False Alarm

After some sleuthing and code spelunking, I am please to say that the current version of MotionInk is functioning as designed. It appears that a few users expect to start painting automatically. They do not touch the Create or Learn button. I will most likely put out an update in a couple of weeks that will do more to draw attention to these buttons or maybe do away with the menu splash all together.

Home screen scroll issue?

I just noticed a negative report on the app store about the home screen being shown over and over again. I have tested on a second gen iPod touch, an iPhone 3GS, an iPhone 4, and a first gen iPad. If anyone is seeing the issue on there device please place a comment on this blog listing the device type and action taking place when the error happens.

Update in review!

I've been working on and off on improving somethings about MotionInk that I think will increase expressiveness with the tool.

First and foremost the motion based drawing system is here to stay for this product and I will not be incorporating touch/drag based drawing. I wrestled with this and had some OK working prototypes for the functionality but none felt right to me so no go. I wanted each stroke to matter and I also wanted subtle movement on the device to allow for detailed drawing. I am going to let MotionInk be special with respect to this and will incorporate the lessons learned with respect to touch based drawing into a future project.

I have increased the realism of the brush and pen to the point that I am satisfied with each strokes look and feel with the modified ink model. The ink now dissipates during the stroke and the ink lightens realistically. There are a couple more things I have to do to "coup de grâce" ink blending in MotionInk once and for all. The frame buffer is not cooperating all of the time I held back somethings that work well most but not all of the time.

MotionInk is now 3/4s the way to being the product I wanted it to be when I first released. Thanks to everyone who has sent me feedback whether positive or negative. Keep your comments coming.

Price drop!

I dropped the price for the current version of Motionink for a while. Buying this price will net you Cheaper access to the new version when it releases sometime in August.

More to come

So I am still putting the finishing touches on a new (non shader based) ink model. I'll include it in the next version of MotionInk to maintain backwards compatibility. I am also working on a shader based implementation (faster and more realistic) for (near)future paint related products that will only work for 3Gs and later hardware.

Still going

I am finished with the new updates to MotionInk 1 and am working on MotionInk Advanced. MotionInk 1 changes need to be added to the new and improved "learn" slideshow. I have been super busy at my day job (thats a good thing) and super stressed (thats a bad thing). Hopefully I can get back on track and get everything going. I told myself, "no trade shows or WWDC, If you don't get at least 2 more iPhone products out the door this year." I hope I can accomplish these goals......

Working......

Still working on zoom. The mechanics are all in place but I want to make usre that the UI schem for zoom isn't cumbersome. I have had finger based drawing in test for a while but it still feels weird to have 1 finger controlling ink flow and another controlling position. Ink flow is very important as a differentiator for motion ink as is the accelerometer based drawing I can't loose both and still call the app Motion Ink........