Organized Trade: End Caps

Emerging Channels: Interactive Kiosks

Token of appreciation received for the designs

Greg Norman T-shirt

Dhoni & Ishant USB Memory Sticks (1GB)

Fastrack Sunglasses

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 31-Oct-2009

‘SunFlow’ is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) Solar Lantern designed and prototyped by Geo Paul and I. The lamp on the left (Orange color) is a 3D rendered model and the one on the right (Yellow color) is the final working prototype.

We did 3D solid modelling, impact analysis, electronics design and integration testing.

Anas K A and Geo Paul with ‘SunFlow’ prototype
(Photo Courtesy: Urvesh Bharambe)

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: Project finished on 8-Dec-2009

I won third prize for this design that can be placed on the dining tables.

Design thoughts
In Kerala, snake boats are traditionally used for boat races and ceremonies related with temples. Miniature models of snake boats and Kathakali faces are the most gifted items or souvenirs from Kerala.

In the place of oars, holes are provided for lacing the toothpicks. Space between two toothpicks are sufficient for picking one easily. Provisions are provided for placing menu cards, if this design is used in hotels.

Judge’s comment
Amit Dongre, Desmania Design, New Delhi
“WOW is clear as the Indian form is used with good usability. I can imagine that the South Indian restaurants can use this happily and the customers will relate to it instantly. If the menu cards were like flags, it would have been even better. Picking the toothpick seems easier. The form will look great on dinner table.”

Acknowledgments
The background image used is ‘Attorney’s table in a courtroom’ by Jason Morrison, US.

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 20-Nov-2009

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 13-Nov-2009

Thus ‘dpe’ was born. ‘dpe’ means ‘Design | Participate | Excel.’ I made plans for a teaser kind of series ads to generate interest among the students.

Following are the three posters that were circulated as e-mails, one poster a day.

Notice the transition of background color and the change in the point of view of the box. ‘Provocative’ wordings like ‘We are second to none’ and ‘You are not a designer till you take part in this competition’ are coined and used. The box is open in the third poster only. The box and the alphabets are 3D modelled in SolidWorks software. We received quite a good number of responses for the first contest.

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 10-Nov-2009

Transparent 404 page
To give the feeling of transparent ice or transparent glass to the page, SolidWorks software is used to render the images. The 404 page consists of a ’404 error,’ a matrix just like the blumblum homepage and a message of ‘File Not Found.’

Alphabets made of Glass or Ice
In 3D softwares like 3dsMax, text can be directly entered and rendered using any texture. It is mystery that this option is not available in SolidWorks. So I had to realize the ‘404 error’ text using the ‘curves’ command in SolidWorks. An ‘extrusion’ and ‘fillet’ commands are also used to get the solid feel.

The material for the rendering is selected as ‘Clear Glass.’

The 3D drawing is shown on the left and the corresponding transparent TIFF rendered output is shown on the right. Shadows are disabled to get a ‘suspended’ feeling in infinite space.
The same procedure is repeated to make the transparent matrix.

Integration

The actual checkerboard pattern (3) is superimposed to the TIFF rendered image to give a transparency feeling to the output (4) using Photoshop.
The ‘file not found’ text is placed and a ‘perspective’ transformation is given using Photoshop. Do you remember the ‘Star Wars’ titles?

The background image of the 404 html page is set to the checkerboard pattern in repeat mode. The integration of all these files resulted in this transparent 404 page of blumblum.com.

More information on 404 pages
This blog entry – ‘Design – 404 Page of antzFx.com’ – has a lot of information on the 404 error, how to set the 404 page in a website and some brilliant 404 designs.

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 29-July-2009

404 Research Lab featured blumblum.com’s 404 page as “404 of the Week.” It is filed under the title ‘transparent 404.’ We received a rating of 3.6 out of 5.0. Thank you for voting!

Fab404.com is a collection of fabulous, funny, creative, and weird 404 error pages. On 23-Sep-2009, they featured BlumBlum.com’s 404 page under the category ‘Geeky.’ Thank you guys!

Yes, there is always a solution to a problem. This is how I solved it.

PhotoWorks
I use PhotoWorks, the SolidWorks Add-In, for the rendering of a model. PhotoWorks can be activated by going to ‘Tools -> Add-Ins…’ and checking the box for PhotoWorks.

Steps for Rendering
After finishing your model, follow these steps to render it in a transparent background.

1. In SolidWorks, go to ‘PhotoWorks -> Scene’

2. ‘Scene Editor’ box opens out and we are in ‘Manager’ tab by default. I selected ‘Conference Room’ in the folder ‘Studios.’

3. Now click on the ‘Room’ tab.
4. Under ‘Visibility and materials,’ make sure that the boxes for ‘Visibility’ and ‘Reflective’ are unchecked.

5. Click ‘Apply’ and close the ‘Scene Editor’ box.

6. Now, render the design by using ‘PhotoWorks -> Render to file…’ option.

8. Save the image output as TIF (8bit RGBA TIFF) file.

The output TIF file, when opened in Photoshop, will have transparent background! This helps you to add any background to the image.

I am sure that you will find this tip useful and saves a hell lot of a time while editing the rendered file in Photoshop.

More reading/Viewing
A good in-depth video tutorial is available at ‘SolidWorks for Industrial design’ website. You need Flash Player to view it. Also, a PDF version is available for download.
‘Rendering with a transparent background’ — Written by Ryan Olson

Software: SolidWorks 2007