologies in Expression give you the flexibility and freedom to bring your vision to reality—whether you are designing standards-based Web sites, rich user experiences on the desktop, or managing digital assets and content. Expression Studio includes the following products:

Expression Web is a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites which deliver superior quality on the Web.

Expression Blend is the professional design tool to create engaging, Web-connected, user experiences for Windows.

Expression Design is a professional illustration and graphic design tool that lets you build compelling elements for both Web and desktop application user interfaces.

Expression Media is a professional asset management tool to visually catalog and organize all your digital assets for effortless retrieval and presentation.

Microsoft Expression – Designer Tools – Homepage

Microsoft Expression – Designer Tools – Examples (Customer Spotlight)