6 10 - 23 July 2019
C
an’tdrawfor
toffee?GauGAN,
a newartistictool
fromNvidia,can
converteventhemost
rudimentarydrawing
into a stunningscenic
masterpiece.Rather
thanselectingcolours
topaintwith,you
chooseitemsfroma
list ofenvironmental
elementssuchastrees,
rivers,rocks,plants,
snowandsand.You thenusethe
drawingtoolstoscribbleonthe
left-handcanvas before pressinga
buttontoseea realisticlandscape
appearbefore youreyes.
The resultsare impressive, given
thatyou’rearmed withonly a
paintbrushand a fillertool. GauGAN
letsyou alter the brush sizeand uses
two clever algorithms: one tomake
the conversion and the othertoweb.archive.org
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which lets you
see how websites looked in the past,has long been one of
our favourite online tools, and now a new feature called
Changes makes it even more interesting. Enter a URL as
usual, then click Changes to view all available ‘captures’ of
that site over the years on one page. Select two of these
snapshots, then click Compare and the site shows you a
side-by-side comparison of the contents and appearance of
the site on those dates, with changes highlighted in yellow
(indicating deletions) and blue (additions).
The Changes feature is currently in beta, and can be
rather slow – especially when you’re searching for sites
that have been captured
many times – but it’s a
fascinating
idea, and
really rams
homehow
much and
how quickly
the web has
evolved over
the years.
http://www.stonehengeskyscape.co.uk
Stonehenge was built to align with the sun, and it attracts
thousands of visitors each year. If you can’t make the
pilgrimage in person, this online tool lets you enjoy a live
feed of the skies taken from nearby, so you can experience
sunrise, sunset and the passage of the moonand stars from
a unique perspective within the iconic stone circle.
The visuals are from
various sources, but the
sky’s appearance is
accurate to within five
minutes. Select the
coloured squares at the
top of the screen to see
the monument at any
point over 24 hours.
After dark, the image
switches to a computer-
generated depiction
that plots the location of the stars and five visible planets.
Tour and skyscape buttons show the names of the stones
and the solar range, and you can also see the sunrise and
sunset times. English Heritage hopes the feed will make
visitors feel closer to Neolithic people and their spiritual life.check howrealistic it is(a
systemcalleda Generative
Adversarial Network). GauGAN’s neural
network fills indetails based onwhatit
haslearnedfromrealimages, to
produce uniquelandscapeseverytime.
You canalsouploadsegmentation
maps,landscape images, style filters
and paintings,but nothing beats the
fun ofplayingwiththe toolmanually.Onceyou’vefinishedcreatingyour
landscape,you candownloadboth
youroriginaldrawing and the
renderedresult. You canalsoclick
the various imagesand paintings
belowtosee different AI-driven
interpretations ofyourpicture.
bit.ly/nvidia4 79Create stunningly realistic landscapes
Compare how websites
have changed over time
See the sun rise over
Stonehenge