Anonymous asked: What do you think of Paper by FiftyThree?

Paper’s interface is gorgeous and the way they used the notebook metaphor to organize sketches is very satisfying. It’s a great app and I really only have three gripes:

1. I feel hamstrung without the ability to zoom and pan.
2. It’s not responsive enough to use small, fast strokes. That makes writing block letters intolerable, but cursive works well. (Correction: I just tried the for-pay drawing tools and they were quite responsive.)
3. I have a lot of trouble with the undo gesture. It takes me 10-30 seconds and several attempts to undo a stroke. I must be doing it wrong, but I don’t know how.

If you’re looking for apps which do those three things well, then I have a few recommendations. I don’t know of any that get everything right, but that’s why I started down this road to begin with.

Of the drawing applications I’ve used, only procreate, Adobe Ideas, ZigZag Board, ArtRage, Infinite Whiteboard, and SyncSpace support pinch-to-zoom. Of them, only ZigZag Board and SyncSpace use vector graphics, and only SyncSpace allows me to zoom to the significant degree I’m (now) used to. Both are problematic, however: ZigZag Board uses heavy blurring to zoom efficiently, and SyncSpace won’t redraw parts of the space that weren’t in view until you lift your fingers. In short, you either get vector graphics or fluid zooming, but not both (unless you use Infinite Sketchpad!).

As for latency, at this point, most applications have either solved the problem with updates, or waited for Apple to solve it for them with faster iPads. If flexible zooming isn’t important to you, Muji Notebook, Noteshelf, and Penultimate may be worth a look. They are all designed for taking notes.

And finally, Paper is the only app where I have trouble with undo. :)

Look out for 1.2.1 with high resolution graphics for the new iPad, and pen size previews in the toolbar. It’s awaiting Apple’s review.

Also, in preparing the release, I discovered bottlenecks that I was able to remove in a prototype of version 1.3 that is unbelievably fast. It never drops below the maximum frame rate, even on my largest sketches, and even at full Retina resolution. I was even able to add stroke smoothing at the same time, and I may be able to increase the level of anti-aliasing as well. I will keep you informed as that release progresses.

I took the plunge and purchased a new iPad, so expect an update! (Hoo, is this thing gorgeous.)

Anonymous asked: Do you have an idea of when you'll have an update of Infinite Sketchpad for the new iPad's high-res display? It seems like the perfect app for the new iPad. Thanks.

Good question! There isn’t much art in the app to update, so it oughtn’t take too long to adapt it to the higher resolution screen. Given my other commitments, it will not be ready by next week, though I hope to have it ready not long after.

It’s important to me that Infinite Sketchpad is well-tested on every device. That is trickier now that I’m a full-time student instead of a full-time app developer. A change like quadrupling the number of pixels is going to depend on me finding someone who is planning to upgrade and who won’t mind lending their iPad for benchmarking and debugging.

Anonymous asked: Just bought the app and I like it. It is what I've been searching for. But I have a question... Will you enable typing? That is still faster (for me anyway) than handwriting on the iPad. Thanks for developing the app.

Supporting objects like text, images, and links is high on my to-do list. I’ve relied so far on sketches consisting only of pen strokes for much of the speed and simplicity of the user interface, so it’s taking me a while to make these changes without unwarranted sacrifices. You’ll have text as soon as it works well. :)

Version 1.2 has been approved and is on its way to an app store near you! You can export sketches to your camera roll, share them via the web, and erase. The UI looks a lot nicer, too.

This is my first release since going back to school. I managed to eke it out before classes and research got the better of me, but there are a few loose ends that I need to tie up before I feel completely satisfied. There are no major features coming soon, just fixes for a few usability issues and little annoyances. So there may be a 1.2.1 release around the corner!

I just submitted version 1.2 to Apple. It’s got bug fixes, an eraser tool, and several more export options.

Have you ever seen this in one of your sketches?

Not the math, that out-of-place line traveling from the dot of the ‘i’ in ‘amortized’ off into space. I definitely didn’t draw that. They’re rare, but on large sketches, especially with handwriting, I always seem to get a couple.

And I finally found the bug (which was tricky, since they don’t show up as you draw, only after reloading the sketch)! I can retroactively fix them, so after the next update, it will be as if this bug never even happened…