Thumbnail Slide Selection
DVForge / MacMice Product Designs
Actual DVForge / MacMice Products
1997 Ford F-150 Lariat Close Up
1997 Ford F-150 Lariat Raw Shots
Collins PC Pillow Notbook Computer Ventilator
Collins Danglet for iPod/iPhone
Collins DryShake Salt & Pepper Shakers
Collins MizerPod Fuel Efficiency Aide
Fishman SoloAmp Acoustic Amplifier
Collins BagAmp Personal Performance Amplification
ZINK CoverJet
MacMice The Ball
MacMice Danger Mouse Red
MacMice GarageKey Red
MacMice GarageKey Original
DVForge JamPod
DVForge JamPlug
DVForge Mod Packaging
MacMice ZeroSticks
MacMice ZeroSticks Details
MacMice SightFlex and MicFlex
MacMice The Stand
MacMice The Stand LP
Love Monkey
Guess at Apple Mac mini
Future Apple PowerBook Speculation
1970 Dodge Charger Racer
1970 Dodge Charger Details / Robot
1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe
1938 Bugatti as Princess Carriage
1970 Ford Mustang Mach-1 Fastback Racer
1970 Ford Mustang with Jet Engine
Cory Bird's Symmetry WIP
Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina WIP
Virgin Galactic WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo
LEGO SpaceShipOne
Living Room Interior
Dining Room Interior
Kitchen Interior
General Caliper

Click on a thumbnail image above to resume the slideshow starting on the selected slide.
Between May of 2003 and 2005 Jeff designed a number of products for DVForge / MacMice that went to production. Jeff has designed and continues to design many more products for this client and others, but most are still unannounced.
Photographs of some of the actual products Jeff designed for DVForge / MacMice between 2003 and 2005.
A significant learning project done in 2006 with many complex parts and photorealistic surfaces.
Some details of a complex modeling project done in 2006 to learn new 3D software tools and techniques.
Starting in 2008, Jeff has designed and continues to design a number of products for Collins Machine & Tool Co., Inc.. This complex organic shaped pad is designed to provide convection cooling to a notebook computer when used on a sofa cushion, pillow, bedding or thick carpeting (www.pcpillow.com).
Jeff designed this handy iPod/iPhone mounting device for Collins (www.danglet.com). The product shots shown in this website image are all Jeff's 3D model renderings.
This Collins product is designed to break up clumps inside a salt shaker when a humid environment tends to cause this problem (DryShake website).
The Collins MizerPod uses accelerometer technology to give driver’s feedback on their driving behaviors to help improve gas mileage (www.mizerpod.com).
The original enclosure for SoloAmp was designed by Jeff for Fishman in 2005. This breakthrough product changed dramatically in the nearly 3 years it took to develop, but it was finally released to the market in 2008.
Collins is developing an innovative product line specifically for single musician/singer performers. These products use a revolutionary new solid-face driver technology (Audio Piston) to achieve amazing amplification performance along with extreme portability (www.bagamp.com).
CoverJet was designed in 2006 to use a new inkless thermal color printing technology (ZINK). This palm-sized device and its driver software print CD/DVD lables radially - directly onto discs with the patented ZINK paper pre-applied. In 2009 CoverJet was submitted to the ZINK Zero Boundaries Design Competition and was selected as a finalist.
The Ball was designed in 2004 to be a trackball for people who don't normally use trackballs. Very simple and not much larger than a mouse, it was the world's first Bluetooth (BT) wireless trackball. It has optical tracking and rechargeable batteries with an included USB charging dock that was later reused for the MacMice The Mouse BT II.
Gary Haus designed the original MacMice "The Mouse" in 2003. In 2005 Jeff did a slightly revised design that became known as the Danger Mouse - with laser tracking and a smaller scroll wheel. This Other Red version was introduced in 2006 with 10% of the retail price going directly to an orphanage in Africa.
Jeff designed the original MacMice GarageKey early in 2004. This Other Red version was introduced in 2006 with 10% of the retail price going directly to an orphanage in Africa. See the Development Process slideshow for more on GarageKey.
Jeff designed the original GarageKey right after the iLife GarageBand software was introduced by Apple at MacWorld January 2004. GarageKey was designed to match the styling of the Apple keyboard and mouse and to fit conveniently in a typical workstation (just straddling the keyboard). This allowed GarageBand users to explore music using full-size piano keys without overwhelming their workspace. See the Development Process slideshow for more on GarageKey.
Designed in 2004, the JamPod allowed input from an electric guitar to be mixed with music from an iPod for output to earbuds. The device was powered through the auxiliary connector found on all new iPods and iPod minis at that time.
Designed in 2004 by Gary Haus, the DVForge JamPlug was billed as the world's smallest electric guitar amplifier (for practice without annoying the neighbors). Jeff contributed to this design with internal component layouts, earbud design and moving the output connector from the front to the back.
Although not actually used, Jeff experimented with brightly colored retail packaging concepts for some of the predominately all-white DVForge / MacMice products.
In 2004 Jeff submitted ZeroSticks to MacMice as an unsolicited design. It was a solution for the disappointing bass response from the built-in speakers in the new Apple iMac G5 computer. ZeroSticks added outstanding audio performance with zero added footprint, zero visible wires and zero controls (responding to the iMac power load for on/off and the system software for volume control).
In 2004 ZeroSticks was developed into a production-ready system. Many 3D images and some animation sequences were produced to support the development of this product. ZeroSticks premiered at MacWorld January 2005.
Designed in early 2004, these very simple but elegant and practical products became critically acclaimed best sellers for MacMice. The MicFlex was featured on the cover of MacWorld Magazine Gear Guide in December 2004.
Some of the earliest products Jeff designed for MacMice were stands for Macs and iPods. This later model designed in 2004 was inspired by the thick aluminum stand for the new Apple Cinema Display. Also shown here is a companion product - The Stand for iPod.
Jeff designed this low profile (LP) version of The Stand in 2004 with USB-passthrough-powered fans (the regular high-rise version of The Stand has no fans).
A fun project done in 2006 - experimenting with displacement mapped fur.
A particularly good guess done early in 2004 - nearly a full year before the first Mac mini was introduced in 2005.
In 2003 Jeff developed and animated this concept for a notebook computer that folds up very compactly (half the size of a 12" PowerBook) - yet folds out to reveal a full 20" widescreen display.
This impression of a vintage muscle car will be featured prominently in an animated short cartoon currently in production by the San Diego LightWave User Group for submission to the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival.
More details on the Charger - including its final transformed version as a warrior robot.
Jeff modeled this classic car as another asset for the San Diego LightWave User Group animated short cartoon production.
In the San Diego LightWave User Group animated short cartoon, the Bugatti is morphed from this princess carriage - modeled by Jeff. This horse is morphed into the hood ornament on the Bugatti.
This other vintage muscle car was also modeled by Jeff for the San Diego LightWave User Group animated short cartoon.
A shot of the Mustang with the body removed - revealing the previously-hidden jet engine inside.
Cory Bird designed and built his Oshkosh Grand Champion award-winning Symmetry aircraft from scratch starting back in 1991 - before he had access to CAD/CAM tools. Jeff started this 3D project (still a Work in Progress - WIP) to help Cory establish baseline CAD data for his amazing creation (praised as "perhaps the most perfectly crafter homebuilt airplane ever built").
Jeff built this warbird model for a group project that modeled the San Diego Air & Space Museum and most of the major exhibits inside for a special event during SIGGRAPH 2007. Jeff also lead this global volunteer project with 60 artists contributing assets that were donated to the museum and to the 3D community.
Another global community 3D modeling project led by Jeff is producing 3D models of aircraft and spacecraft designed and built by Burt Rutan and his company - SCALED Composites. This project celebrates the history behind the development of the Virgin Galactic commercial space tourism spaceships. Jeff built models of the original White Knight and SpaceShipOne (WK/SS1) as as well as these ships (WK2/SS2).
Another fun 3D project for Jeff has been designing and building (with his nephew Cole Zellner) a collection of Rutan/SCALED Aerospace LEGO Models.
Jeff tried his hand at interior architectural visualization in these remodeling plans for his home.
This dining room scene presented a new challenge modeling the ficus tree in the back right corner.
The wood grain on all the cabinetry and the tile pattern on the counter tops presented another small challenge.
A simple project done in late 2005 to start learning a new 3D application. Jeff uses this caliper regularly to measure actual components for 3D modeling. In addition, this physical tool is frequently used to help visualize dimensions for components that don't yet exist.