When it comes to sketching and communicating your ideas well, nothing beats a good old-fashioned pencil and a keen sense of perspective. That said, adding depth to your form sketches with light and shadow is a natural next step in taking your sketches to the next level. When it comes time to cranking ideas out fast, our favorite go-to is a fistful of 2-3 Sketching Grays from Copic that give us great contrast. These ultra-blendable, low odor, alcohol-based inks deliver rich and smooth strokes that are ideal for quickly communicating product concepts. And unlike water-based inks, which tend to pill and oversoak paper while blending, Copics mix on the surface…

Creating a 3D model in VR isn’t as revolutionary as it once was. If the presence of Quill and Medium on the Oculus Rift weren’t enough, Google’s own Gravity Sketch, Tilt Brush, and Blocks programs add to the ever-increasing library of software which wants to make the craft more accessible. Now we have MasterpieceVR, another tool which seeks to ease 3D modelers into the medium while making them look a tad wacky flailing their arms about. It has over 20 tools which include abilities to Add, Erase, Shrink, Bulge, Smooth, and Pinch your creations, as well as volumetric sculpting and ribbon painting options. But that’s not where its individuality truly…

3DAGOGO, the startup company behind 3D print cloud service provider Astroprint, is attempting to raise funds through crowdsourcing. The MicroVentures campaign intends on raising at least USD $50,000 for the company, with a maximum amount set at USD $500,000. As of this writing, early into the campaign, they’ve raised a little over USD $20,000. On the surface, this looks much like a Kickstarter campaign, where you select a value and receive some perks. But that’s not at all what this is about. It’s a way to raise cash for the company in exchange for equity – or “partial ownership” of the firm. Like selling shares, except it’s far more complex.…

Even if their initial purpose is to replace the consumable pencil (or extend the life of a pencil), you can spend a lot of money on a mechanical pencil. Especially a plastic version that, once the lead is finished or the eraser is turned into a useless nub, ends up in the trash to make way for a new one. But what if the mechanical pencil you bought was so sleek and so durable (and so expensive) that you had little choice but hang onto it? Barring the last feature, this is what creator Andrew Sanderson had in mind when creating his vision of a permanent pencil. With his third…

For those afflicted with OCD (did you see this desk organizer?) or if you just can’t take a break from designing things, you may find this handy, little ruler interesting. https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/3040797/video-813018-h264_base.mp4 Created by New England-based company Onehundred, the Qbit is a modern interpretation of the Cubit ruler – a portable measuring tool our ancestors used when they were tired of using their feet as measuring devices (it must have been the smell). Like its thousand-year-old predecessor, the Qbit is made for quick measurements when laying out quick measurements. Of course, a thousand years brings a lot of changes. Instead of the Cubit’s original wood material, the Qbit is made from…

While video game consoles are becoming increasingly more advanced and powerful, it’s only natural for there to be a growing interest in retro consoles that hark back to simpler times—as evidenced by the massive demand for Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classic consoles alone. Well, now old-school favorite Atari is making a comeback for a slice of that action, too. The aptly named Ataribox is Atari’s return to creating its own hardware and content for modern audiences. Inspired by iconic Atari products such as the Atari 2600, the Ataribox will bring a full PC experience to living room TVs and will offer streaming media, apps, social content, games, and music—not unlike…