Author Archives: Sarang Sheth

How to make a Domino Chain Reaction in KeyShot using the new ‘Physics Simulation’ feature

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Last year, a global survey crowned KeyShot as the “Best Rendering Software,” with 88% of designers overwhelmingly picking it for its incredibly photorealistic rendering capabilities. Now, with KeyShot’s newly unveiled Physics Simulation and Camera Keyframe features, the software is growing even more powerful, bringing real-world physics and camera effects to make your renders pop even more.

Click Here to Participate in the 2024 KeyShot Animation Challenge. Hurry! Challenge ends March 10th, 2024.

I put KeyShot’s Physics Simulation feature to the ultimate test by rendering a dramatic domino chain reaction scene. Setting up the simulation took hardly any time, with incredibly easy controls that took mere minutes to get the hang of. The results were jaw-dropping if I say so myself. In this article, I’ll show you how I managed to pull off one of my most exciting KeyShot rendering experiences ever. I’ll walk you through how I set the domino scene up, what parameters I input into the Physics Simulation window, and how you can recreate this scene, too. I’ll also share tips and tricks that can help you create some incredibly real simulations with objects falling, bouncing, and colliding with each other, absolutely enhancing your KeyShot rendering experience to a level like never before.

The entire scene was modeled in Rhino 7, starting by building one single domino, creating a spiral curve, and arraying multiple dominoes along the curve. The dominos were spaced at roughly 2 centimeters apart, ensuring the chain reaction would go smoothly from start to finish. The entire scene has a whopping 1182 dominoes in total; a little ambitious considering I was going to render the simulation on a 2022 gaming laptop.

Tilt the first domino to help kickstart the physics cycle

To use the simulation feature, import your scene into the latest version of KeyShot (2023-24) (get a free trial here), set the scale, add the materials, and pick the right environment. Before you use the physics feature, however, you need to prime your scene – in this case, it meant tilting the first domino forward so gravity would kick in during the simulation. The Physics Simulation feature can be found in the ‘Tools’ section on top. Clicking on it opens a separate window with a preview viewport, a bunch of settings, and an animation timeline on the bottom.

The Physics Simulation feature can be found in the Tools window

To begin with, pick the parts you want to apply physics to (these are the parts that will be influenced by gravity, so don’t pick stuff that remains stationary, like ground objects). The parts you don’t select will still influence your physics because moving objects will still collide with them. Once you’ve chosen what parts you want to move (aka the dominoes), select the ‘Shaded’ option so you can see them clearly in the viewport.

The settings on the left are rather basic but extremely powerful. You start by first setting the maximum simulation time (short animations require short simulations; considering mine was a long chain reaction, I chose 200 seconds), followed by Keyframes Per Second – This basically tells KeyShot to make your animation more detailed or choppy (think FPS, but for simulation). I prefer selecting 25 keyframes per second since I’m rendering my animation at 25fps (just to keep the simulation light), but you can bump things up to 60 keyframes per second, which gives your simulation smoother detail. You can then bump up your animation FPS to render high frame-rate videos that can then be slowed down for dramatic slow motion. Simulation quality dictates how well KeyShot factors the physics in – it’s at a default of 0.1, although if you feel like your simulation looks off, bump it up to a higher value.

The Physics Simulation Window

The remaining settings pertain to gravity and material properties. The gravity is set at Earth’s default of 9.81 m/s² – increasing it makes items heavier (and fall faster), and decreasing it makes objects float around for longer before descending. I set mine at 11 m/s² just to make sure the dominoes fall confidently. Friction determines the amount of drag caused by two colliding objects – setting a higher friction causes more surface interference, like dropping a cube on a ramp made of rubber, and reducing the friction enables smooth sliding, like the same cube on a polished metal ramp. To ensure that the dominos don’t stick to each other like they were made of rubber, I reduced my friction setting to 0.4. Finally, a Bounciness feature lets you determine how two objects collide – the lower this setting, the less bounce-back, the higher the setting, the more the rebound. Given that I didn’t want my dominos bouncing off each other, I set this at a low of 0.01. Once you’re done, hit the Begin Simulation button to watch the magic unfold.

If you aren’t happy with your simulation, you can stop it mid-way and troubleshoot. Usually, tinkering with the settings helps achieve the right simulation, but here’s something I learned, too – bigger objects fall slower than smaller objects, so playing around with the size and scale of your model can really affect the simulation. If, however, you’re happy with your simulation (you can run through it in the video timeline below), just hit the blue ‘OK’ button, and you’ve successfully rendered your first physics simulation!

The simulation then becomes a part of KeyShot’s Animation timeline, and you can then play around with camera angles and movements to capture your entire scene just the way you visualized it. I created multiple clips of my incredibly long domino chain reaction (in small manageable chunks because my laptop crashed at least 8 times during this) and stitched them together in a video editing app.

Comparing KeyShot and Blender’s Physics Control Panels

The Physics Simulation feature in KeyShot 2023-24 is incredibly impressive. For starters, it’s a LOT easier than other software like Blender, which can feel a little daunting with the hundreds of settings it has you choose from. Figuring out physics simulation in KeyShot takes just a few minutes (although the actual simulation can take a while if you’re running something complex), making an already powerful rendering software feel even more limitless!

That being said, there’s some room for growth. Previous experiments with the simulation tool saw some strange results – falling objects sometimes ended up choosing their own direction, making the simulation feel odd (I made a watch fall down and the entire thing disassembled and scattered in mid-air instead of falling together and breaking apart on impact). Secondly, sometimes objects can go through each other instead of colliding, so make sure you tinker with quality settings to get the perfect result. Thirdly, you can’t choose different bounciness values for different objects in the same simulation just yet, although I’m sure KeyShot is working on it. Finally, it would be absolutely amazing if there were a ‘slow-motion’ feature. The current way to do this is to bump up the keyframe rate and bring down the gravity, but that can sometimes cause objects to drift away after colliding instead of falling downwards in slow motion.

So there you have it! You can use this tutorial to animate your own domino sequence, too, or better still, create a new simulation based on your own ideas! If you do, make sure to participate in the 2024 KeyShot Animation Challenge to stand a chance to win some exciting prizes. Hurry! The competition ends on March 10th, 2024!

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Retro LEGO Projector Can ACTUALLY Project Images Onto Any Wall

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Think of it as a ViewMaster, but instead of a small viewfinder that lets you see images up close, the LEGO Magic Lantern can cast blurry yet discernible images onto your wall, making it an incredibly engaging and entertaining build for you and your curious child.

In the time before TV, before movies, and even before bright stage lights, a Dutch scientist developed a machine that could make pictures move right in front of you. People were amazed by it, and they called it the Magic Lantern. Jump ahead 400 years and we’ve got the LEGO version! However, the LEGO Magic Lantern by Norders doesn’t use candles or gas or quicklime as its light source – it uses something much more modern that everyone has in their pocket: the flashlight from your phone!

Designer: Norders

Inspired by the original Lanterna Magica from the 17th century (around the time when the greatest minds were devoting their time towards exploring optics and lenses), Norders’ LEGO creation is a tiny tabletop device with steampunk-retro-esque details. Styled like a lantern, the contraption has a lens on the front that shoots images out onto any wall, using the light from your smartphone. Given its fixed focal length, the projector does need to be adjusted to ensure the image on the wall isn’t blurry or washed out. At the right distance, you’re left with a clear, bright image with a little vignetting around the sides, giving it an incredibly vintage appeal. Imagine how advanced this must have been during the 17th century!

The way the projector works is by putting a translucent slide into its mounting slot, causing light passing through the projector to cast the image on a wall. The slides are removable and replaceable, letting you play out a literal slide show by changing the individual images every few seconds! In fact, the 17th-century magic lantern is where we get the word ‘slide show’ from!

By LEGO-build standards, Norders’ Magic Lantern takes a few unconventional liberties. It uses parts that aren’t found in the LEGO catalog, like lenses, mirrors, and printed images. The lenses play a rather integral role in shaping the beam of light, which travels upwards from your smartphone to a 45° mirror, which then channels it forward towards the front of the projector. The printed image is mounted on a transparent LEGO brick, and light passing through it hits a final lens before going through a shadow mask to help create that final circular image. In LEGO parlance, these techniques are ‘illegal’ because of the use of non-LEGO components. However, we can chalk it down to ‘creative liberty’.

Keeping the Magic Lantern 150cm (59 inches) far from the wall results in an image 60cm (23.5 inches) in diameter

The Magic Lantern’s schematic features an adjustable mirror because the flashlight isn’t located at exactly the same place for every smartphone

The Magic Lantern is made from 513 LEGO bricks, making it much easier than some other detailed LEGO construction kits. Each additional slide requires 7 bricks, allowing you to expand on your slide collection to display through the lantern (you’ll still have to print your images on transparent sheets). Norder’s creation is a part of the LEGO Ideas forum, where independent creators can submit their ideas for LEGO builds and have the global LEGO community vote to select their favorite. As of writing this, the LEGO Magic Lantern has a staggering 8,355 votes, putting it just inches behind the 10,000-vote finish line. You can help by voting for it on the LEGO Ideas forum and with luck, help turn it into a buyable set!

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No More Scratchy Tags! This genius device removes care labels from clothes and digitizes them

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I hate the fact that I get an entire booklet attached to my clothes every time I buy something. Especially with global brands, those care labels can be multiple pages long, covering as many as 5-7 languages. Nobody I know has ever read any of those tags, and let’s face it, they’re an absolute liability. They cause itches, and sometimes pop out from the back, making for a rather embarrassing moment when someone else has to point out to you that your shirt’s tag is sticking out. Sure, it’s not the biggest problem in the world (or even in the fashion industry), but that doesn’t mean it’s a problem not worth solving. Meet LUKE, the world’s first device that easily removes care labels. It slices them off right at the hem, leaving no residual label at all… but more importantly, it comes with an app that digitizes the care label for you, allowing you to refer to the instructions if you ever want to wash/dry/care for them exactly how the manufacture intended. LUKE obviously isn’t for everyone, but for people with sensitive skin, with expensive/delicate clothes, or with good fashion that doesn’t benefit in any way from those godawful tags… LUKE is a perfect tool to have sitting in your wardrobe!

Designer: Stefan Pabst

Click Here to Buy Now: $36 $43 (15% off).

Designed to be a rather compact, intuitive, and incredibly safe gadget, LUKE is no larger than a chunky stapler. It runs on 3 AA batteries that power the heated wire which comfortably slices through up to 4 labels at a time (for those pesky multi-label clothes). To use LUKE, simply slide it onto your garment’s care tag, placing one edge of it right near the hem (or the stitching). Hit a button to activate LUKE, and it simultaneously cuts the label off and seals the seam too, removing the tags without any evidence while ensuring your clothes don’t get damaged in the process. Take it from Stefan Pabst, who designed the product in Switzerland, and engineered/manufactured it in Germany.

The LUKE app creates a digital twin of one’s wardrobe and the data is available for a number of applications with just one “click”.

However, removing the tag is just half the process, since LUKE helps you digitize the tag too, just in case you want to refer to it for proper care instructions. The app takes a photo of the tag, scanning it for all the instructions, as well as a photo of your outfit, creating a digital wardrobe with all the information you need. You can access the tag through the app for laundry tips, helping you take good care of your clothes (and helping them last longer), but additionally, the LUKE app also lets you re-order clothes you’ve tagged, and also helps curate outfits based on your digital wardrobe, becoming your fashion assistant in the process.

As impressive as the tag-removing device’s underlying tech is, the app really uplifts the experience, adding a layer of meaningful AI insights to help you organize your wardrobe better, take sustainable care of your garments, and honestly, mix and match your clothes to look like a million bucks. You’ll feel like a million bucks too, now that you don’t have those annoyingly scratchy tags ruining your outfit and your comfort! LUKE starts at €33 (roughly $36 USD), comes with a free app, and ships globally.

Click Here to Buy Now: $36 $43 (15% off).

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This Smartphone Won’t Collect Or Sell Your Personal Data… And It Has An Encrypted VPN Too

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If you thought your iPhone was protecting your privacy, I have a bridge to sell you. Sure, Apple doesn’t sell your data to third-party data brokers, advertisers, and governments… but it does still collect your data. And hey, maybe Instagram and TikTok can’t track you across apps, but they can still track you on their own app. I’m not fear-mongering, although even if I did, it probably wouldn’t work because you (and I) have made peace with the fact that we’re giving away our data for convenience. There isn’t really any alternative, to be honest, aside from probably the quintessential ‘dumb-phone‘… and renowned dumb-phone makers Punkt have realized that there needs to be a better way. To that end, meet the MC02, Punkt’s first proper 5G smartphone that’s designed with data-security and privacy-protection in mind. It sports a minimal UI that tries not to inundate/addict you, has a built-in international VPN to keep your data from reaching the wrong hands (and even access geo-blocked content), and even runs Punkt’s Apostrophy OS, which individually partitions user data, restricting them to each individual application (so not even the OS can see your entire digital footprint). Your data also gets stored on a cloud server in Switzerland, far away from governments and state actors.

Designer: Punkt

The MC02 isn’t shy about its capabilities. It promises a secure, smarter way of using a mobile device, steering clear of the prying digital eyes that seek to profit from personal information. With over 90% of smartphone apps tracking users across the internet, the MC02 offers a unique choice: a digital sanctuary where user data is stored under Swiss jurisdiction, ensuring GDPR, HIPPA, and PCI compliance, and where a suite of on-device tools—email, calendar, contacts, notes, storage, and VPN—operates free from advertising-based data infiltration.

The phone itself is a marvel of minimalist design and intentional functionality, breaking the addiction cycle with tech while still being fairly modern. It features a 6.7” full HD+ screen, 64MP back and 24MP front cameras, 6GB RAM, and a long-lasting 5,500 mAh battery. But the MC02’s real allure lies in its operating system and ecosystem. Powered by Apostrophy and designed for data sovereignty, it includes a built-in VPN for secure browsing, a suite of secure communication tools, and a Carbon & Data Ledger for monitoring the privacy risk and environmental impact of individual apps.

Punkt takes a step further in personalizing the mobile experience with the MC02’s subscription model. The first 12 months of Apostrophy Services—a suite of security and privacy tools—are included in the purchase price, with a subsequent monthly tariff that ensures users know exactly what they’re paying for: privacy, not ads.

And as for the price of reclaiming your digital autonomy? The €699 ($755 USD) MC02 comes with a clear subscription model for the OS, the first 12 months of which are included in the initial purchase, followed by a $17 monthly fee for continued access to Apostrophy’s secure ecosystem. So, if you’ve ever wished to dial back the digital noise and take control of your tech life, the MC02 might just be the tech equivalent of finding that quiet corner in a bustling café—a sanctuary where your data, your choices, and your peace of mind are all part of the service.

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Innovative Shampoo Bottle Includes a Detachable Mini Bottle for Travel

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How many times have you had to buy a separate smaller bottle of your favorite shampoo for travel? Even if you rely on those tiny shampoo bottles that come complimentary with your hotel room, it’s still an extra bottle that you now have to worry about. The Carry On is a simple, borderline-genius solution that gives you a dedicated travel mini-bottle with your existing at-home shampoo bottle. With a compact design that conveniently comes packaged with your regular bottle of shampoo, the Carry On’s mini bottle can be carried around with you on your travels, and refilled whenever you’re running low, so you don’t need to stress out about buying an additional smaller bottle separately to travel with.

Designer: Yeo Seo Koo

A winner of this year’s Asia Design Prize, the Carry On is an economy-sized 1 liter (33.8 fl oz) bottle of shampoo that comes with its own handle built into the bottle’s design. Except, when you buy it off the shelf, the handle has a perfectly-fitting carry bottle nestled into it like a jigsaw-puzzle piece. When you buy one larger bottle, you get a small one for free that’s the ideal size for your toiletry kit. At 50ml (1.7 fl oz), the shampoo bottle easily gets you through a week-long holiday (you won’t shampoo everyday, obviously) comfortably, allowing you to use your favorite shampoo instead of using those substandard ones that come free with your hotel room.

There are a few things about Carry On that are definitely award-worthy. For starters, getting a smaller bottle free with a larger bottle isn’t new – but Carry On’s implementation is genius. It fits the tiny bottle right in the negative space created by the larger bottle’s handle design. This is usually dead space that gets wasted during logistics, but the clever integration allows the Carry On to use that hollow area efficiently. Moreover, let’s also appreciate the fact that the mini bottle (either by coincidence or by design) has a rounded design that looks like a bar of soap, immediately creating that toiletry-based association! Clever, no?!

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This Titanium EDC Blade’s Sleek Classic Design Makes It The James Bond Of Pocket Knives

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Looks can be misleading. Sure, the Titan looks like a sleek, gorgeous, gentleman’s EDC knife… but its quintessential design could fool anyone. This pocket flipper may look statesmanlike, but it’s an absolute beast on the ground. The Titan sports an S35VN steel blade, encased within a titanium handle, making it incredibly sharp, durable, and a reliable foot-soldier. It’s nimble-looking but packs a punch, has a well-balanced ergonomic form that’s a pleasure to hold, and boasts a design that’s such a modern classic, it would fit right into the tool kit of a certain Double O Seven.

Designer: Chaku LLC

Click Here to Buy Now: $154 $250 (38% off) Hurry, only 9 days left!

The Titan sports a design so incredibly clean and sophisticated, it’s worthy of being a part of an elite EDC collection. The form embraces a combination of minimalism and utility, giving you a knife that looks pure on the surface, but has a reputation that can only be fully grasped when you use it. The knife features a 3.1-inch drop-point blade with a curved back that gives it a beautiful silhouette. Drop point blades are classics for a reason – they’re reliable and can handle various tasks from cutting to piercing, slashing, whittling, carving, and even chopping with a rocking motion given the blade’s curved edge. They’re easy to sharpen too, although, with the Titan’s durable S35VN steel blade, sharpening shouldn’t really be much of a regular concern.

S35VN is a martensitic stainless steel that’s known for its sheer toughness and wear resistance, making it perfect for rugged blades. The Titan, however, disguises the material’s true power with its rather civilized-looking design, but if push came to shove, the Titan could even open bottles and cans, slicing comfortably through thin sheet metal without so much as worrying about losing its edge. The blade sports a stone-washed finish that gives it its gorgeous textured sheen, which sits in a matte-finish titanium handle.

The 4.1-inch titanium handle is grippy, yet lightweight, giving you a well-placed center of gravity that you’d expect from good knives. The Titan is therefore comfortable to hold in any style, with the blade facing upwards or downwards. A mildly scalloped base on the handle lets your fingers rest comfortably, and a bear lock holds the blade in place, allowing you to disengage simply by sliding a switch at the tip of the handle and gently jerking your hand to have the blade obediently rotate back into its handle.

The Titan doesn’t get too extravagant with details… which means every single detail on it was carefully thought out before being added. A thumb switch on the blade lets you deploy your knife with a simple push of your thumb. The bear lock is within access of your index finger too, giving you single-hand operation on the field. The knife sports a titanium pocket clip that complements the titanium handle perfectly, and sure, there’s a palpable lack of a lanyard hole… but that’s with reason too. The Titan isn’t designed for keychains and carabiners – it’s made for pockets of suits and tuxedos. The pocket clip therefore serves its purpose rather well, giving the Titan its “gentleman’s knife” demeanor.

Available in one color (talk about being classic), the Titan weighs 3.70z (106 grams). It retails for $250, although you can grab it at a discounted price of $154 on Kickstarter with global shipping.

Click Here to Buy Now: $154 $250 (38% off) Hurry, only 9 days left!

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This genius Mesh Pan gives your food a signature smoky flavor as it cooks

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The pan’s open mesh design lets smoke pass through, allowing it to permeate into your food for that wonderful charcoal/wood flavor that makes barbecue taste so tantalizingly good!

Think of a grill, then think of a cast iron pan, now combine the two together! That’s what the award-winning Mesh Pan is all about. Designed to look like a pan, but with a mesh-lined base, the Mesh Pan lets you cook your items directly above a fire. Unlike regular utensils that are solid, only allowing heat to pass through, the Mesh Pan also allows the aromas and flavor compounds present in your charcoal, giving your food a delectably smoky flavor with really no effort. The food cooks comfortably above the fire, while any resulting fat and grease drips through, hitting the charcoal and causing more smoky flavor!

Designers: Takashi Sekimitsu & GateLightDesign (Client – NORIDOMI IRON WORKS Co., Ltd.)

For designer Takashi Sekimitsu, the Mesh Pan isn’t a replacement for your cast iron pan or griddle… or even your grill – it’s an intermediary product that solves a different purpose, making it a great addition to your existing line of outdoor crockery. The fine mesh allows you to directly sear meats, veggies, or even items like noodles or rice over an open flame (something that wouldn’t be possible on a grill). The mesh lining acts as a flame arrestor, preventing the fire from passing through the fine openings, so your food isn’t engulfed in flames. There is, however, a slight danger of causing flare-ups by grease/fat dripping through the mesh directly onto the fire. I’d say maybe avoid grilling anything too fatty like bacon or a wagyu, and opt for leaner game meats, carbs, and veggies.

Once everything’s said and done, cleaning the mesh is as simple as taking a scrubber to it to quickly unclog the pores. You could burn the food clogged in the pores over an open fire too! And if your mesh eventually reaches the end of its life, simply replace it by installing a new mesh on the same existing pan handle!

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One-of-a-kind ‘Candle Disc’ tracks the passage of time by melting wax in a different way

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Since time immemorial, candles have been used to track time, with the burning of the wick and the disintegration of the candle being used to calculate minutes and hours. Seokoo Yeo’s ‘Candle Go’ brings back that particular feature, but in a unique format. The Candle Go is a wax-warming apparatus that uses disc-shaped candles, melting them almost like a timer. The wax melts radially, sort of like hands of a clock, while gravity allows the candle disc to rotate. The result is a candle experience that’s distinctly unique, allowing you to visually measure time passed. Yeo designed the Candle Go to help you track goals and time spent being productive (sort of like a wax-based Pomodoro timer). At the end, the disc melts away to reveal a medal that rewards you for time spent pursuing your goals.

Designer: Seokoo Yeo

What the Candle Go explores so beautifully is a new way of burning wax. Traditional candles feature a standing design, with a vertical wick that lights at the top, gradually moving downwards as the wax melts away. Historically, markings on the side of the candle would then tell how much time had passed, helping people track minutes and hours. The Candle Go doesn’t do that – instead, it mounts a flat disc of wax on an axis, quite like a vertical CD player of sorts. Rather than having a wick on fire, the Candle Go uses a warming element that melts away parts of the wax in a radial style. The melted wax creates a weight imbalance, getting the disc to rotate on its own. This clever technique uses gravity to its advantage, allowing the entire disc to melt at the end. You can easily track the time just by staring a the shape of the disc. It visually represents a pie-chart of sorts, allowing you to easily and intuitively understand ratios and fractions, therefore figuring out how much time has passed.

The melted wax gathers in a chamber at the bottom, ensuring your tabletop doesn’t get covered with melted wax (the way you’d otherwise face with regular candles). There’s no fire involved too (which could be a safety hazard), although the candle does emanate a warm light that is diffused by the natural properties of the wax.

Once you’ve exhausted your candle disc (and received the reward inside), simply load another disc to keep tracking your goals, and the amount of time dedicated towards achieving them!

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Innovative modular shoe insole lets you switch between comfort, pain relief, and athletic performance

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With a modular design that lets you add and replace inserts under your heel and metatarsal area, the EcoDasher is perhaps the only shoe insert to let you choose exactly how much support or shock absorption you want in your footwear. Perfect for pretty much any occasion, these replaceable pads let you customize your shoes to suit your exact needs, whether it’s for all-day comfort, foot-alignment, pain relief, or even endurance and athletic performance. The same insole transforms to help assist your foot and posture, working remarkably well for work, sports, leisure, and everything in between, giving your shoes the practical edge they need. The EcoDasher shoe insole makes fashion functional again!

Designers: Ethan Lin & Johnny Lv

Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $69.99 ($30.99 off). Hurry, only 7/30 discounted pairs left!

Most insoles just provide lift or arch support, but the EcoDasher isn’t most insoles. The distinct difference in the EcoDasher’s design lies in the two removable pads at the base, and the multiple pad options that come with each insole. Each pad bestows different properties on your insole. Think of your insole as a camera, and the pads as different lenses. Some lenses give you telephoto capabilities, others let you go ultra-wide, and some allow you to go up-close in macro… the pads work the same way, giving your foot just the right amount of support it needs throughout the day and through different activities.

The EcoDasher’s design takes inspiration from the shape of a horse saddle, with curves that support the arches of your foot. The insole’s flexible design provides the right balance between adaptability as well as foot support, letting you get the most out of the shoes you wear. The pads on the bottom help provide the right amount of cushioning depending on your activities. Harder pads give support, softer ones give long-lasting comfort, and special shock-absorbing pads help provide that bounce while running, training, or engaging in any activity.

The two pads sit at strategic positions, right underneath the impact points of your feet. The heel pad, as its name rightfully suggests, sits directly underneath the heel, while the other metatarsal pad sits underneath the transverse arch, or the area between your toe and heel that comes in contact with the floor when you stand on tip-toes. The metatarsal pad comes in 3 varieties – an Oceanfoam pad that offers mild support, the Rebound pad for moderate support, and a FIT pad for extra support. Meanwhile, the heel pad boasts 4 options, Oceanfoam, Rebound, FIT, and an additional Comfort MAX that’s perfect for pain relief.

Together, the 7 pads offer up to 20 unique combinations that you can experiment with to find the ones that suit your requirements the best. Depending on your foot shape, body type (height and weight), fitness, and the activity you engage in, you can choose which pads serve your needs the best (or even use the EcoDasher without pads if all you want is a foot-hugging insole). The interchangeable pads help overcome a variety of scenarios, from daily wear to athletics, or from pain-relief to just simple foot-alignment (for people with flat feet or bad posture). With time, you’ll be able to understand exactly what your feet need throughout the day, helping you adjust your insole accordingly for unmatched comfort.

The EcoDasher still manages to have one more trick up its sleeve, and the clue sits right in its name. While most insoles are made from virgin synthetic memory foam, the EcoDasher is made from a combination of algae-based materials and recycled plastic waste. The insole itself is designed using broken-down plastic waste, and is made to be entirely recyclable, ensuring it never ends up in a landfill or the ocean. Meanwhile, the Oceanfoam pad inserts are derived from algae, and are designed to degrade into natural materials when discarded. Overall, the entire insole is made from 80% recycled materials, and comprises 47% biodegradable elements, while the remaining 53% can be recycled into other plastic products. Unlike other natural materials like cork, the EcoDasher insole is also designed to be flexible without cracking/breaking, and is also breathable and innately anti-bacterial.

Each EcoDasher offers 5 different colors to choose from and is available across 10 different sizes (which can further be trimmed to fit perfectly into your shoes. The pair of insoles ship with 14 pads in total (7 per foot), along with a nifty guide that helps you understand which pads to use based on need. The entire kit comes packaged in a plastic-free FSC-certified paper box which can be recycled after you receive your EcoDashers. The EcoDasher ships globally, starting at a Kickstarter-special discounted price of $39.

Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $69.99 ($30.99 off). Hurry, only 7/30 discounted pairs left!

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Lunar New Year-themed Custom Mechanical Keycaps ring in the ‘Year Of The Dragon’

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Celebrating the Chinese New Year in fitting spirit, this limited-edition mechanical keyboard comes with both QWERTY and the Standard Chinese Script… but what we love more is the fitting red and gold color scheme, and those beautiful majestic fire-breathing beasts found on the special keys! The special keycaps sit on Drop’s CSTM80 keyboard, and are designed as a collaboration between Drop and designer Boba.Types. “Adorned with fiery reds and rich golds (a dragon’s favorite colors, we’d hazard a guess), this set is nothing if not ornate,” mention the folks at Drop.

Designers: Drop & Boba.Types

While most keyboards are designed to be comfortable enough to use without looking at, this one makes it hard to look away. The keycaps are just gorgeous, and make for a great collector’s edition for people celebrating the Lunar New Year… or anyone with a fascination for the great “lóng” (dragon) of Chinese mythology.

The keycaps come as a base set, but also feature novelty and accent caps for adding a little more flavor to your already Sichuan-spicy keyboard. The accents come in the form of golden keys that stand out against the otherwise red keyboard, allowing you to easily spot keys you’re more likely to use frequently. The novelty keys add gorgeous mythological imagery to your keyboard, including a special numeric row that’s adorned with the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. Even special keys like the escape, shift, control, alt, etc. are jazzed up with symbolism… and while memorizing all the key types will probably be a bit of a headache, it’s absolutely worth it in the long run. Also, your friends will have a tough time figuring out how to snoop around on your computer!

The keycaps come in a special DCD profile (Drop Cylindrical Dye-Sub) developed by Drop. It’s designed to deliver a “classic feel with a unique, grit-free PBT texture for a finish as smooth—and strong—as dragons’ scales,” say the folks at Drop. The keycaps are compatible with Cherry MX switches and similar clones, and the base kit sets you back $49, while an additional $35 gets you the novelty keycap set.

The post Lunar New Year-themed Custom Mechanical Keycaps ring in the ‘Year Of The Dragon’ first appeared on Yanko Design.