Mosaic

Stunning mosaic delves deep into spiral galaxy (picture)

As part of an experiment in stunning mosaics and data visualization, astrophotographer Robert Gendler used scientific data from the Hubble Legacy Archive and combined it with his own ground-based observations to assemble a photo illustration of the magnificent spiral galaxy M106.

Years of observations in WFC3 (which offers a unique combination of high sensitivity and wide spectral coverage), Hubble's primary camera, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (which offers three independent, high-resolution channels covering the ultraviolet to the near-infrared regions of the spectrum), and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 have given scientists varied views and detailed pieces of … Read more

Mosaic makes photo books easy

The Mosaic Team sent me an early copy of the app and I was able to go through the process of creating a photo book, and have the finished product sent to me late last week. Today, the company unveiled the heymosaic Web site, where you can get more information and sign up to receive word when the app launches.

How does the Mosaic app work? It lets you gather up pictures from a vacation, party, barbecue, or other life event, and easily make a coffee table book of photos at a reasonable price. Once ordered, the finished product arrives … Read more

'Paint with pictures' with Mosaizer Pro

Graphics tools that can create photo mosaics aren't scarce, even when filtered down to freeware. Mosaizer Pro by APP Helmond does that. But this free tool earns a spot even in the most well-stocked graphics toolkit by taking photo mosaics -- pictures created out of many smaller pictures -- to new levels. With it, you can "paint with pictures," creating artistic images out of your own pictures using Mosaizer's tools and vast library of free images, patterns, and textures. You can also add your own objects and save your settings as projects you can return to. … Read more

It's time to review a MakerBot

Why now? Because I finally got approval from CBS corporate to buy a MakerBot Replicator. Then it took a few weeks for MakerBot to build the unit.

MakerBot isn't loaning out Replicators for review. The company says it can't produce them in enough volume yet, citing an eight-week lead time because of current demand. (MakerBot did expedite my order.)

I picked up our unit yesterday from the company's office in Brooklyn, sparing us shipping costs and the risk of damage in-transit (you can check here for Daniel Terdiman's report on his own visit to MakerBot HQ). Total cost with the dual-extruder head was $1,999.

How do I justify spending $2,000 of CBS money on a niche product like a 3D printer? If you believe the hype, these devices have the same consumer/professional cross-over potential as Adobe's Photoshop. And through its enthusiastic, infectious marketing of both itself and 3D printing in general, MakerBot has become the industry's flagship company.… Read more

Do more than add photo effects on iOS

I've written about several iOS apps here that add effects to your photos, but most are just for adding a retro look, tuning your images, or making a photo look hip for social networking sites. I've found some great ones like PhotoToaster, Photogene2, and SnapSeed, but there's another genre of apps that make even more drastic changes to your images.

This week's collection of iOS apps is about taking your photos to the extreme. The first turns your images into line-drawn cartoons. The second fills in your image with words to produce a thought-provoking effect. The third puts your image through a coffee grinder, and brews up a bubbly colorful mosaic.… Read more

3D Printer Build Week: Wrap-up

I haven't left my office once today without bringing our octopus to show someone.

This thing is fascinating, both in terms of how it came to be, and also for how good it looks. It still has a few wisps of plastic hanging off it. Each eye socket also has a small loop of plastic drooping down from where it meets the head. For those few lines, gravity apparently overcame the adhesion properties of the melted filament.

But I still can't stop marveling at the contours of the design. From the shape of its bulbous head, to the … Read more

3D Printer Build Week: Days Three and Four

This step took longer than I anticipated.

My goal, as stated at the end of our Day Two post, was to leave the office with our final print in progress. We actually got close, but we didn't quite make it.

Matt and I found the hardware side of building our Mosaic 3D printer about as hard as building a DIY desktop. The software side was a little more confusing.

MakerGear offers a walk-through (PDF) pointing you to the various firmware updates, driver software, and necessary applications to connect the printer to your PC, and print an object from an … Read more

3D Printer Build Week: Day Two

Today was surprisingly easy, at least I think.

We started with four steps remaining in terms of hardware assembly. We still have to work out the software and then confirm the thing actually works, but in all we didn't encounter anything more difficult than what you might encounter while building your own PC.

I say I think because I have that familiar nagging doubt that comes with any DIY electronics project. Did we put that jumper in the right spot? Will the software work? How hard will it be to troubleshoot? All of those things will be revealed once … Read more

3D Printer Build Week: Day One

I hope to review the coming batch of preassembled 3D printers, but first I need to build one.

That's the idea, anyway. Thanks to MakerGear, an expansive online 3D-printing resource, I have a DIY kit for a Mosaic 3D printer. I also have the help of Matt Fitzgerald, an editor on CNET's digital-imaging reviews team. Not only can Matt take a decent picture, I also intend to lean on his mechanical expertise that comes from his hobby restoring motorcycles.

It can't hurt, but you don't need that experience to build a 3D printer. Still, I've never done it. I hope once we get through the building process, I'll have a better idea of what to look for when it comes time to review a premade printer like those announced at CES this year. The goal with this series of posts is to share what we find out.… Read more