TouchDesigner – 2024-02-27

During our weekly HackJam, visitor Iulian gave an impromptu presentation showing us TouchDesigner. Its node based editor is popular to create visuals for VJing in clubs. Iulian generated Perlin noise, then used the bass frequency of a music loop to advance through the noise along the z axis. Next, he showed how to separate an …

Bamboo & Banyans: 3D modeling with SpeedTree – 2023-09-26

Screenshot of SpeedTree showing an attempt to model a banyan with realistic prop roots

The presentation started with an introduction to living architecture, the practice of growing houses out of trees. For planning projects, visualization is important. During the second part of the presentation, we looked into SpeedTree, a software for designing trees in 3D. It is primarily used in the gaming and movie industries. We created a simple …

Complex ideas, Simply explained – 2023-08-08

In front of a packed space, Christian started his presentation by highlight a few examples where excessive jargon can make a valuable idea a complete turn-off for the public and investors. A simple methodology was shown on how to present a complex idea to nonspecialists using five tools. The presentation concluded with an exercise where …

Bamboo & Banyans: Prototyping – 2023-07-01

Bamboo & Banyans Architectural Prototyping

We started with laser cutting parts for a model of the squatter house ruin visited during our session in May. There were five participants, Simon and his two children as well as Effy and Victoria. Meanwhile I gave an introduction to living architecture and to our site. In the second part of the workshop, participants …

Game of Life – 2023-06-27

Arachnia introduced us to the Game of Life, which she had implemented in Processing for an art installation. Afterwards, we tried out various patterns on our touch screen, to see how they evolve. Of particular joy was the evolution of the QR code pointing to our lights. The Game of Life, also known simply as …

Smart glass – 2023-04-25

Dim Sum Labs was packed for this presentation by our special guest Andrew Crowe. He introduced us to electronically switchable smart glass, also known as privacy glass. There are many cool things that can be done with it! Andrew is technical director of MetaObjects, a digital studio based in Hong Kong and London. Watch the …

FundFluent – 2023-04-18

Ever wondered how to get funding for your project and turn it into a startup? To get an answer to this question, we invited Jenny Au and Wilson Tai, founders of FundFluent to Dim Sum Labs. During a fun evening with friendly people from all walks of technology, they introduced us to various funding options in …