Lagao Multiphysics 1.0 is amazing. Still images don't do it justice.

It’s a wonderful world we live in where really cool math is starting to get the same fanfare as a Hollywood movie. Thiago Costa, a computer graphics expert with some considerable skill, has released a teaser trailer for his new Lagao Multiphysics 1.0 engine. The program handles all sorts of difficult physical simulations including high friction materials, incompressible fluids, elasticity, and plasticity. But all that seems less important than how cool it looks in action. This thing rocks. Check out the teaser trailer for Lagao Multiphysics 1.0 in the video below. Don’t miss the fantastic bunny explosions at 0:38.

Computer generated images (CGI) were a bit of an acquired taste when they first arrived on the scene. Now, movies like Avatar have demonstrated that they can be so realistic that they serve to draw in an audience rather than repel them. A good physics engine is at the core of any realistic CGI experience, and Lagao Multiphysics 1.0 looks like it could generate some really amazing experiences. As developers continue to innovate and improve physics simulation programs like this one, we’ll have the means to create very life-like digital worlds. One day that may mean we could create a virtual reality that rivals the physical world.

As sweet as Lagao Multiphysics 1.0 looks, what it’s to be used for remains a bit of a mystery. According to Costa’s blog, the engine is part of Lagoa Technologies, but their website is little more than a place holder at the moment. It works with the Arnold renderer and emPolygonizer, but beyond that Multiphysics 1.0’s approach to modeling is equally shrouded. Costa has a background in making beautiful graphics, you may have seen his work in the Assassins Creed video game, or GI Joe: Rise of Cobra movie. So, despite the uncertainties, I assume that whatever use the new physics engine is put towards, it’ll be fun to watch.

You can see more of the Lagao Multiphysics 1.0 engine at Thiago Costa’s Vimeo page.

[screen capture and video credits: Thiago Costa/Lagoa Technologies]
[source: Thiago Costa blog]

Google has acquired Metaweb, which maintains a database (“Freebase”) of 12 million “entities” (persons, places, or things), and all the different ways they relate and you might refer to them.

(Metaweb)

According to The Official Google Blog, Metaweb will allow Google to “improve search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone.” Metaweb was founded by legendary computer scientist Danny Hillis.

Metaweb’s video (below) does a good job of explaining the concept.

(MIT Media Lab)

MIT Media Lab researchers have developed Mouseless, an invisible computer mouse that costs about $20 to build.

It uses an infrared (IR) laser beam and an infrared camera. The laser beam module creates a plane of IR laser just above the surface the computer sits on. The user cups their hand, and the laser beam lights up the hand that is in contact with the surface. The IR camera detects those bright IR blobs using computer vision. The change in the position and arrangements of these blobs are interpreted as mouse cursor movement and mouse clicks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More info: Fluid Interfaces Group | MIT Media Lab

YouTube has announced that its player now supports 4k, a standard resolution for films that measures 4096×3072 pixels (requiring special equipment to view).

As YouTube Engineer Ramesh Sarukkai explained in the announcement on YouTube’s official blog, “4K is nearly four times the size of 1080p,” and it dwarfs even Imax, which projects films in the slightly smaller 2k format, with its 2048?1080-pixel resolution.