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Confuse Time, All The Time, Every Time

If you live in the land of confusion, lemme confuse you more! Designer Johan Bisse Mattsson is testing my limits as a writer and yours as a reader. Let’s see if you can comprehend this: A clock, where the Second’s Hand rotates from the tip of the Minute’s Hand. The Minute’s Hand rotates from the tip of the Hour’s Hand. Confused? I know I am…so give it up for Einstein here and head over to the Hand in Hand Clock webpage, where you can experience this mesmerizing design first hand.

Designer: Johan Bisse Mattsson

Useful Tools in a Designer’s Arsenal

As a practicing architect, one of the difficulties I face is the pearl that is the English system of measurement that persists in the United States construction industry. It makes international projects difficult to jump to. It means you need scale measuring tools that have lots of weird markings on it, and are useless abroad. And it makes adding on a calculator impossible. Lucky for us inchcalc comes to the rescue.

Designer: inchCALC

3D Software and You!

One of the most important tools in a designer’s arsenal is software. We receive loads of questions about what software to use but like any other tool, it’s only as good as its master. There are a number of industry standards but we want to hear from you - what 3D modeling/rendering solution do you use? I started with Lightwave 3D in the 90’s, then took on the daunting task of learning Maya. Today I use Modo exclusively. Most of these packages have free learning editions students can download. What about free open source solutions like Blender? Any others?

All of the sites, none of the smells

Let’s face it, we live in a nearly virtual society. Just the fact that you are reading Yanko Design right now and experiencing objects of design through the magic of the intertubes is proof positive. Most of the items featured here on Yanko Design may never actually touch or be near in real life. Same goes for most places on this vast planet. I have been around the world many times and still have only seen a tiny fraction of it. Enter this truly amazing step in virtual tourism called “GeoSim”

Is all industrial design software the same?

Mike Hudspeth from Machine Design talks about what to look for in ID software. Today there are many. Besides Alias ($25,000), good packages include Rhino ($895), ICEM ($2,300 and up), NX (a lot, depending on what bundle you pick), and even SolidWorks ($3,995). So besides price, how do you decide? The only significant differences between programs are capability and interface. When selecting ID software, look for these capabilities: