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