Patent Application
20130326381
Digital art programs are available on many contemporary computing devices. Some of the programs are designed to be run on a touch-sensitive device, and configured for interaction therewith by a finger or similar pointing device such as a stylus. Any technology that makes such interaction easier and/or more intuitive for users, and/or provides useful features, is desirable with digital art programs.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of representative concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in any way that would limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Briefly, various aspects of the subject matter described herein are directed towards a technology in which a digital art program provides a user interface, including elements comprising a palette and art tools. The palette includes a mixing area and paint wells. The art tools include selectable brushes by which a user interacts to add paint from the paint wells to the mixing area and mix the paint into a mixed color paint. The user interface also includes a drawing surface with which the user interacts to add paint from the paint wells via a selected brush, and/or add paint from the mixing area.
In one aspect, there is described receiving touch input on a touch sensitive computing device running a digital art program. The touch input corresponds to selecting a brush digitally displayed by the digital art program, selecting a paint color for the brush from among available paint colors digitally displayed by the digital art program, and applying the paint color selected for the brush to a mixing area or a drawing surface digitally displayed by the digital art program.
In one aspect, there is described providing a digital art program, including outputting an interactive user interface to receive input. The interactive user interface provides a palette for selecting and mixing paint colors based upon user input, a drawing surface for receiving paint strokes via user input, and a surface-related interface for selecting a paper type or canvas type for the drawing surface and a background or background image for the drawing surface.
Other advantages may become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
Various aspects of the technology described herein are generally directed towards user interaction with a digital art program, including via user interface elements and various mechanisms of such a program that provide useful features. Interaction with the program is accomplished via user interface/user experience (UI/UX) interactions and designs. For example, in one implementation, there are interactive tabs, tools and a drawing surface, each having various associated concepts and technologies as described herein.
It should be understood that any of the examples herein are non-limiting. As such, the present invention is not limited to any particular embodiments, aspects, concepts, structures, functionalities or examples described herein. Rather, any of the embodiments, aspects, concepts, structures, functionalities or examples described herein are non-limiting, and the present invention may be used various ways that provide benefits and advantages in computing and digital art programs in general.
As used herein, the terms “paint,” “brush,” “color,” “surface,” “paper,” “canvas” and so on are understood to be digital in nature. For example, a user may select a brush from among various brush types by making a tap gesture on one with a finger or stylus. The user may then insert the brush via a gesture into a paint well of a given color paint via a suitable gesture. The user may then gesture to paint on the surface (e.g., a canvas) with the selected paint color and brush style, with graphics and animation providing the simulation of an actual brush of the selected type applying actual paint to an actual canvas. Selected paint also may be mixed with one or more other colors on the palette as if actual paint was being mixed, to provide for custom colors and color combinations.
The palette 234 provides a technology by which the user is able to mix digital “oil” and/or “watercolor” paint on a mixing area 240 of the palette, and view any recent colors in wells 242, if any, which can be scrolled among via interactive element 243. The palette 240 also includes a brush cleaning cup 246, which basically acts as a “turpentine” brush cleaning cup for oil paint, or a “water” brush cleaning cup for watercolor paint. The cup 246 may appear and/or otherwise be animated when the color on the brush disappears into the “liquid.” A palette cleaning element 248 clears the mixing area 240 when selected by a user. The user may expand the palette to show more colors and larger mixing area (a generally shown in
The user can also press a color spectrum chooser element 248 to flip the palette over to show a new design type for a color picker interface element (e.g., allowing all available colors in the spectrum to be chosen and turned into that type of medium).
Turning to the brushes, various effects are provided in one implementation, including showing usage (via wear and tear) and dripping. For example, as each brush is used, the brush is made to appear as progressing through some number of (e.g., three) visual states of wear. In general, the bristles become frayed and the handle becomes smudged and scuffed in appearance. The footprint of the brush with respect to how it transfers paint to the surface 236 need not be altered by such usage, that is, in one implementation, only the brush appearance changes. A visual effect where the brushes drip paint randomly may be provided to provide more realism to the user experience.
Turning to
With respect to gestures, single input gestures may be used, such as with a single finger or stylus, and may include a tap, a double-tap, a drag (move without losing contact with surface), and a flick (quick move). A single input gesture also may include a press-and-drag operation. Dual input gestures (typically via a finger and thumb) include a pinch and a stretch gesture. Other dual input gestures include a rotate gesture, such as with fingers of two hands or a finger and thumb, in which both fingers may make a generally circular motion in the same rotational direction or one finger making a generally circular motion about a point that corresponds to the other finger.
Rotate surface is thus a motion that happens to the surface, allowing for options such painting upside down, painting in portrait orientation or painting in landscape orientation. Other rotational angles may be used in alternative implementations. Note that the rotate surface feature may not apply on tablets in which rotation is controlled by physically rotating the device. In any event, when active, rotation may be via gesture, and/or via an interactive button, and in one implementation rotates the canvas clockwise (and/or counterclockwise is an alternative), with everything staying the same otherwise. This provides the user both portrait and landscape orientations to create their art work, and for an artist to create artwork upside down if desired.
Turning to another aspect, in one implementation, a desk user interface provides a desk/drawer effect from where the tools and surfaces are available. In one implementation, the desk slides across in a transition so that the user may access available elements on one parallel surface, and slides seamlessly across the display screen to provide an interface that the user needs.
Turning to a general example of flow and state in one example implementation,
The gallery 774 basically provides a home screen for the digital art program, e.g., the state to which a user returns upon closing a file or finishing the watching of a tour; (however, users may transition among activities, create new artwork or select existing artwork without necessarily going through the gallery). For example, artworks created by the user are accessible through the gallery and in one implementation can be browsed by date or title; by default past artwork may be grouped in the gallery, e.g., by month or the like, chronologically from newest to oldest.
Note that in one implementation, upon opening previously saved artwork, the floating menu stays in an inactive state, and remains located wherever the user last placed it (docked or undocked) for that artwork. The zoom level and location may remain set to how the user last left it for that artwork.
As mentioned, advantageously, the techniques described herein can be applied to any device. It can be understood, therefore, that handheld, portable and other computing devices and computing objects of all kinds including tablets, slates and so on are contemplated for use in connection with the various embodiments. Accordingly, the below general purpose remote computer described below in
Embodiments can partly be implemented via an operating system, for use by a developer of services for a device or object, and/or included within application software that operates to perform one or more functional aspects of the various embodiments described herein. Software may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by one or more computers, such as client workstations, servers or other devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computer systems have a variety of configurations and protocols that can be used to communicate data, and thus, no particular configuration or protocol is considered limiting.
With reference to
Computer 810 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media and can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 810. The system memory 830 may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/or random access memory (RAM). By way of example, and not limitation, system memory 830 may also include an operating system, application programs, other program modules, and program data.
A user can enter commands and information into the computer 810 through input devices 840. A monitor or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 822 via an interface, such as output interface 850. In addition to a monitor, computers can also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers and a printer, which may be connected through output interface 850.
The computer 810 may operate in a networked or distributed environment using logical connections to one or more other remote computers, such as remote computer 870. The remote computer 870 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or any other remote media consumption or transmission device, and may include any or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 810. The logical connections depicted in
As mentioned above, while example embodiments have been described in connection with various computing devices and network architectures, the underlying concepts may be applied to any network system and any computing device or system in which it is desirable to improve efficiency of resource usage.
Also, there are multiple ways to implement the same or similar functionality, e.g., an appropriate API, tool kit, driver code, operating system, control, standalone or downloadable software object, etc. which enables applications and services to take advantage of the techniques provided herein. Thus, embodiments herein are contemplated from the standpoint of an API (or other software object), as well as from a software or hardware object that implements one or more embodiments as described herein. Thus, various embodiments described herein can have aspects that are wholly in hardware, partly in hardware and partly in software, as well as in software.
The word “example” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “example” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent example structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used, for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements when employed in a claim.
As mentioned, the various techniques described herein may be implemented in connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with a combination of both. As used herein, the terms “component,” “module,” “system” and the like are likewise intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on computer and the computer can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
The aforementioned systems have been described with respect to interaction between several components. It can be appreciated that such systems and components can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to various permutations and combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components communicatively coupled to other components rather than included within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it can be noted that one or more components may be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several separate sub-components, and that any one or more middle layers, such as a management layer, may be provided to communicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality. Any components described herein may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but generally known by those of skill in the art.
In view of the example systems described herein, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the described subject matter can also be appreciated with reference to the flowcharts of the various figures. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the various embodiments are not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flow is illustrated via flowchart, it can be appreciated that various other branches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented which achieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, some illustrated blocks are optional in implementing the methodologies described hereinafter.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.
In addition to the various embodiments described herein, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments can be used or modifications and additions can be made to the described embodiment(s) for performing the same or equivalent function of the corresponding embodiment(s) without deviating therefrom. Still further, multiple processing chips or multiple devices can share the performance of one or more functions described herein, and similarly, storage can be effected across a plurality of devices. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited to any single embodiment, but rather is to be construed in breadth, spirit and scope in accordance with the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61652800 | May 2012 | US |
