In popular psychology parents and teachers perceive that children with a dominant left hemisphere would become bright mathematicians and scientists whereas those with a dominant right hemisphere are perceived to be excellent performers and artistes. This however doesn’t describe the exact thought process that went into coming up with the name “Right Hemisphere” as well as logo by Mark Thomas a mechanical engineer from the University of Auckland and a computer graphics expert and also one of the founders of Right Hemisphere.
The name “Right Hemisphere” represents the creative side of their technology and also contrasts the Southern hemisphere that is usually associated as the wrong one as primarily all technological innovation(s) / breakthroughs have occurred in the Northern Hemisphere. The name also stresses on the importance on putting New Zealand (Aotearoa) on the global map which is signified by the word “Right” being written in bold and “Hemisphere” in regular font.
Their logo consists of a globe that represents a bright new dawn technology as well as describing their ambition to be the best in the world and not just being the best in New Zealand. 2. 0 Founding of Right Hemisphere Right Hemisphere was officially founded in 1997 with simple beginnings and with no idea that within a matter of 10 years the firm would grow to have offices in New Zealand, United States of America (USA) and Germany.
The roots of the company can be traced back to 1987 when the story began with Mark Thomas having freshly graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Engineering and two his classmates decide on starting up their own company CADS NZ Ltd. Their plan was to resell computer aided design (CAD) systems such as Auto Cad etc developed by American companies in New Zealand. CAD systems essentially comprises of a wide range of computer tools that assist engineers, architects and design professional in making two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) models.
CAD systems are in use throughout the engineering process from design and layout of products through to strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies to the definition of manufacturing methods of components. The company was still going from strength to strength ten years later, however the company was now heading in different directions due to different visions and ambitions among the business partners that consequently resulted in Thomas and his partners agreeing to split the company in order for them to pursue their respective agendas.
Thomas took the part that was re-exporting to various Asian countries the systems of yet another successful US company, 4D Vision. However as each year went by overseeing CADS NZ operations his (Thomas) thoughts were focussed on the gross under utilization of 3D CAD. This occurred in general due to engineering graphics being seen as a time consuming, difficult and expensive process by engineers. They also lacked the level of realism and thus were shunned by a large number of firms that preferred the familiar and less complex 2D drawings. (Dufour, Erakovic et al. 2007)
This was further emphasised by Cambashi – Evolution from 2D to 3D – a design engineer’s perspective that states that about half the mechanical and electro-mechanical engineering designers in the world were now [2003] using 3D technology with the other half still preferring to design using 2D systems even though 3D systems had been developed extensively and its benefits universally accepted. The continued presence of 2D systems was attributed by Cambashi due to lack in understanding the advantages or in certain cases not accepting the significant advantages of using 3D systems over 2D systems.
Thus keeping this thought firmly in sight he (Thomas) along with the help of a small group of enthusiastic friends and colleagues, in particular Dave Revill and John Valentine set about tinkering with the idea of user friendly painting tools to colour as well as give realistic texture to 3D engineering drawing that was previously lacking. This consequently resulted in giving birth to Right Hemisphere as well as Deep Paint 1. 0 in 1997. (Dufour, Erakovic et al. 2007)