Peaks tipped in the trees of a juniper freeze rose out ahead of us. Nine times out of ten you wouldn’t see, wouldn’t hear, the wood spider’s howl but, on a night like this, your chance was better than others, when in your bait pouch, you carried these links. ShuoLin Liu – EVA units and other armor-clad characters with a style that’s both blocky and refreshing. Funny Monsters – I love hand drawn monsters. So does Robert Romanowicz apparently. His illustration style is marvelous as is the sketchy style of these new creatures. Milk Truck Garden – Now, this landscape project looks like a bit o’ fun, ya know, if…

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. Watch a Bladesmith Turn an Old Drillbit Into a Karambit Knife Deadly objects crafted by and from molten metal are nothing new here on Solidsmack, but it isn’t every day you see…

When it comes to product design books, it’s not always easy to eliminate glamorized portfolios from those that get down to the real nitty-gritty of product design. And when it comes to those actually worth reading, Don Norman will never do you wrong. As a strong (and very early) advocate for user-centered design, Norman is a pioneer in UX and UI design principles that exist in many of the products we use today. In his book, The Design of Everyday Things, Norman dives deeper into not just why…but how smart design is changing the landscape all around us—and what you can do to give your designs a competitive edge. If…

Researchers from MIT have developed a new technique to enable highly detailed, multi-material 3D prints from 3D scanners. “By using voxel-printing methods, superfluous preparation overhead and loss in detail can be prevented. This approach enables one to directly translate volumetric property gradients to 3D printable material gradients. Hence, if preservation of the given data representation is of importance, including volumetric color, transparency, or continuous material property transitions, our method presents a valuable alternative to current practices.” 3D prints have long been produced with models generated from 3D scanners, but in almost all cases these prints are a representation of the outer surface of the scanned object only – and then…

As if it even needs to be said to the many thousands of designers and engineers that read SolidSmack every day, the best way to learn just about new skill is through project-based learning—AKA gettin’ your hands dirty. And while we all clamor for a just a few extra minutes in the day to pursue that side hobby or learn a new skill, it can be challenging to do so without some structural foundation in place. Which is one reason why we love the Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Bootcamp. Designed to be a comprehensive and structured introduction to the Raspberry Pi platform, the 2-hour course is catered for different ages and…

Sufferers of corneal blindness due to burns, diseases, and other misfortunes can see the light once again; for Newcastle University researchers have found a way to 3D print human corneas in just 10 minutes. Using ‘bio-ink’ as the additive material – a solution made from human stem cells, collagen, and alginate – Professor of Tissue Engineering Che Connon and his team have found a way to preserve stem cells while producing a material soft but solid enough to come out of a 3D printer nozzle. This could mean a limitless supply of corneas and a lesser need for donors for those 10 million people worldwide who need surgery to prevent…