Inspire – Review

By
On October 21, 2009

App Type: Uncategorized

Inspire – Review

Our rating:

By: KiwiPixel

Version #: 1.2 (iPhone OS 3.0 Tested)

Date Released: 2009-05-16

Developer: Inspire

Price: 4.99

User Rating:
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Admittedly, I dig apps that let a person draw, doodle or paint.  However, there are a ton of free ones (or close to it) available in the App Store, so the question is whether or not this particular app is worth $4.99.

Inspire differentiates itself by simulating a painting canvas.  In its own way, it’s kind of neat.  Imagine those street painters you see in major cities using this particular app rather than an actual canvas.

The set-up of this app reminds me of Sketchbook Mobile in the sense that the canvas is kept as blank as possible for painting, but tapping it causes a pop-up menu to appear.

The options menu allows for painting offsets (moving where the stroke appears relative to the swipe of your finger), corners only (where the menu pops up only when the corners are tapped) and flickable settings (where you can move through paint settings by flicking your finger).  All settings are defaulted to "off".

The initial screen of the app looks kind of gaudy and the font looks out of place.  For a painting app, the design of the splash page could have been better.  The navigation around the app is also kind of awkward.  One should be able to start the app and start painting with the single tap of a finger.  There should not be a Gallery between these steps.

The central functionality of the app is very nice and almost worth the price of admission.  You can control the brushstroke and color for your work of art.  You can even use a dry brush to blur the strokes you’ve already done.

Naturally, you can save or e-mail any painting you make.  You can also duplicate any painting so it’s possible to save generations of a particular work.

In the end, I see this more as a two or three dollar app rather than a five dollar app.  It might be worth picking up if you’re an amateur painter and the price is lowered.

Quick Take

Value:Medium

Would I Buy Again:Possibly, at a lower price.

Learning Curve:Medium

Who Is It For:Amateur painters or painting enthusiasts

What I Like:Nice selection of colors and brushstrokes

What I Don't Like:Outside of the core application, the app seems poorly designed

Final Statement:Unless you're desperate for a painting app, you may want to wait on this one

Read the Developer's Notes:
Don't let the limitations of other painting applications inhibit your creative potential. Try Inspire and you will quickly see that this is a painting app like no other! The key feature of Inspire is that it simulates wet paint on a canvas, allowing amazing blending effects with all four kinds of brushes. Brushes- Four different kinds of paint brushes to choose from: a flat brush, round brush, fan brush and palette knife.- Each brush comes in many different sizes to allow large, sweeping strokes as well as fine, precise strokes.- Brushes can be loaded with different amounts of paint, including no paint at all for a dry brush.- Varying amounts of pressure can be used with a dry brush to achieve many different kinds of blending effects.- Brushes can be rotated a full 360 degrees to allow a variety of different strokes.- Paint actually" breaks "as it depletes off the palette knife, allowing techniques such as layering and the creation of textures.- The corner of the palette knife can also be used to scratch away paint off the canvas.- The location and behavior of individual bristles are completely randomized in every way, ensuring that no two brush strokes ever look exactly the same. Painting- The intuitive painting menu completely disappears when dismissed and allows fast execution of commands such as undo and redo.- Choose any paint color quickly and easily with the natural color picker. Previously used colors are saved and can be selected from a grid.- The eyedropper tool can be used to select paint colors that are already on the canvas.- The canvas can be moved around and zoomed in to get a better view of certain areas and help with painting small, accurate strokes.- Save up to 25 paintings in your gallery and easily export any painting to your Photos. Saved paintings can also be deleted and duplicated.
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