Show HN: Sketchology • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#51

Post by alex_c » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 4:29 PM UTC

Very, very cool. It "feels" great to use it - the lines look smooth and satisfying to draw. I can see this being a lot of fun to use for random doodling. The simplicity is also great - it does exactly what it needs to, and no more.

Only one problem: I have zero artistic talent or ability. I've often wanted to start practicing drawing, but it was never THAT high a priority, and I never put in the effort to get a pad, pencils, start carrying them around with me, etc. An app like this can make it close to zero effort to get started and to doodle something every day.

Now there's still the problem of guidance or knowing where to start. Give me something like daily challenges or tutorials - can range from something as simple as "here's a picture of a cat, draw it" to more advanced animated tutorials - and I could see myself getting hooked. I would not mind paying for "content" or for a monthly subscription under this model.

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#52

Post by mortenjorck » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 4:30 PM UTC

This is probably outside your vision for the product, but adding a text box tool would transform this into a pretty amazing notebook app. All the type-and-draw apps I've used are locked into the physical concept of a page, and combining a ZUI with art tools and text would be a delightfully organic way to take notes, build loose wireframes, or annotate concept sketches.

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#53

Post by wahnfrieden » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 4:31 PM UTC

gnufied wrote: post #40

mickrobk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the feedback - at the very least though it's better than the development version: http://s3.amazonaws.com/sketchologyapp/static/img/old-icon.p...

Does it require any special pen or works with hand? Looks pretty sweet btw.

No iOS apps require a special pen.

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#54

Post by jamesbritt » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 4:34 PM UTC

Folks on Android might want to check out ScribMaster:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.thoster.no...

Can't say how it compares to Sketcholgy (not being in the target audience) but it exports and imports SVG and also has what seems to be near infinite zooming.

You need to buy the full version (US$2.00) to get all the features but the free version is still quite nice.

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#55

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

mickrobk wrote: post #41

unwind wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due to the what? It's not up to the application to decide if its data is useful in other applications or not, that's just ... silly lock-in talk. Quite an annoying attitude, if that's representative. Luckily I a) can't draw and b) don't have an iPad so I'm not a lost customer.

Well no, I could never say that there isn't tremendous benefit to being able to use multiple tools in a workflow and have control of your data. Lack of SVG export isn't due to wanting lock in, or even a question of priorities. I spent considerable time working with all the leading vector drawing programs and investigating their performance. The simple fact was that it couldn't work well. Even trivial drawings (20 lin…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#56

Post by micheljansen » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 4:52 PM UTC

I much prefer Sketchology's freely zoomable canvases over a fixed canvas, but somehow the brush styles don't look as nice as 53 Paper (http://www.fiftythree.com/paper). I don't know how to better explain this, but can Sketchology be configured to produce similar results?

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#57

Post by RBerenguel » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 5:00 PM UTC

mickrobk wrote: post #13

RBerenguel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another app to get me to save for a new iPad (still 1)

Definitely :) - Even getting this to run on the iPad 3 was a lengthy adventure in profiling. I wish I could have hit the 1, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Yeah, no problem. I can't even update SmartGo Kifu, so...

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#58

Post by egypturnash » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 5:11 PM UTC

alex_c wrote: post #51

Very, very cool. It "feels" great to use it - the lines look smooth and satisfying to draw. I can see this being a lot of fun to use for random doodling. The simplicity is also great - it does exactly what it needs to, and no more. Only one problem: I have zero artistic talent or ability. I've often wanted to start practicing drawing, but it was never THAT high a priority, and I never put in the effort to get a pad,…

Go to http://johnkcurriculum.blogspot.com/2009/12/preston-blair-le..., get the Preston Blair book, and start doing these exercises. You will get a lot better, a lot faster.

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#59

Post by egypturnash » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 5:20 PM UTC

Fiddling around with it some. Interesting. It's not going to replace Illustrator by any means (that's been my main medium for 13 years) but I kinda like it more than Ideas - I think I might take it out to doodle some this week.

Stuff I'd like to see:

sync sketchbook across devices (maybe via evernote?)

palm rejection with bluetooth styli

an equivalent to AI's artboard - a way to say "this is the edge of my canvas, please export a 72/150/300/other DPI image" instead of making the user futz with it

some way to organize drawings into different sketchbooks, also a way to delete a drawing from the home page

I also kinda feel like I'd like to see some calibration notches on the sliders.

The UI could be a bit more streamlined? I'd love to have immediate access to all the tools and a color popup instead of having to possibly double-tap on the brushes/tools icon to get the menu. ArtRage really gets it right with its little popups in the corner and a tiny toolbar on the bottom, but bitmap apps just make me itchy.

Re: Show HN: Sketchology

#60

Post by mickrobk » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 5:28 PM UTC

alex_c wrote: post #51

Very, very cool. It "feels" great to use it - the lines look smooth and satisfying to draw. I can see this being a lot of fun to use for random doodling. The simplicity is also great - it does exactly what it needs to, and no more. Only one problem: I have zero artistic talent or ability. I've often wanted to start practicing drawing, but it was never THAT high a priority, and I never put in the effort to get a pad,…

Having recently taught myself to draw (somewhat) I know where you're coming from. From a design perspective this is a super challenging problem though.

I actually spent a while trying to come up with an introduction to the app that would do a drawing tutorial of sorts. (Along the lines of http://www.drawastickman.com/episode1) - but the line between the app telling you what to do and guiding you is very thin, especially in content creation software. In the end I decided that it was best to try and build motivation and a personal connection through more subdued means, and that that method would be "truer" and deeper as well.

This is the same reasoning behind not having sample artwork within the program, not even as a tutorial. I didn't want people to open it up and see anything that they had not chosen to create.

I don't know what the proper solution to what you're asking would be - I want it to exist in theory, but I can't convince myself that it would be good in practice.