The straightforward but amazing iPad addition referred to as Osmo, that takes real-world things as well as motions and converts them into on-screen game play, features a brand-new technique up its sleeve. It is new “Masterpiece” application deploys the identical smart add-on to assist perhaps the most art-challenged feel as if a normal Raphael.
Masterpiece utilizes the Osmo’s clip-on reflection and an iPad’s front-facing camera to assist you sketch just about everything. The sole accessories you should provide are a blank sheet of paper, a few pens or pencils, along with a modicum of coordination.
The process is as simple as the proposition. Start by taking a photo or searching for an image within the app, which sources from Google Safe Search. You’re not limited to one or the other; you can select several images to include in one composition, so that you can pair a photo you’ve taken of a baked potato with a lion you found via the app’s integrated search function. For kids who just want a futuristic spin on an old standby, there are also canned “coloring book” projects within the app.
Once you select an image source and place a piece of paper in front of the iPad, the tablet’s screen shows a detailed outline of your subject and a live-video view of the surface in front of it. You can “trace” a subject by watching the screen while you draw on the paper, which takes a few seconds to get used to but generally works like a charm.
There are a few levels of detail you can toggle on and off for your tracing. You can start with a line-art mode, then adjust a slider to bring up different levels of shading to add depth, and then view the source image as a guide for coloring it in.
The result feels like a hybrid of tracing paper and the Matrix. With no sign of having received any assistance at all, you’ve produced a flawless still life of pretty much anything you can dream up.
In an interview, Osmo co-founder and CEO Pramod Sharma told WIRED that the app was originally conceived as an “endless coloring book,” and additional features tossed in and honed from there. Along with the drawing and coloring options, there’s an opportunity for kids to practice their cursive on a digital version of that dotted-line paper from elementary school.