modeler

Did you ever wish you could create cool 3D images of cars, landscapes, and anything else you can visualize, only to choke at the price of 3D modeling software? High-quality 3D design tools are finally available as freeware, such as ThreeDify Designer Free, a scaled-back freeware version of 3Dify Designer, which some users will remember as ActiveSolid. This capable 2D- and 3D-modeling and rendering application has two operational modes, as a standalone tool and as an ActiveX object in Internet Explorer, Excel, PowerPoint, and other programs. We tried its standalone mode.

ThreeDify Designer Free's user interface bears a strong … Read more

When Apple releases new software updates or even new devices, sometimes there are hardware requirements for which Mac models can be used with the new products. For instance, in the latest news on Apple's release of the OS X 10.8 developer preview, news of the system requirements came out suggesting some Intel Macs that can run Lion will not be able to run Mountain Lion.

In these requirement listings, models are usually referenced by the time frame in which they were released. For instance, you might see "mid-2010 MacBook Pro," or "late 2007 iMac," … Read more

Feds issue strongest position yet against distracting car tech, Tesla Model X has us excited, and confounded. Is Washington state penalizing electric car drivers? And we drive the 2012 Subaru Impreza.

In a shareholder letter released in conjunction with its fourth-quarter results, Tesla gave some tantalizing details about buyer interest in the Model X electric SUV. The company received 500 reservations for the Model X, at a refundable cost of $5,000 each, after the car's unveiling on February 9.

Model X deliveries will not begin until 2014. Tesla expects to produce 10,000 to 15,000 Model X vehicles per year. Although Tesla has not announced the price of the Model X yet, it should be on par with the previously shown Model S electric sedan.

The company also … Read more

Commentary Tesla Motors is helping destroy the notion that electric vehicles are green cars with unfortunate compromises.

The company last night unveiled the Model X, a sleek-looking cross between a minivan and SUV with clever "falcon wing" doors and a new electric all-wheel drive system. People can start placing reservations tomorrow for the Model X, which is expected to be available late next year with prices in the $55,000 to $75,000 range before tax incentives and rebates.

Beyond making an attractive crossover, Tesla has shown how electric vehicles open up new design possibilities. The Model X … Read more

LOS ANGELES--The highlight of the Model X introduction, Tesla's SUV, was not the electric power train, but what the company calls the falcon-wing doors.

The manufacturer being Tesla, it was a given that the Model X would be an electrically driven vehicle. So during a preview for a small group of journalists at Tesla's design center in Los Angeles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk focused on the innovative side doors.

These doors lift up from the sides, then hinge in the middle before gaining their full height. Unlike gull-wing doors, Tesla's doors can open in much narrower spaces. Musk said they give the Model X the largest door openings of any passenger car. Impressively, he was able to stand in the car, his head underneath the open door, without crouching.… Read more

Tesla hits us with an orgy of new cars, Spotify heads into Ford dashboards, a new superfast wireless to rock cars soon, and we drive the 2012 VW Jetta GLI.

Green Car Journal dubbed the Ford C-MAX Energi winner of the 2012 Green Car Vision Award yesterday at the Washington Auto Show. This is the second consecutive year Ford has won top honors; the Ford Focus Electric garnered the award last year.

The Ford C-MAX Energi, which will be available in late 2012, is built on the same global C-car platform as the Ford Focus and future Ford models, the automaker said.

The C-MAX Energi bested four other finalists, including the BMW i3, the Cadillac ELR, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell, and the Tesla Model S.

"The C-MAX Energi delivers … Read more

The Redwood Room in San Francisco's Clift Hotel has long been home to intriguing digital artwork.

Three portraits--a man and two women--hang on adjacent walls. If you watch the "paintings" carefully, the seemingly motionless subjects suddenly shift their gazes and change their expressions. These canvases, you see, are really flat-panel screens displaying videos of actors who know how to stand very still.

The "painted" man comes to life and looks at the "painted" lady across the room; they make eyes at each other and subtly smile. The other "painted" lady, older than the first and hanging nearer the man, frowns. That's all that's needed to telegraph a narrative to the viewer: an indiscretion has taken place, or threatens to; a woman's heart has been (or will be) broken.

We're thinking Scott Garner's "Still Life" would fit in well at the Redwood Room (or another such bar). As he explains on his Web site, years ago he "had the idea of a still-life painting that wasn't so still." And eventually he figured out how to pull off his interactive art piece.… Read more