April 2025

MakerSpace Spotlight

Ellison XL Lettermachine

The Ellison is a manual die-cut machine that can be used to cut shapes out of various materials. The library has a collection of shapes available to use, but you can also place a hold on dies from other libraries through the catalog just like you would a book. Search for the shape you are looking for and the word die or select die cut in the format section of the limit search results options (See photo below for reference). Our library has 3 and 5-inch letters in lower and uppercase, numbers, and 2 font options.

Materials you can cut:

• Paper
• Fabric
• Felt
• Vinyl
• Cardboard
• Foil
• and much more.

Contact the MakerSpace for 1-on-1 help and questions about our Ellison. The Ellison is available to use on a first come first serve basis during open make times or by appointment. MakerSpace agreement form is not required for use of the Ellison, but a staff member does need to be upstairs due to being located in office space. There is some scrap paper available to use, but it is recommended to bring your own materials for your project.

Irridescent Feather Rendering

Birds and computer science don't have much in common until now. Researchers have figured out how to replicate iridescent feathers in computer programs now. The findings were presented by Yunchen Yu at SIGGRAPH Asia 2024. The research team was a partnership of Cornell University (Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science ) and NVIDA.

Using feather samples from the Ornithology Lab of several species the team modeled the feather barbules and nanostructures in the computer. Once it was modeled simulations were used to replicate how the nanostructures within the feathers scatter light, while also incorporating some randomness to account for imperfections. These simulations were then rendered into images and videos that accurately depict the iridescence of feathers. This model can be adapted to use for artists to use in the future, in projects that have birds but also other iridescent creatures as well.

To read the award-winning research paper check out this link to the NVIDA Research page that has the uploaded paper attached. https://research.nvidia.com/publication/2024-11_appearance-modeling-iridescent-feathers-diverse-nanostructures 

References

Nordén, K. (2021, December 21). depiction of barbules and their nanostructures in bird feathers. Phys.org. Princeton University Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Retrieved from https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2021/birds-dazzling-iridesc-2.jpg. 

Waldron, P. (2025, January 21). Researchers put the shine on digitally rendered feathers. Cornell Chronicle. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/01/researchers-put-shine-digitally-rendered-feathers

Yu, Y., Weidlich, A., Walter, B., & Marschner, S. (2024, November 19). Appearance modeling of iridescent feathers with diverse nanostructures. Research. https://research.nvidia.com/publication/2024-11_appearance-modeling-iridescent-feathers-diverse-nanostructures