Silicon Benders' Sketchable is the most ambitious art app currently available in the Windows Store. Taking many design cues from the iPad, the app demonstrates that Modern UI programs can be just as powerful and flexible as their desktop counterparts.
For only $11.99 all-in, it's worth purchasing just to reward the indie developers for their continued dedication to the platform.
Below is the press release announcing the latest update.
PRESS RELEASE
Gainesville, Florida—(December 3, 2014) – Silicon Benders has released Sketchable 2.0 to the Windows Store.
When a creative is on the go, they never know when they will cross paths with inspiration. Sketchable was created for the sole purpose of capturing these moments. Sketchable was designed to take full advantage of modern hardware, making it the fastest and most responsive sketching application possible. This is beautifully complimented by the UI’s mantra, artistic expression without limitation.
Meaning, even in a mobile app where simplicity is expected, Sketchable gives an artist the levels of control they crave.
While Sketchable provides a first rate experience, its feature set has broader implications. Sketchable fits into a creative’s workflow better than any mobile art application before it. It is the first and only mobile application that provides layers and PSD export that can dovetail right into a Desktop application running on the same device. This makes Sketchable the ideal application for developing artwork, because it can easily and quickly be transferred into professional desktop software for final edits.
Notable Feature Highlights
- Resolutions up to 4k on 64 bit devices
- Pick up right where you left off with no consequences.
- Upon launch, Sketchable opens the last image you were editing, with all the undo history retained. This lets the user keep their focus on the idea they want to express rather than menus or file systems.
- Layers
- Documents can support up to 8 layers with industry standard controls, and commands.
- Transform Tool
- In addition to all the typical transform options, and combinations, Sketchable provides an X-ray Glasses mode to render obscuring layers semi-transparent.
- Virtually lag free touch interaction due to GPU acceleration throughout the application.
- Optional, precise text input.
- PSD Export
- Nine distinct painting tools with presets, and for those who want more control, an elaborate preset editor.
- Color Picker control HUB
- Artistic color scrubbing (add pure hue, white or black by a simple press and drag)
- Resizable Icons for other commonly used features, such as the brush preview scrubber, dropper tool, transform, and the layers palette.
- Performance
- GPU accelerated painting and sketching engine.
- Resolution Independent UI
- Unlike most desktop applications, the UI scales to adapt to both low and high density displays.
- Resizable UI, Sketchable provides two custom scale factors, one for touch, and another for mouse/trackpad use.
- Scales from 7 inch tablets to 4k monitors, even Perceptive Pixels.
- Auto Hiding UI – To give you an unobstructed view of your work, as you paint near UI elements, they will automatically hide, then return after the stroke is finished.
- Economy of Movement – more expressiveness with less motion.
- For devices with an active stylus, Sketchable provides a way to assign independent tools to both touch, and stylus eraser. (For example, a user can set their single touch input to the dropper tool or smudge tool, and their stylus eraser to any paint tool they find themselves switching between. Two finger gestures still zoom and pan the canvas.)
- PolyEraser – press and hold with the stylus eraser button to enable a lassoed area to be erased.
Sketchable allows the user to assign most tools to stylus' eraser input. Steps 1. Long press with the Stylus' eraser on target tool. 3. Choose between "Tool Only", " Tool Preset", and "Tool Preset with Color".
Sketchable allows the user to assign most tools to touch input. Steps 1. Check "Assign Tool to Touch" 2. Long press with finger on target tool. 3. Choose between "Tool Only", " Tool Preset", and "Tool Preset with Color".
Pricing
Sketchable is free to download and offers several in-app purchases. Single tools can be purchased for $1.99 while the color picker costs $2.99. Layers can only be accessed if the entire app has be purchased. The most economical approach to this is purchasing the bundle. The full bundle costs $11.99 USD and includes all functionality, including layers. Users who have already purchased a bundle will receive the blending tool and layers free of charge.
