A bunch of us have been putting together a web-based drawing app. In a nutshell, users connect in real-time to draw or chat on a sort of interactive whiteboard. Plenty of these are made in Flash, but we are determined to build it in HTML5 and JavaScript; a site that immediately works on mobile from the get-go, tailors to everybody from drawing tablet users to people who want to screw around, chat and play games — and with an awesome, modern look that other apps lack. The thing that works so well is these kinds of programs give you a lot of freedom of expression that I think by making more accessible we can popularize, and truly get a future-proof, lasting community going.
Current drawing apps aren’t too popular as they’re not accessible to the host of many devices people use, chatting’s not versatile or user-friendly enough to compete with chat sites, and their designs look god-awful like it’s still the 90’s. So with what we’re after, there’s insane potential in this project.
This is the interface. I hope it gives you some sense of what we’re aspiring for. It’s predominantly HTML, CSS, and JS with server-client communication in HTML5’s WebSockets, and some points in PHP. If you’re good with any of these, message me here, Skype drawplanet or email [email protected]. I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions. And if you’re critical of anything, nothing’s set in stone. It’s very much a by the community, for the community type of project.
Also on the hunt for people good with P2P networking, node.js, SQL, or server management.
I’ve been in collaborate (paid)works on illustrations, and the interesting thing is, that it does work to collaborate on the same drawing/painting.
It is not apparent to an outside viewer that a painting or drawing has several creators, but remember that many older oil paintings have several individuals experts working on separate parts in the same painting. I guess it had to do with the price on oil paint and the time it took to master certain techniques?
There is a certain feel to a collaborate drawing/painting that is hard to create for a single artist, given that it tries to fake a single artist. If I have to describe it I would say that it is more complete, if that explains anything?
The take on this seems more social, but have you considered a collaborate app for professional illustrators? Collaboration in realtime on a professional basis would be new to me, but I’m sure there would be a use for it, even if miniscule.
It is very socially-oriented. But it’s also got to be programmed to work well with professional drawing tablets with touch pressure. Actually we hope to make the brushes customized with a lot of options for the user; say if they want a certain degree of smudge or blur, angle jitter, bristle thickness, shape, noise, etc. Very importantly, inputs have to be processed quickly and sharply with dozens of users in the same space. So we’re betting on WebSockets and peer-to-peer syncing to make that possible.
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At the moment we’re hellbent on completing the first build with full-duplex drawing. A lot of JS goes into developing the tools. PHP’s mainly account integration and forum features.
In design there’s a separate UI for mobile, and in fact for anybody good with Photoshop or vector graphics there’s some cool stuff we’re keen to create.
Drop a message, or do Skype or email, if it’s a project you want to get behind.
There’s 7 devs on board at the moment, though we’re looking for a little more expertise in some JavaScript frameworks, particularly Meteor. And while data’s handled with WebSockets, we’re also looking to do WebRTC and for incompatibility switch to WebSockets. Data management otherwise in SQL, and MongoDB or Redis.
Hit me up a message.
Creating engaging and entertaining content for designers and developers since 1998.
