RTT USA and Art Center Explore Smart Materials in March Podcast

March 12, 2009 - PRLog -- This month's Material Intersections podcast coproduced by RTT USA, Inc. (RTT), a leader in realtime 3D visualization software and services for product design and marketing, and Art Center College of Design’s Color, Materials and Trends Exploration Laboratory (CMTEL), will focus on the topic of smart materials.

Michele Hess, director of RTT’s Material & Color Connection, and Marshall Hamachi, CMTEL’s associate director, lead the monthly podcasts and use Solid Poetry (concrete that displays a hidden pattern once wet) to showcase the concept of smart materials. The video discussion will focus on materials that have their own personality, or a layer of “intelligence” that allows them to react to outside forces in the environment.

“In this session, we show the effects moisture has on a surface such as Solid Poetry,” said Hess. “This type of concrete has properties within it that create a mysterious interaction when combined with moisture. We want to expose viewers to materials with certain traits that allow them to completely transform when combined with an outside force like rain. We call these ‘smart’ materials because they are aware of their surroundings and instantly react when combined with something external like moisture, temperature or electricity.”

Hess and Hamachi use RTT’s proprietary software, RTT DeltaGen, to explore the virtual applications that transform Solid Poetry’s blank canvas into a whimsical array of pattern.

March’s podcast can be accessed on Art Center’s CMTEL Web site at http://www.accd-cmtel.com/vcmtel_featuredpodcast.html.

Launched in December 2008, the goal of Material Intersections is to bring visual inspiration to the art and design community by exploring a different material trend each month. The podcasts connect the tactile and technical worlds in an inspiring format combining thoughtful narrative and rich visuals using RTT’s proprietary technology, RTT DeltaGen. Future podcasts will feature interviews with designers who will provide insight on various materials they use during the design application process.

Upcoming podcast topics include:

- Sustainability
- Slow Tech
- Lightweight
- Durable

Follow RTT on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/RTTusa and check out RTT’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/RTTvisualisation.

For more information about RTT, visit http://www.rttusa.com.

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About RTT USA:

RTT USA, Inc. is a leading provider of realtime 3D visualization software and services for product design and marketing. RTT’s software allows clients to visualize products with incredible precision and accuracy using only engineering data. RTT helps designers experience concepts interactively and allows marketing and sales teams to create materials for Web, print and TV before the actual product is available. RTT provides a link between design, engineering, marketing and sales for optimum collaboration and efficiency from product development to purchase. The company’s clients include Adidas, Audi, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Lexus, Toyota and Volkswagen.

RTT USA has offices in Pasadena, Calif. and Royal Oak, Mich. Its parent company, Realtime Technology AG, was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany. It has offices in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo. The company employs more than 330 people worldwide.