art tagged posts

New technology turns paintings into holograms, bringing art to life

New technology turns paintings into holograms, bringing art to life

Artists are always looking for new ways to create and express themselves. A growing trend is the use of multiple layers of see-through materials, such as Plexiglas, to create paintings that have real depth, transforming two-dimensional images into three-dimensional illusions that feel more realistic and lifelike. But can these layered works be made even more immersive?

A new study, published in Royal Society Open Science, answers this question by demonstrating a novel process to transform a multilayer acrylic painting into a fullcolor, three-dimensional hologram. In addition to offering a striking way to experience art, this technique provides a novel method for preserving and reproducing valuable works.

The researchers used a painting of a tiger titled “Taxonomy Test 1” by reno...

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Meditation, Art and Nature: Neuroimaging reveals distinct patterns of brain activation

Past research suggests that meditation and exposure to art or nature can positively impact people’s well-being and brain health, in some cases even reducing stress and supporting the processing of emotions. Yet most past studies focused on each of these experiences individually, rather than comparing their effects on brain activity.

Researchers at University of California Los Angeles set out to examine the brain activation patterns associated with a visualization-based transcendental meditation of connecting to the cosmic soul and compare them to those from people watching evocative digital art or nature videos.

Their findings, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, suggest that these different types of transcending experiences prompt different brain activation patterns.

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AI Generates High-Quality Images 30 times faster in a Single Step

Three by two grid of AI-generated images, with small black illustrated robots peeking from behind. The images show a scenic mountain range; a unicorn in a forest; a vintage Porsche; an astronaut riding a camel in a desert; a sloth holding a cup, dressed in a turtleneck sweater; and a red fox in a spacesuit against a starry background.
Caption: With their DMD method, MIT researchers created a one-step AI image generator that achieves image quality comparable to StableDiffusion v1.5 while being 30 times faster.
Credits:Illustration by Alex Shipps/MIT CSAIL using six AI-generated images develped by researchers.

In our current age of artificial intelligence, computers can generate their own “art” by way of diffusion models, iteratively adding structure to a noisy initial state until a clear image or video emerges.

Diffusion models have suddenly grabbed a seat at everyone’s table: Enter a few words and experience instantaneous, dopamine-spiking dreamscapes at the intersection of reality and fantasy...

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New Shape-Shifting Building Material Based on Pinecones

It’s surface changes appearance automatically when exposed to water, whether directly, or via humidity. Pinecones open when dry and close when wet, to provide optimal conditions for spreading seeds. They do so by simply reacting to water—it seeps into the woody leaves (microsporophylls) and causes them to droop. Inspired by this simple process, student Chao Chen of the Royal College of Art in London dissected cones to see how they were put together and then used what he learned to create objects or coverings.

He has created an artificial pinecone, a wall hanging (or covering) that self-modifies when it gets wet to reveal artful coloring, an overhang that allows light to pass through when the sun is shining, but closes when it rains to keep those underneath dry and a strip for insert...

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