• 17 Midcentury-Modern Living Rooms That Prove Why the Style is Timeless
    www.architecturaldigest.com
    Even after all these years, midcentury-modern living rooms are still trending. The interior design style is popular today for its timeless, adaptable nature, but it actually rose to prominence in the middle of the 20th century. Known as an unfussy and minimalist-leaning design style, a midcentury-modern living room is a great option for anyone who wants to balance functionality with sleekness. Think geometric shapes, warm colors, natural materials, and clean lines that move the eye around the space. Here, youll find 17 midcentury-modern living rooms that will inspire you to makeover your own home as well as answers to common questions on the design period. So sit down and stay a whileyoure about to have an uncluttered living room that makes you feel calm and at ease.What is a midcentury-modern living room?Midcentury-modern design is rooted in simplicity and functionality. Because of this, you should keep a living room sleek and practical, according to Susan Klimala, principal designer and owner of TKS Design Group in Illinois and Florida. Think low-slung oversized furniture with clean lines punctuated with streamlined wood details and geometric, colorful accents, she says.Principal designer Mary Lambrakos of Lambrakos Studio agrees: A midcentury-modern living room is deep, storied, and moody, defined by stylistic clarity and streamlined forms where every piece is thoughtfully considered. Opt for a base of warm colors such as rich browns and greens and raw, natural materials such as wool, solid wood, and leather. [This] evokes a tawny elegance and casual sophistication, adds Lambrakos.How do I style a midcentury-modern living room?Everything in midcentury-modern living room design has a purpose, whether to inspire gathering or relaxation. This simplicity sets the stage for endless styling opportunities.Midcentury styling is rooted in the natural, says Lambrakos. Accent sleek lines and curved pieces with wood trim, stone surfaces, and metal frames paired with ovoid forms. Its also about selecting the right color palette, she adds, such as chartreuse over yellow, tan over khaki, forest green over jade, and brown over charcoal.Vintage pieces like unique lighting fixtures or period furniture can also help ground a midcentury-modern design plan. These choices infuse the space with richness, explains Lambrakos.Why is midcentury-modern design so timeless?Midcentury-modern furnishings, with their warm woods, sleek shapes, and retro patterns, look just as fresh now as they did in the 1940s and 50s. One could argue that the design movement's focus on functionality is even more welcome today, when were always looking for ways to make our busy lives a little simpler.In addition to being comfortable and non-fussy, midcentury-modern design also feels timeless because its easily updatable, adds Klimala. You can make simple layout changes or add new pieces of art to infuse a midcentury-modern living room with a fresh perspective. Because of this, the design style has withheld the test of time and continues to be popular today.
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  • This 330-Square-Foot Chinatown Rental Was Transformed With a $5,000 Budget
    www.architecturaldigest.com
    Dating a design content creator has its perks. Phoebe Kut, who has nearly 200K followers on her TikTok account, @pbjdesign, used all the tips and tricks she shares online to completely upgrade her partners 330-square-foot New York City rental on a tight budget. She did DIY projects, shopped secondhand, and chose multipurpose pieces to pull off the transformation for just $5,000.Fortunately, Kut had a beautiful canvas to work with. The compact one-bedroom apartment is over a century old, so it boasts original brick walls, exposed wood beams, and ornately carved window trim. It has that historic charm, she describes. I believe the building dates back to the early 1900s. The kitchen and bathroom were already renovated.The black-and-white photo behind the sofa is of the apartment building, taken in the 1900s, Kut shares. It used to be a dentists office, this unit.The first thing Kut did was warm up the living room with a coat of Texas Sage by Benjamin Moore, a muted olive tone. Before, everything was white, so we painted that accent wall just to give it some color and character, she explains. Green is very cozy and homey, but we didnt want a really dark shade because it would make the space feel a little bit enclosed. This is a medium, balanced sage.For the sofa, Kut opted for a modular pale gray Burrow number that tucks into the corner for comfortable lounging and turns into a twin bed for overnight visitors. [My partner] wanted to be able to have guests over, she says. In New York, theres always people wanting to crash and youre hosting them, so that was a specific thing that we did end up finding a really great piece for.
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  • Blender Jobs for December 5, 2024
    www.blendernation.com
    Here's an overview of the most recent Blender jobs on Blender Artists, ArtStation and 3djobs.xyz: Paid Job | Creating Card Hair and Textures for a Rigged Dragon Model For more jobs, look here.Source
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  • Monopoly Go drops new Jingle Joy sticker album in time for the holidays
    www.vg247.com
    Saxy SantaMonopoly Go drops new Jingle Joy sticker album in time for the holidaysThere are more than 100 Christmas-themed stickers to collect and exchange for rewards.Image credit: Scopely/VG247 News by James Billcliffe Guides Editor Published on Dec. 5, 2024 A new holiday-themed Monopoly Go season is upon us, as the Monopoly Man swaps his stovepipe top hat for a fluffy red cap and (presumably) turns to giving presents instead of hoarding infinite wealth for himself.Well, maybe not, but theyre still releasing the Jingle Joy sticker album anyway. Taking over from the long-serving Marvel sticker album, the Jingle Joy album will last for the next 40 days and features sections based around Christmas traditions like White Elephant gift giving, carolling, German markets and elves.Theres a full section given over to cozy pets and animals, as well as another section looking forward to 2025.As ever, stickers can be collected from almost everywhere in Monopoly Go: from tournaments, daily log-in gifts, Tycoon Club rewards, Quick Wins, and in-game events like the current Holiday Treasures. Of course, this is a mobile game so you can buy them with real money too, but theres plenty of time to collect them all without spending - especially if you have a few in-game friends to trade with.Monopoly Go Jingle Joy RewardsThere are 126 stickers to collect in total across 14 categories, with all the usual rarities from 1 star to 5 star golden stickers. You have until Thursday January 16th 2025 to complete the full set before another new sticker album rolls into town.Completing sections rewards you with in-game cash and dice rolls, but theres an emote and shield up for grabs in the Decor Battle and Bavarian Market sections respectively. Image credit: Scopely/VG247If you do manage to complete the whole album though, theres a whopping 10,000 dice rolls to be had, as well as a Saxy Santa token. Im not sure if youll still want a Santa token by the time you actually complete the set - but look at his little nose and feet. Adorable.Of course, if you need some extra rolls to get your season started, check out our up-to-date page of Monopoly Go Dice Links for free rolls straight from Scopely.
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  • Fallout: London's next patch will come with its first bits of DLC, as Team FOLON celebrates becoming a registered business by asking players to help shape its future
    www.vg247.com
    LonDLC CallingFallout: London's next patch will come with its first bits of DLC, as Team FOLON celebrates becoming a registered business by asking players to help shape its futureThe massive mod's devs are going in for a penny, in for a pound.Image credit: Team FOLON News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Dec. 5, 2024 While some of them have been taking a little longer to arrive than first planned, Fallout: London's post release patches have certainly been delivering plenty of fixes, and the next one, patch 1.03, will be taking things to a whole new level - arriving alongside the massive mod's first bits of DLC.Yep, that's right, DLC. "We're excited to share some news about the upcoming v1.03 patch for Fallout: London," Team FOLON wrote in a fresh announcement on its Discord Server, "What started as a simple hotfix has grown into something much bigger. Given the scope of this update, we're aware it may make changes that impact save files, so rather than risking breaking things for a small update, we're looking to roll this into a part of our very first DLC!To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "This DLC will feature both new content and previously cut content that were working hard to restore," it continued, "Stay tuned for more details - big things are on the way!"So, what could be in this DLC? Well, cut content was mentioned, and one of the things Fallout: London project lead Dean 'Prilladog' Carter mentioned to us when we interviewed him in the summer was that the team had plans to add in a whole New Vegas-style wildcard arc to the mod's main questline that had to be cut during the mod's development back into it via "a future patch". Is this that patch? We don't know for sure yet, but there's certainly a chance. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Anyway, patch 1.03 will defintely be coming with a bunch of fixes you can find in this handy spreadsheet Team FOLON's put out.Finally, the modders closed out this announcement by revealing that Team FOLON is "now a registered business", which is "a huge milestone" for the team. "While Team FOLON will always continue to support Fallout: London, the time has come where we must look to the future," it wrote, fopllowing that up by enouraging fans to fill out a survey to gather "thoughts on what we're doing right and what you want to see next"."Your input will help shape the direction of Team FOLON," the team wrote. So, no pressure then.Will you be hopping back into Fallout: London now you know big things are coming for it in the near future? Let us know below, and make sure to check out the various features that came out of our interview with Carter if you haven't already.
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  • V-Ray on the small screen: bringing life to The Last of Us
    www.chaos.com
    Leveraging V-Ray for photorealistic resultsOne of the key elements that allowed the Digital Domain artists to progress with the project so efficiently was their in-depth knowledge of V-Ray, the photo-realistic ray-traced rendering software created by Chaos. V-Ray has been Digital Domain's go-to render solution for almost all of their recent creative projects. Its versatility and ability to deliver stunning photorealist results made it an obvious choice for the project. V-Rays integration into Digital Domain's pipeline ensured not only speed and efficiency but also unparalleled visual quality.Ultimately, it just gets us to the finish line so quickly, compared to a lot of the other standards. You get 80 percent straight out of the box, and then you refine it a little bit from there, says Bob White, head of CG at Digital Domain. Its often the case with a lot of other rendersyou have to work your way up to get to that 80 percent, which is far more time-consuming when youre against a deadline.With Maya as their primary modeling and texturing tool and Houdini on hand for visual effects, the synergy between software components laid the groundwork for the projects success.Central to the creative vision of the project was the concept of beauty amidst decay, something that is a thematic cornerstone of the world of The Last of Us, both in the TV series and the video game. The team meticulously crafted environments that portrayed natures relentless overtaking of man-made structures. Drain explains, This was supposed to have almost a kind of beauty to it, and to convey that nature is taking over man. One of the main things that we got was this idea that its supposed to be beautiful in its own way. Theres decay, but in that decay, they wanted beauty.
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  • 3D modeling vs. rendering: what's the difference and why it matters?
    www.chaos.com
    What is 3D modeling?3D modeling is the process of creating a digital object in a virtual space. Like sculpting, youre creating a three-dimensional digital representation of something, but instead of clay, you're using specialized software. In essence, its like sculpting with digital tools.Types of 3D modeling and its applicationsThere are several types of 3D modeling. Let's explore them below.Polygonal modelingPolygonal modeling involves building objects using polygons, which are flat shapes with three or more sides and hard edges. You can think of it like building something out of Legos. Each Lego brick is a polygon, and you put them together to create the overall shape. Polygonal modeling is particularly useful for visualizations, where large, detailed environments like architectural spaces need to be created quickly.NURBS modelingFor objects with smooth curves, like cars, handheld devices, or various mechanical parts, you would use NURBS modeling. NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) is a way of creating smooth-flowing surfaces using mathematical curves. To picture it better, just imagine bending a thin sheet of metal into any organic shape thats the power of NURBS.Subdivision surface modelingLike NURBS, subdivision surface modeling is often used to create smooth, organic shapes such as characters or vehicle bodies. The main difference is that subdivision surface smooths shapes by subdividing polygons for organic forms, while NURBS uses mathematical curves for precise, smooth surfaces in hard-surface designs.Digital sculptingFor modeling super realistic characters, or specialized architectural features such as detailed facades, or intricate ornamental designs, you would use digital sculpting. You use digital tools to shape and mold the virtual model, adding details like wrinkles and pores in a character, or use a V-Ray wood material to model scratches and wear in a wooden cabinet.BIMBuilding Information Modeling (BIM) is used in architecture, engineering, and construction. It focuses on creating a detailed, data-rich 3D model of a building or infrastructure project. It is especially useful for collaborative construction projects as it integrates data like materials, cost estimates, and project timelines, into the design.Procedural and Parametric ModelingProcedural and parametric modeling combine algorithms, rules, and parameters to generate objects and environments, rather than relying on manual creation. Procedural modeling is ideal for large-scale environments like cities or terrain, often used in game design and film production, while parametric modeling creates objects based on adjustable constraints, such as building height or gear radius, making it perfect for architecture and product design where flexibility and easy modifications are key.Volumetric modelingVolumetric modeling is used to create 3D models that represent volumes, such as smoke, fog, clouds, or liquids, and is commonly used in simulations and visual effects for movies and video games. Chaos Phoenix offers an easier, more dynamic approach than traditional modeling by simulating these effects in real-time, allowing for customizable and realistic results without pre-modeled assets.3D scanning3D scanning involves capturing real-world objects or environments using a 3D scanner, which creates a digital model based on the shape, size, and texture of the scanned object. This method is commonly used in industries like architecture, heritage preservation, and manufacturing for quickly creating accurate digital replicas of physical objects or spaces.Popular 3D modeling softwareFor animation and character designAutodesk Maya is known for its strengths in animation and character design, seamlessly integrating with V-Ray for cinematic visuals, while Cinema 4D is popular for motion graphics and 3D modeling, also integrating with V-Ray for detailed animation rendering.For architectural visualization and designAutodesk 3ds Max is a favorite for 3d modeling in architectural visualization and product design, heavily integrated with V-Ray for photorealistic images.SketchUp, widely used in architecture and interior design, supports both V-Ray and Enscape for intuitive, real-time, and photorealistic rendering.Revit, commonly used in architectural design and BIM (Building Information Modeling), is compatible with both Enscape and V-Ray for visualization, while Archicad and Vectorworks, also favored by architects, are supported by Enscape for real-time rendering and walkthroughs.Rhinoceros (Rhino) is ideal for industrial and architectural design, with V-Ray for detailed rendering and Enscape for real-time visualization.Archicad and Vectorwarks are useful for 2D and 3D drafting, parametric modelling, BIM and are both compatible with Enscape.
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  • Wario Land-Inspired 'Antonblast' Suffers Last-Minute Delay On Switch
    www.nintendolife.com
    Update: The new release date has been confirmed.Developer Summitsphere has announced that its upcoming Wario Land-inspired platformer Antonblast will be further delayed on the Nintendo Switch.Although the game is still scheduled to launch on Steam on 3rd December 2024, it's been determined that the Nintendo Switch version simply isn't quite up to scratch. In a social media announcement, director Tony Grayson said "We need more time to make sure that this version of the game is running at peak performance and meeting our own high standards, as well as Nintendo's".Read the full article on nintendolife.com
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  • Tabletop-Inspired RPG 'Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector' Gets January Release
    www.nintendolife.com
    Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube787kUpdate [Thu 5th Dec 2024, 10pm]: Announced during today's PC Gaming Showcase, Jump Over the Age's cerebral tabletop RPG Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is coming to Switch on 31st January 2025.The first game made it onto our Game of the Year list in 2022, so we're expecting exceptional things from this sequel. You'll get to run your own ship and build your own crew as you build relationships with the people you're travelling the Starward Belt with.Check out the launch trailer above, and let us know if you'll be picking this one up next year in the comments.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube787kWatch on YouTube Original Story: While it was formally revealed for PC and Xbox around a year ago, developer Jump Over the Age and publisher Fellow Traveller popped up at this weekend's PC Gaming Show to announce that Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector will also launch on the Switch. What's more, it's been given a release window of early 2025.If the title hasn't given it away already, this is a follow-up to 2022's excellent tabletop-inspired RPG Citizen Sleeper. Like its predecessor, Starward Vector will see you playing as an android (Sleeper) on the run from the company that made you. You'll have to commandeer a ship, build up a crew and carry out as many tasks as possible before your decaying body halts your progress. A nice, stress-free experience, then...The brand-new trailer gives us our first look at the Citizen Sleeper 2 gameplay, where our decisions will once again come down to the roll of a die. It also showcases the new Starward Belt setting, which looks huge compared to its predecessor's single-station environment.You can find out a little more about the game's features and get a look at some screenshots below.REBOOT / REBUILD / REPAIRNothing in the Belt ever runs smooth, including the artificial body of a Sleeper. Citizen Sleepers revolutionary dice system returns, revised for the sequel. Players will have to manage their stress or risk taking damage to their dice. Theyll also have to deal with glitches as they accrue in their system.DO THE JOB, GET PAIDContracts offer a new kind of focused, tactical gameplay to the Citizen Sleeper experience. Players will need to prepare carefully and choose the right approach for these multi-cycle high-risk/high-reward jobs but theyll also have to react and adapt to both the roll of the dice and the twists and turns of each task.PUSH YOUR LUCKEach character class now has a unique Push ability, which can help players turn the tide of a difficult job or send them into a dangerous spiral depending on how and when they choose to use it. Push skills are upgradable and customizable, and include abilities like dice rerolls or single die augments. With the addition of Push, each class in Citizen Sleeper 2 will offer different tactical possibilities.NAVIGATE THE BELTThe Starward Belt offers a bigger, more varied world than the original game. Instead of living on a single station, players will chart a course from hub to hub with complete freedom, taking on jobs and setting goals as they see fit. A living world, the Belt rewards curiosity and care, but it's up to players to decide which locations and stories deserve their time and resources.CHOOSE YOUR FUTUREPlayer choice is a massive part of the Citizen Sleeper experience, and the sequel deepens this with new skill checks that allow players to express their class and character in scenes, as well as branching storylines that will ask them to make hard choices. The future of your character is up to you!Images: Fellow TravellerWe gave the first Citizen Sleeper a 'Great' 8/10 when we reviewed it back in 2022, so we are pleased to see that its sequel will be making the jump over to Switch early next year. We'll be keeping an eye out for a more precise release date over the coming months. A sleeper hitWill you be picking up Citizen Sleeper 2 next year? Are you pleased to see it on Switch? Let us know in the comments.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube787kRelated GamesSee AlsoShare:02 Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesSwitch Is Getting A New Star Trek Game For Christmas'Star Trek: Legends' beams down on Xmas DayThe First Review For Fantasian Neo Dimension Is InFrom the creator of Final FantasyUpcoming Nintendo Switch Games And Accessories For December 2024 And January 2025New games for a new yearDisney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed Receives Its Second Major Update, Here's What's IncludedFixes, improvements and a sales update62 Switch Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's Black Friday Sale (Europe)Every Switch game on sale that we rated 9/10+
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  • Zopa, the UK neobank, snaps up $85M at a $1B+ valuation, eschewing the IPO route
    techcrunch.com
    Some believe Klarnas planned IPO in 2025 could set the stage for other fintech startups to go public. But with the tech IPO market still sluggish, one of the candidates hotly tipped to follow suit has instead just announced a fundraise, and its CEO says going public is not a priority.Zopa, the U.K. neobank that provides loans, credit cards and savings accounts to some 1.3 million customers, has raised 80 million ($85 million) in equity funding. The company is not disclosing an exact valuation, but from what we understand it is an upround and values Zopa at well over $1 billion.The company is profitable and has been growing its customer base at a rate of around 35% annually. Zopa expects to end the year with 1.4 million customers, 5 billion in deposits, and its profit doubling compared to the year before.But while numbers are strong, especially for the current market, they also speak to how the company has had to take a longer time to get to where it has wanted to go. In 2021, when Zopa announced a $300 million investment that first catapulted it to a $1 billion valuation, CEO Jaidev Janardana described it to TechCrunch as a pre-IPO round ahead of an offering at the end of 2022. It also said it expected to be profitable by the end of 2021.Not only did that IPO never materialize, but its largely off the table for the foreseeable. We will wait for the markets to revive and be more positive, Janardana said in an interview on Thursday, noting that it has plenty of cash in the bank and just 75 million in debt payable years from now. Meanwhile, Zopa reached its profit milestone a full year of profit only in April 2024.A recurring theme in fintech has been high valuations attached to very fast-growing startups that have subsequently struggled to live up to lofty projections, but Zopa is not your typical fintech startup. The company has actually been around since 2005, when it started out as a pioneer in the peer-to-peer lending space, providing a platform to match up investors with borrowers at rates more competitive than traditional banks and returns that were more attractive than other investment opportunities. In 2020, it started to move out of that space, picking up a banking license and launching saving and loan products.Yet its largely doubled down on those products rather than using them to jump into a wave of new services. Crypto is nowhere in its roadmap for now, for example. As of now, we still remain arms length, Janardana said in reference to decentralized currencies. Ultimately, we have a responsibility that we give our customers products that we think are suitable for them, and that they understand. I dont feel that as of today, that the average of a customer, at least in our mind, passes that bar.Nor has it felt the need yet to expand outside the U.K. The U.K. has a lot of road to run, so we remain focused there, he said. International continues to be longer term and opportunistic.Plans for 2025 do include Zopa launching its first current account products, and bringing more AI into the company, he said.Janardana said that Zopa is already using AI within the company, for example developers are leaning on it to help write code. AI will expand to the front office next year, he said, with a generative AI platform to help customers manage their money, and to help them buy more Zopa products in a more personalized way. We are really looking forward to how our interactions with customers can move beyond the mobile app into something bit more warm, personal, and human, he said of the GenAI plans. Unlike some other neobanks that essentially pull together fintech-as-a-service APIs to power their products, Zopa has built its platform itself from the ground up, and thats allowed it to gradually start to branch out in partnerships to power financial services for other companies. These have included partnerships with electricity supplier Octopus Energy, and with the retailer John Lewis to offer personal loans directly to its 23 million customers.The lead investor in this round is an interesting one: its A.P. Moller Holding, a giant in Danish business that owns not just the shipping behemoth Maersk but also Danske Bank, among other assets. Other investors are not being disclosed except to note they are existing backers. Zopas previous investors include SoftBank, which led that $300 million round in 2021; as well as Silverstripe, Northzone, and Uprising. (Some of the details of this investment were leaked earlier in the week, although the amount and investors were not accurate.)
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