Watch our Redesign the World workshop on how to use Twinmotion

Last week, we ran a webinar on how to use architectural visualisation tool Twinmotion for those interested in entering our Redesign the World competition. The workshop is now available to watch in full here if you missed it the first time around.

The workshop saw Belinda Ercan, ​​product marketing manager for Twinmotion at Epic Games, give an overview of what Twinmotion is and what it can be used for before Sam Anderson, a technical marketing manager at Epic Games, gave a 30-minute practical tutorial on how to use the software.

Workshop provided Twinmotion tips and tricks

In the tutorial, Anderson covered basics such as how to import 3D files and export renders, how to insert materials and objects like people and vegetation, and how to control lighting and add weather effects.

Twinmotion can be used to create realistic architectural visualisations, such as this render by Joel Guerra

She also touched on some more advanced tips and tricks, including creating terrains and customising the sky.

The skydome tutorial that Anderson mentions at 38:47 in the video can be viewed here and the FBX file she uses in the demo can be downloaded here.

Further tutorials on the basics of using Twinmotion can be found here, while the Twinmotion YouTube channel features videos showcasing a host of other useful tips and tricks for getting the most out of the software.

Twinmotion powered by Unreal Engine from Epic Games

Twinmotion is an architectural visualisation tool powered by Unreal Engine, which is a game engine developed by Epic Games.

It enables architects and designers to quickly and easily create high-quality images, panoramas, fly-throughs and animations of products, buildings, cities and even entire landscapes. It can be used to produce standard or 360° VR videos from imported BIM or CAD models.

Participants will need to use the tool to enter Dezeen's Redesign the World competition, which Dezeen launched last month in partnership with Epic Games. Entrants can download a free trial of the software in order to do so.

Redesign the World contest open for entries until 15 September

The contest calls for new ideas to rethink planet Earth to ensure it remains habitable long into the future. It is free to enter and has a top prize of £5,000 and total prize money of £15,000. People over the age of 18 of any profession and from any country in the world can enter.

The 15 best proposals will be published on Dezeen in November during our Dezeen 15 online festival celebrating Dezeen's 15th anniversary.

Find out more about the competition at dezeen.com/redesigntheworld.

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Cubitts app uses 3D-scanning technology to find the right glasses for every face

British eyewear brand Cubitts has launched an app that takes the trial-and-error approach out of buying spectacles by telling you which frames will best fit the precise dimensions of your face.

Using only an iPhone camera, the Cubitts app makes it possible to 3D-scan a face "to sub-millimetre accuracy", then precisely match it with the best fitting spectacles from the brand's collection.

The Cubitts app shows which frames are best suited to the dimensions of your face

According to company founder Tom Broughton, the technology could revolutionise the process of buying glasses. Not only could it make the in-store process more efficient, but also make it significantly easier to buy glasses online.

"The app was born from the realisation that the process of buying glasses hasn't changed for 300 years," Broughton told Dezeen.

"Even in the last decade, with the emergence of the internet and smartphones, it's still the same. You go to some physical space where you have thousands of frames, all arranged in a completely random order. With no real guidance or sizing, you just keep trying on pairs until you find something that you think is all right."

"The process is fraught with all the same problems when you buy online," he added. "It's a pretty shoddy experience overall. But we think we can change that."

The technology works using the TrueDepth camera in the iPhone X and later models

The app uses HERU technology, which was developed in-house by the Cubitts team. It is based around the technological capabilities of the TrueDepth camera, which was first introduced with the iPhone X.

Unlike a standard camera, this device integrates facial recognition technology. By throwing 30,000 infrared dots onto a face and capturing this information, it is able to combine visual information with measurement data, which is how Apple's Face ID works.

HERU uses this technology to produce 3D scans made up of 18 key measurements, which include details like ear position, eye spacing and nasal bridge width. It then analyses the particular combination of these measurements to assess which frames would be the best fit.

The app takes a 3D scan of the user's face

Some of the key details it is looking for are, for instance, how the width of the frames compares with the width of the face, whether the glasses will sit straight rather than tip, and whether the centre of the lenses lines up with the pupils.

According to Cubitts' research, only 20 per cent of the UK's 22 million spectacle wearers have the perfect fit, although 75 per cent believe their frames fit them.

"Frames are designed for the average person, but there is no average person," Broughton said.

"There are fully grown adults that have to buy children's frames because their heads are slightly smaller, while some wear badly fitting frames because they can't get a pair big enough. This is absolutely insane."

The app can place different frames onto this 3D model

According to Broughton, it's less a question of whether the spectacles will look good and more specifically about whether they will fit comfortably and position the eye in the correct position for the lenses.

However, in time, the app could use its machine-learning capabilities to analyse purchases made by users. This would allow it to better predict which frame a user is more likely to choose in terms of style.

"That's when it gets really clever, when it just works like magic," said Broughton.

"We will get to that, but it will take time because we have to train the machine learning algorithm. The more people use it, the more powerful it gets."

The app uses an algorithm to calculate which frames will offer the best fit

Broughton founded Cubitts in 2013, with an ambition to make quality eyewear available to a wide audience.

From the outset, the brand has looked to explore new ground. In 2019, it launched a collection made from various waste materials including human hair and potatoes.

Broughton sees the launch of the app as the first step towards a complete disruption of the eyewear industry.

Cubitts could potentially use data gathered by the app to influence the design of new collections, creating frames that cater to as wide a customer base as possible.

The app will be officially launched in September 2021

The technology could even lead to a bespoke service for spectacles, where a customer uses the app to design made-to-order frames to their exact measurements.

"You press a button and they could be 3D printed right in front of you," suggested Broughton.

"It's a new form of production and ownership," he said, "and that's where we want to get to. We want every single product to be made bespoke, irrespective of who the person is or where they are in the world."

"It has so many benefits," he added. "You don't have to have stock, you don't have wastage, you don't have landfill. It fundamentally changes the way that people buy something that is, naturally, a very individual product anyway."

The app is currently only available to invited users, but is set to be launched to the public in September 2021.

Berlin-based eyewear brand Reframd also looked to create tailormade eyewear with its range of 3D-printed sunglasses specifically designed for people with low and wide noses.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed 3D-printed sunglasses made from castor beans that combine Japanese design with modern technology.

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Gianfranco Vasselli incorporates OLED display into wood shelf

In our next video showcasing the finalists of Dezeen and LG Display's OLEDs Go! competition, Italian designer Gianfranco Vasselli explains his concept for an OLED display incorporated into a shelving unit so you can view it while lying in bed.

Called Console, Venice-based designer Vasselli's concept is a wooden shelf with a multi-functional OLED screen built into its underside.

Gianfranco Vasselli’s entry for the OLEDs Go! competition is called Console

It is designed to be mounted above a bed, so that users can browse social media, watch television or surf the web while lying in bed.

The shelving unit can be used for storage and the screen itself can also be used as a reading light.

Console is finished in solid wood and comes in different sizes and heights. It can either be a standalone unit with legs or be mounted directly on the wall.

The concept allows users to watch television or scroll through social media while lying in bed

Recognising that most people use their phones and laptops right before and after going to sleep, Vasselli's design aims to be a more comfortable solution to interacting with digital devices in bed.

"Our smartphones are the first object we touch when we wake up and the last thing we put down before falling asleep," Vasselli explained in the video, which Dezeen shot in Venice.

Console's OLED screen can also be used as a reading light

"My concept would allow people to go about the activities they use a smartphone for in a more comfortable way.”

The design is one of five finalists in Dezeen and LG Display's OLEDs Go! competition, a global contest seeking innovative designs that showcase OLED technology in new and creative ways.

The competition brief asked entrants to create designs that showcase some of OLED technology's key qualities, such as its lightness and thinness and the possibility for OLED displays to be flexible or transparent.

Console is finished in solid wood and comes in different sizes and heights

The finalists were selected from 20 shortlisted designs, which included shelves that conceal a rollable screen, a table that doubles as a TV and an immersive baby crib.

The overall winner of the contest will be announced in June.

All of the top five designers will share in the prize pot of €46,000, with the winner receiving €15,000, the runner-up €10,000, and the remaining three finalists receiving €7,000 each.

Partnership content

OLEDs Go! is a partnership between Dezeen and LG Display. Find out more about Dezeen partnership contenthere.

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Dezeen's Imogen Heap video interview reaches one million views on YouTube

Our interview with musician Imogen Heap has become our first video to hit one million views on our Youtube channel!

In the short film, the artist demonstrates her Mi.Mu gloves, a pair of electronic gloves that allow the wearer to control digital instruments via hand gestures while performing on stage.

The video was produced as part of our Dezeen x MINI Frontiers collaboration exploring the intersection between design and technology with car brand MINI in 2014 and won a Webby award for best technology video.

It was originally published on Vimeo, where it has amassed over 500,000 views. We later published it on our YouTube channel and it hit one million views on that platform last week.

The video was filmed at Heap's home studio outside London before she launched a Kickstarter campaign to produce a limited production run of the open-source gloves.

In 2020, Heap gave the closing performance of Dezeen's Virtual Design Festival using the Mi.Mu gloves.

Check out Dezeen's Youtube channel for more video content like this and subscribe to be notified when new videos are uploaded.

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