Last Saturday, Tatjana (left) and I took advantage of Richard Leheis’ (right) invitation to roll up our sleeves and make the acquaintance of stone. Max, 12 years, was also along and it was amazing to witness his passion and perseverance. We found ammonites and one squid. A boy not far from us found a fish jaw. It was a great experience to see how many people come out to search for fossils, and to feel how much of a job it is. Stone is… stone.

Its a very infectious endeavor, however. You immediately begin to notice patterns in the stone and think up explanations, then test and discard them – hoping to improve your ability to anticipate a find. The next day, aching all over, I was happy to return to my computer desk. And grateful to have won new respect for the labors of those who have recognized, collected and prepared the petrefacts that our knowledge is built on.

Directors Luis Briceno, David Alapont and producer Jeremy Rochigneux present a must-see animated short. Its premise is simple and presented with brutal reduction. In this film, look development is elevated to story. As if with dialog, extrapolation of style is masterly avoided and so the impact is delivered with full force. Check it out by clicking the image above.

One of my favorite paint programs (ArtRage) looks like it will be getting some competition. Microsoft has gathered some top talent to develop a prototype painting program. Among them, Bill Baxter is a highlight. The above detail is from his work on Detail-Preserving Paint

Data-mining and non-photorealism are closely related, particularly when it comes to algorithms that abstract data according to variable criteria. They also are disciplines struggling to function under the influence and expectations of the human perception system and its sum-of-all-parts owner, the human. The beautiful mountainous landscape above is visualization of optimism bias as witnessed in earning estimates. The yellow lines represent well-informed daily projections of fairly short-term forecasts. The blue dots represent the arrival of reality.

Head over to the Frontal Cortex by Jonah Lehrer for more insight, including why wall street should be hiring the chronically depressed.

Instead of writing yet another review of a book that’s been out for ages, I’d like to try highlighting one bit from a book that I particularly enjoy, or that seems representative for the book as a whole – here from Carl Zimmer‘s highly recommendable Microcosm.

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How about an analog particle image filter? Check out Lola Dupre’s great work.

Link thanks to wowgreat.

When I look back at an application like the impressionist by Paul Haeberli from 1988 I’m overcome with an odd mixture of emotions. Its such a beautiful illustration of how abstracted level of detail functions. Just draw about with brushes of various sizes. The haphazard positions of the resulting circles result in variable interpretations… particularly when painting over an area such as the human face. Despite the lack of control offered in this java applet, I’m amazed at how intuitive the process is and how emotive the results.

Then I get a melancholy rush. Lots has happened, and lots of great energy is currently unfolding (particularly in the generative design community) but there’s so much still just lying out unused before us. More at an old post by Ken Perlin.

Paleoart differs from concept art in that the artist is constrained by the attempt to faithfully reflect scientific research. Yet it remains concept art… the artist exerts considerable creative imagination in interpreting this research and filling in the gaps, balancing plausibility with the goal of creating captivating imagery. Or in this case, sculpture. What could be more captivating than a fully articulate, sculptural skeletal reconstruction? Bruce Woollatt is making one in 1/10 scale and sharing his experience over at concept.org. Inspired by such an undertaking, I’ve asked him for an interview. Take a moment (or two) to take in the many work-in-progress photos at his thread so that you can appreciate what it is he’s talking about, and feel free to add your questions in the comments.
Read the interview below the fold… Read more »

Vladimir Todorovic milks processing for some very intense abstract imagery. His description is appropriate, so if you’re looking for light entertainment, be warned:

The movie is made of five chapters, which critically address the questions of artistic and scientific efforts to understand nature. The topics that arise in those chapters are: sublime view on nature, role of knowledge, ubiquitous bureaucracy, and destruction of nature.

…dinosaurs offer an exceptional access point into the Great Story—our story.  …  These ancient creatures can be used to demonstrate that every ecosystem on Earth, whether in the Mesozoic or the present day, is the culmination of millions upon millions of years of co-evolution between and among life forms.

Back story: after receiving complaints that his book Dinosaur Odyssey had too few glorious illustrations, Sampson describes his fascination in dinosaurs. I find myself drawn to these issues myself. I’m less interested in illustrating a specific species (even if its the biggest, tallest, baddest ever) and more interested in key discoveries that illustrate the functioning of evolutionary pressures that are still relevant today – in dinosaurs, but also in fish, cronoids, whatever. And I want to make those glorious illustrations that Scott Sampson’s readers miss… using technical advances. In doing so, I have to be cautious not to overshadow the true stars of the show – the fossils. My experiments to date confirm me in feeling that the key to achieving this lies in the skeletal reconstruction, as it establishes the context between creative conjecture and founded knowledge. Thoughts?

Keith beat me to this one. And tags me in the process. How cool is that?

After deviating from NPR to paleoart and production issues, I now stoop to sharing the view out our window. In my defense, it was spectacular. Here a digitally stitched panorama of about 160 degrees, the sun was going down and a stormy, brief shower had just passed overhead.

OpenAccess and internet connectivity (lists of OpenAccess journals here and here) are making research results and scientific exchange much easier. The German magazine Spiegel just wrote about ResearchGate, a community site akin to Facebook but dedicated to scientific exchange. Monitor-sharing, closed access management and efficient research searches make it very appealing. Search for non-photorealistic rendering there and top-notch results appear, specific searches for something like dynamic canvas research points to a decent overview.