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iBonsai
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By: iBonsai
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Bonsai is the Japanese art of miniaturizing trees by growing them in small pots. Now you can create your own 3D miniature trees right on your iPhone or iPod!With the tap of your finger, iBonsai's sophisticated generative algorithm begins growing a unique digital tree. No two bonsai trees are the same! After about 30 seconds of growth, your mature bonsai becomes a beautifully rendered image in the sumi-e style of Japanese brush painting.Enjoy the zen-like relaxing nature of this ancient art form.FEATURES:- Simple, clean interface.- Interactive 3D view. Rotate/zoom to see your trees from all angles.- Many different leaf types: japanese maple, flowering dogwood, and more (even a rare money tree...).- Shake your iPhone/iPod to scatter leaves!- Save images of your favorite trees, then use them for your background.- Optional gravity-based viewing mode makes the tree appear to float in space.- Advanced generative algorithm and random number generator give you totally unique results every time. Produce virtually infinite trees! |
iBonsai is an amazing app that brings bonsai, the Japanese art of growing dwarfed trees, to your iPhone and iPod Touch. Open the app, tap to start, and an aesthetically rendered bonsai tree begins to grow right on your screen. The tree will stop growing after about half a minute, then you can swipe to view the tree at any angle, pinch to zoom in and out, shake to make the leaves fall off, and double-tap to grow another tree. It's really too easy to be impressed by the sheer beauty of what this app manages to come up with. And, as the developer claims, the app displays a different tree every time so, like snowflakes and fingerprints, no two bonsai trees are alike. How cool is that? And you know what's even cooler? Several days ago, not long after the original version was released, iBonsai was updated to version 2.0. And boy was the update a huge one. Among the new features are...
Auto-generated Ambient Music. I really, really, really like this addition to the already exceptional app. iBonsai was already powerful enough to get me "in the zone" without a background music. But with the zen-like music included, I could now look forward to an even more relaxing experience every time I open the app. This feature can be toggled in the iBonsai control panel within the iPhone Settings app.
Interactive Growth-shaping Tool. Yet another innovative bonus, but one I rarely use. I prefer my beautiful bonsais grow the natural way. Nature (or should I say, the developer's awesome algorithm) knows best. To activate this tool, just tap and hold anywhere on the screen until a dark inky loop appears. This in effect exerts an outward force so nearby branches grow the opposite way. I tried it once, and I must admit "beautiful" is not how you would describe the result.
Growth Speed Feature. This new feature is not as special as the others so far, but it's great to have the option to adjust the growth speed according to one's current mood or preference. I personally enjoy my bonsais growing at the fastest possible rate. It's like watching one of those amazing time-lapse footages on National Geographic, and it also means I only have to wait for roughly eight seconds for the next tree. You can choose the growth speed in the app's control panel.
Auto Regrow. If this feature is set to On (also in the iBonsai control panel), you won't have to double-tap to give way to another tree. With the growth speed set to Fastest, watching bonsais grow one after the other is quite a treat. The only downside is you won't have enough time to marvel at the beauty of a particularly lovely full-grown bonsai, like I often find myself doing.
That said, if you want a new, extraordinary way to relax and meditate, get iBonsai now in the App Store.
Quick Take
Value: With the recent update, it just got higher.
Would I Buy Again: Hai!
Learning Curve: Practically zero.
Who Is It For: Anybody who as an eye for Japanese art.
What I Like: It's one of a kind.
What I Don't: Settings are external to the app.
Final Statement: Steps to iBonsai's huge success: Put an awesome algorithm in a pot, water it with appealing art, and watch it grow into one amazing app.
This is really amazing .Nice posting .
Simone,
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Version 1 lasted about 5 minutes on my iphone. Might have to reinstall it to check out that "Interactive Growth-shaping Tool".
Drin- this is one where I have to disagree with you. MAYBE this is a 3. For "cool iPhone effects" apps I'll stick with Koi Pond. It isn't that it's bad. Rather... I found it a bit boring.
...but a good friend. And reading that frank feedback only reinforces that fact. But did you really need to be that harsh? LOL. I have yet to try Koi Pond. Suffice it to say I'm not one to be as taken by fancy 'Japanese' fish as by little 'Japanese' trees.
I got the app when it was free, so I feel I can be a bit more lenient over shortcomings. However, I cannot agree with your comment in response to danc's frankness regardless of app price. When anyone provides reasoning and explanation behind why they have rated an app as either stellar or subpar, the input is valuable. The only reviews with no value are are those that provide no reasoning or substance ("this sucks!", "terrible, didn't work for me", "this developer should die", etc).
We need more of this frankness and less of both sugar-coated stroking and thoughtless flames in app reviews.
Regarding iBonsai, I agree that it really [was] too boring to hold my attention for long. It lasted a few days on my iPhone. It truly is very pretty to look at, and the animation is stunningly smooth, but I wonder if the ambient tunes, interactivity, and control over grow rate would have held me. I think they actually would have. I can see myself propping it up on my SwitchEasy stand at my desk and letting it grow VERY VERY slowly over the course of the day. When I find room, I believe I might re-download it to try again now I have more control (for free anyways).
I believe I said nothing to convey that I find Dan's (or anybody's) opinion invaluable. Exactly as I wrote, he has been nothing but a good friend and why I would ever hold his comments to be of no importance is beyond me. Be that as it may, my apologies for making you think so.
No worries! I apologize, a quick reply turned into a rant on the app store comments/reviews and more when I should have delineated the targets of my comments. I did not mean to imply that you didnt value his feedback, but rather just a rant on the casual way people praise or destroy the reputation of apps with no real valuable information.
