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04 November 2005

Ask Mecha: On my handheld, I had a program that allowed freehand drawing, but replaced the freehand shapes with the closest matching geometric shape. What's similar for the PC? [mi]

post by: orthogonality at: 16:46 | 7 comments

In other words, draw a rough rectangle, get a smooth rectangle. Draw a rough oval, get a smooth oval. Draw a line, and it's attached to its nearest drawing elements.

posted by orthogonality 04 November | 16:48

Macromedia Flash MX can mostly straighten out your sketchings. Try the demo.

posted by AlexReynolds 04 November | 17:45

Isn't there a feature in Photoshop that snaps a drawing into the nearest recognizable shape? I only have it at work so I can't check it, but I think it has that capability?

posted by iconomy 04 November | 19:31

I may be thinking of Flash tho...

posted by iconomy 04 November | 19:31

Don't know, but it's a really good idea. I'd like program that did that, and allowed you to enable transform handles through some gesture, and supported pressure-sensitive pen tablets like the Wacom. And if it allowed you to enable/disable the conversion to regular shapes on the fly (using for example the rocker switch on the pen), so that you could write or draw freehand at will, I can think of several programs I use daily that I would gladly use it in favor of.

posted by George_Spiggott 04 November | 22:16

What was the handheld program? Palm or WinME? Because if it was Palm, WE WANTS IT!

posted by Eideteker 04 November | 22:39

Zaurus, called FreeNoteQt.

posted by orthogonality 05 November | 00:06

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