Installing Art Work with My Measures & Dimesions for the iPhone, iPad and Android

My Measure can help arts pre-plan their spaces.

I stumbled upon an app the other day that had practical applications for interior designers and a home contractor, but I see it as tool for the studio artists or art teachers prepare for an upcoming exhibition or mural projects. My Measures is an app that allows it user to take a picture, attach arrows to show height, width and depth of walls, windows or objects as you plan your exhibition. You can adjust the arrows' length, change their colors, create angles and add text/notes for later.

There are two versions of My Measures to purchase from the app store. The $2.99 version of My Measures allows you to add arrows, change colors, add measurements and change text as well as share your images with others via email. If you want to link your images to cloud apps like Dropbox and export your work as PDFs then you will need to purchase My Measures Pro for $5.99.

There is not a lot else to this program, but measuring, adding text, exporting images, but if you are an art who is to do a lot of pre-planning to prepare for an exhibition it is a good purchase. You really don't need to purchase the pro version unless you really want to spend an extra three dollars. If you have Dropbox on your iPhone or iPad already just back up your photos from My Measures and you really won't need the pro version at all.

Pros and Cons for My Measures...

Pro

1. My Measures is a great tool for interior designers, contractors and artists who need to map out a space before preparing a show.
2. The app is inexpensive and if you use it the app is worth the $2.99.

Con

1. The app is pretty useless unless you are an interior designer, contractor or an artist who is planning for a show so unless you are going to use it a lot I wouldn't bother purchasing it.

This app is great for someone who needs to take a lot of measurements of interior spaces and plan for shows. If you want to keep images in one space without having to organize a lot of random pieces of paper or on different pages in various sketchbooks.

I give My Measure...

5 out of 5 stars

Adobe Ideas Brings Vector Based Art to the iPad

Like most digital artists I find myself having to go back and forth between Adobe Photoshop (raster images) and Adobe Illustrator (vector images) depending on the project I am working on. For those that are not familiar with the differences between raster and vector based images. Here is a brief definition of both terms...

1. Raster images, bitmap, are pictures that are composed of tiny blocks of color (pixels) placed side by side.
2. Vector images are made up of  mathematical lines, strokes or shapes used create an image so when you stretch it out the picture does not become distorted.

Adobe Ideas lets you use a number of drawing tools.

If you want to scan and edit a photograph you would use Adobe Photoshop. The number of small squares of color is tied to the image's resolution or dpi (dots per square inch... really should be "blocks" per square inch). The more boxes or squares you have the crisper the image. Now most digital painting or sketching programs for the iPad, iPhone and Android create raster based images rather than vector images, but there are a few that do use vector based imagery out there. Programs like iDesign, InkPad and TouchDraw, to name a few, but Adobe Ideas is a free program that you can experiment with.

Like most sketching programs Adobe Ideas has several drawing tools and the ability to adjust the size, opacity and color of each mark that you make You also have an eraser tool and move tool to make a few adjustments to your images. Adobe Ideas has a very well designed color palette that allows you to see hue, saturation and brightness as well as controls for RGB (Red, Green and Blue). The color pallet has color themes, a very innovative way to save a set of colors and access them later. This allows you to go back and quick select color or use the same pallet in other works that you create.

Adobe Ideas lets you export your work to the photo library, camera, Google, Flicker and share it via email. The application has a very simple layout with a standard set of tools and a color theme option that is very different from other apps I have seen.

Save your color choices so you can use them later.

The Pros and the Cons of Adobe Ideas...

Pro

1. The app lets you experiment with vector based drawing app that  is backed up by a name that most serious artists are very familiar with.
2. A very good color pallet with more options than most sketching application.
3. The application is free which is pretty surprising for Adobe who seems to charge for everything these days.

Cons

1. When using the brushes I found it hard to control how much color is being added and where it goes. Most apps have this problem, but with a little practice you are can figure out exactly how much area is filled in, but with Adobe Ideas it seems to mimic mark making without much control. The only one I had any luck with is the pencil tool, but the brush and pen tools were difficult to use.
2. The canvas seems to rotate on their own and even though there is movement tool that allows you to move work side to side, up and down and zoom in and out there is no way to rotate which is very frustrating. It seems as if each time I open the app my work has changed direction and there is no way of fixing it. I went through each section of the app, but no way of fixing the problem.
3. Even though you can save your work to the Adobe Cloud it would be nice to sync Adobe Ideas to Dropbox or Google Drive. You can of course go into photos or the camera and upload it to Dropbox, but that is a un-needed extra step.
4. There is no real way of blending colors, shading or creating gradations in the work so objects appear to be very flat and graphic looking.

Over all I was very disappointed with Adobe Ideas on the whole. I wanted it to either function  more like Adobe Illustrator or more like a good digital painting app, but in the end I got neither.

I give Adobe Ideas...

1 star out of 5

Sketches by A. Tayasui Apps vs. Paper by 53 for the iPad

A few days ago I stumbled upon a new sketching app for the iPad called Sketches by A. Tayasui. I decided to take it for a test drive and I found myself comparing it to 53's Paper app. Both apps have a very clean design centered around a tray of artist tools. Each app has pencils, pens, brushes, and erasers as well as a very clean and well designed layout. Here is a side by side comparison as well as reviews of each app.

Sketch by A. Tayasui

Sketches has a wider range of tools than Paper by 53.

Like Paper by 53, Sketch has a pencil, pen, brush and eraser as part of your "art kit" with the addition of two mechanical pencils, a Tombow Dual Brush Pen, a flat painter's brush and an airbrush tool. Both programs have a color palette option, but Sketches uses color swatches which allows you to select colors as well as add your own colors to use later. Each tool is gray out until you select the one that you want to use. Once the tool is selected it turns red and opens a tool bar with rows of circles that grow larger in descending order. These circles represent increases and decreases in the size of the mark a tool can make.

The Fill Transfer functions a lot like the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator where it fills in patterns based on the lines that you have created. An interesting feature that I have not seen in any other sketching program I have reviewed so far, but not very useful or practical in my opinion. In addition to the Fill Transfer function Sketches will let you chose to push colors  forward or back creating overlapping effects without the use of layers. An interesting feature, but having real layers to work can be the difference between a sketch and a finished work of art.

Pros and Cons for Sketches by A. Tayasui Apps...

Pros

Sketches lets you save color choices for later under color swatches.

1. Aesthetically beautiful app that is easy to use and easy to navigate.
2. Gives you a wide range of drawing utensils that are visually manifested on a tool box to the left of you screen.
3. Sketches lets you use the pro version for free for 1-hour at a time so you can test it out before you purchase it. I have clicked on the 1-hour free trial on two or three different occasions so I know you can try it out more than once, but I don't know if their is a limit to how many times you can do this.
4. The pro version for $1.99 which is significantly less expensive than similar apps found in iTunes.

Cons

1. Even though you can adjust the size of your brushes in the pro version of the app there is little adjustments that you can make beyond adjusting the size and opacity of the brush you are currently using.
2. The only way to view your work is to scroll through all of the sketches without being able to group or organize files.
3. There is no way of increasing the size of your canvas or the file size in Sketches which can be very limiting.
4. No layers (see update below).

I give Sketches by A. Tayasui App...

Update: It looks like Sketches HAS added layers to the pro version in one of its more recent updates!

4 our of 5 stars

Paper by 53

Paper by 53 uses sketchbooks to help organize your drawings and art projects.

Like Sketches by A. Tayasui App, Paper is a well designed and aesthetically pleasing app used for sketching and note taking. Paper has a pencil, two markers and a pen tool to make marks, but in the free version there is no way of adjusting the size of the mark as well as the opacity. Sketches does have the ability to change size and opacity, but only in the pro version which is a $1.99. Paper only comes with the basic pen tool requiring you to either pay $1.99 for each tool in the tray (pencil, brush, two markers and a color mixer) or paying $6.99 for the set (five dollars more than Sketches). Paper also has a good color mixer, a brush that does a good job of mimicking the look of watercolor and good line quality without the ability to make subtle adjustments to the brush that comes standard with most sketching applications.

Paper only comes with a pen tool for free and the rest you have to purchase.

The one thing that sets Paper apart from its competitors is its page by page interface and the ability to create unique sketchbooks to organize your work. Paper gives you a wide range of covers to choose from as well as allowing you to create your own covers from photos found on your iPad. This is a great feature if you want to organize your work by project rather than having to search through PNG or JPEG files on your iPad.

Over all Paper is a very aesthetically beautiful app that is great for sketching and organizing work in sketchbooks, but not something I want to use to create a real finished work of art in like I would in ProCreate.

Pros and Cons for Paper by 53...

Pros

Paper has a very stylistic look to it, but it is very limiting.

1. Like Sketches, Paper is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use regardless if you are a novice or a professional artist.
2. The ability to create sketchbooks to help organize sketches or projects that you are working on.
3. Being able to flip through pages in your sketchbook works every easily and is very distinctly Paper.

Cons

1. There is little to no adjustments that you can make to your tools including adjustments to the size and opacity of the brush you are currently using (this might be different if you pay for all of the tools rather than just use the pen tool that comes with the app).
2. There is no way of increasing the size of your canvas or the file size in Sketches which can be very limiting.
3. No Layers!

I give Paper by 53...

3 out of 5 stars

Each app is best used for sketching, quick illustrations, etc, but not good for digital painting. Both apps are suited more for the casual user rather than the professional artist so if I was forced to choose between Sketches and Paper I would go with Sketches. 

Sketches has more tools and allows you to adjust the size and opacity of your brushes where Paper does not. You might be able to do more with the tools in Paper if you purchase them, but the pen tool alone is very limiting. Lets also not forget the cost of the two programs. Sketches gives you a lot of options for free and gives you a 1-hour free trial. If you decide to purchase it you only have to caught up $1.99 which is pretty inexpensive considering what you get. Paper is also free, but comes with only the pen tool and only 7 colors to choose from without the option of a color mixer. If you want you can pay $1.99 for each tool or $6.99 for all of the tools up front. Since I could not fully test Paper's full version for free I can not comment on what you will receive, but based on the sample it is not worth the money.

Pogo Connect by Ten One Designs Helps Bring Pressure Sensitivity to the iPad

Pogo Connect by Ten One is a pressure sensitive stylus.

I have been using sketching apps on the iPad for a year now and I have tried range of art apps and styluses alike, but I have been unable to fully reproduce the experience of sketching with a brush to the iPad until now. Today I will review Pogo Connect by Ten One Designs, a Bluetooth enabled stylus that uses Ten One Designs patent pending Crescendo Sensor to pick up changes in pressure which allow different apps vary the thickness of your line.

Pogo is easy to set up, but each app has its own unique way of connecting to the Pogo Connect and not all apps do a great job of registering the pressure changes. So far I have tried the Pogo Connect using ProCreate, Sketchbook Pro, Sketch Club, Zen Brush and Inkist with varying degrees of success. Up to this point I have had the best luck with ProCreate, Zen Brush and Sketch Club (in that order), but I had trouble varying the line quality with Sketchbook Pro and Inkist. Pogo Connect can also be used with animation apps FlipBook, Flipink and Animation Desk and writing apps like Noteshelf and smartnote to name a few. Ten One Design has created a list of apps that currently support Pogo Connect as well as a list of "coming soon" apps that will be added later. Make sure you check the list of apps and see how each app supports the Pogo Connect. Most apps will work with the iPad 3 and 4, but they do not work with the iPad 1 and 2. Other apps support all iPads, but there are a few that does not support the iPad 1 and 2.

Pogo Connect looks like  a standard stylus and shares the same metallic look of the iPad itself, but is very light and easy to hold. The Pogo Connect runs on a single AAA battery and the website boasts that the pen can run for months without needing a replacement. To connect the Pogo Connect with a specific app you must activate the Bluetooth under the setting found on the iPad, press down on the button on the handle until a blue light comes on, the light will blink and when it turns off it has generally connected with the app you are using. You will have to go into the apps settings, find styluses and look for Pogo Connect to activate it. Once you have found Pogo Connect follow the directions in the app (usually requires you to turn it on in the app so the iPad will search for it) and when the blue button stops blinking it has synced with the app and is ready to use..

Pogo Connect's button can undo your last mark.

The back button on the Pogo Connect is not just a button to connect the Pogo to the app, but serves a
second function as a back button allowing you to undo your last mark. You can keep clicking the button until the apps' history has run out and it won't allow you to undo anymore. I have ready that some users find the button a little annoying because it is easy to hit and accidentally undo your work one click at a time. I have not run into this problem myself, but knowing that this could happen in advance has made me more aware of what the button can do so I can avoid clicking it.

Pogo Connect's rubber tip does need to get replaced from time to time, about every 4-6 months, but replacements can be purchased from Ten One Design's website. Now you could pay $79.95 on Ten One Design's website or pay a little less on Amazon ($65.00), but I found that Amazon does sell open package items option where you can purchase an opened Pogo Connect for around $35.00. The cost of the open-box Pogo Connect is about the same price as the Adonit Jot Pro or the PenGo BrushPen. Even though I really liked both the Adonit Jot Pro and the PenGo BrushPen the Pogo Connect's ability to sense presser is a real game changer for me. If you are a serious artist the ability to apply pressure to your make is a big deal and than the Pogo Connect is well worth the money.

Pros and Cons for Pogo Connect by Ten One Designs...

Pros

1. Senses pressure when making marks in a wide range of creative apps... Nuff Said!
2. Works with a wide range of creative apps
3. Light weight and long battery life
4. The back button to undo marks comes in handy while working.

Cons

1. The cost of a brand new pen is higher than most people (poor artists) are will to spend, but well worth the cost in my opinion.

I come back and update my review in a month or two and let you know how it is holding up. Right now I have only had it a few days, but so far it is pretty amazing!

I give the Pogo Connect by Ten One Design...

5 of 5 stars

Reflector App Mirrors Your iDevice on your Mac or PC

As I began to build my blog I wanted to find a way to capture videos of my apps in use rather than limiting myself to only taking still screen shots on my iPad. I searched all over the web for an app that would allow me to capture video of my iPad in action and the only thing I kept find was instructions for jailbreaking my iPad. Not wanting to jailbreak my iPad I stumbled upon another option and that option is called the Reflector App.

Reflector App does not work with every iDevice so make sure your device meets the following requirements.

Requirements:

Reflector App lets you mirror your iDevice on your Mac or PC!

• An iPad 2 or later, running iOS 5 or later.
• If you want to mirror to Apple TV: An 2nd gen or 3rd gen Apple TV running software version 5 or later.
• If you want to mirror to a Mac: OS X Mountain Lion, a supported Mac, and an app to support mirroring.. Supported Macs are
• iMac (Mid 2011 or newer)
• Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer)
• Windows XP or greater operating system

The Reflector App allows you to view your iPad on your Mac or PC over WiFi as well as record your screen to create videos. Reflector App does have a free time trial, $12.99 for a full licence for one computer or you can purchase a Multi-Licence for up to 5 computers for $54.99. Reflector App can mirror your one or more iDevices on your Mac or PC screen allowing the user to create demos, do side-by-side comparisons or allow students to display their work on a computer screen or projector at the same time. You may be limited to the number of devices you can connect at once depending on the specs of your computer's CPU and the more devices you add the slower it will run.

The newer MacBooks and iPad can utilize AirPlay, a application that allows you to mirror your iPad to your television using Apple TV, but it only works if you have the Apple TV device. Some very rigid firewalls can block Apple TV, but Reflector App has still worked for me in those situations. Within the Reflector App program you can do some minor tweaking including the following. You can 1) Adjust the size of your iPad on your screen, 2) change the design of your iPad on your monitor to look like a black or white iPad or iPad Mini, 3) record your computer screen, 4) adjust the iPad's orientation on the screen, etc.

Reflector App is great for educators, graphic designers and programs who what to show a larger audience how an app functions on their iDevice. Just hook your computer up to a large television or projector will allow you to show your iPad screen to a large group of people.

The Pros and Cons of Reflector App for the Mac and PC...

Pros

Reflector App mirrors your iDevice without needing Apple TV!

1. Being able to share you iPad's screen with a larger audience for demonstration purposes makes Reflector App a very powerful educational and marketing tool.
2. Having the ability to record what you are doing on the iPad allows you to make iPad videos to create "How To" videos for students or clients (Reflector App is also great for someone who wants to make YouTube videos show his/her iPad in action).
3. The low cost and no yearly fees to use the application makes Reflector App incredibly good deal.

Cons

1. As of right now Reflector App does not have the capability to record audio so if you are making a "How To" video you will have to use another application to lay an audio track over your video recording.

Over all Reflector App does a great job of bringing your iPad screen to a much larger audience and unless you are willing to jailbreak your iPad it is the only game in town right now.

I give the Reflector App for the Mac and PC...

4 out of 5 stars for not having a audio recording option.