

Inkpad: Vector illustration app for the iPad, now open source - shawndumas
https://github.com/sprang/Inkpad/blob/develop/README.md

======
ssprang
To expand on my motivation for open-sourcing Inkpad and Brushes:

The biggest reason is the ideological element. For all the usual reasons, I’ve
come to feel that software should be free/open-source. I feel really good now
that these apps are free software. I can’t remember the last time I felt this
happy to be working on them. I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I
can pursue other values in life besides dollars. Turns out I really like
GitHub stars.

In addition to that, I experienced serious burnout after we spent a year
(2012) rewriting Brushes to be a more modern iOS app. This was in response to
Procreate which, in my opinion, blew all the existing painting apps out of the
water. (Now that Brushes is open-source, I can feel free to compliment a
competitor.)

Despite our own impression that we had radically improved Brushes with minimal
UI changes, the update was poorly received by many existing users. At that
point I essentially lost all motivation to pursue it as a business.

Ultimately, I decided that rather than letting the apps rot on the store, or
trying to sell them to another developer, releasing the source code was the
right thing to do. I’m hoping to collaborate with other developers, and keep
Inkpad and Brushes alive as open-source projects for as long as there is
interest.

~~~
_random_
A grain of salt: "I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I can pursue
other values in life besides dollars" \- all your competitors will be much
less fortunate now, going free is a kind of price dumping. I wish all the $.99
=> 80/20 game/app damage was undone...

~~~
ssprang
I really doubt this will have much effect on any of the competing apps.
Brushes was already downloadable for free (with an optional in-app purchase).
Many other painting apps of various capability are available for free too.

Perhaps more damage will be done in the vector space, where there's not a lot
of money to be made in the first place... but I'd still be surprised if it
puts anybody out of business.

At any rate, I don't believe anyone is entitled to any particular business
model. More people are better off with open-source software.

------
ssprang
Brushes, a painting app for iOS, is now open-source too:
[https://github.com/sprang/Brushes](https://github.com/sprang/Brushes)

I posted links to both of these in the past few weeks, but they didn't get any
traction. I guess I have bad timing. I was surprised to see this on the front
page!

~~~
felixmar
After years of reading HN it's still fascinating how submissions reach the
front page. I gave this the first upvote while it was still on the first page
of 'new'. And i was certain that once it would go to the second page it would
not get more upvotes in the weekend. To my surprise it is now on no. 1. A few
crucial votes in a short time can make the difference. And i am certain that
the person who submits it also plays a role. At least for me it was a reason
to open the link because i recognized the name of the submitter.

~~~
ssprang
Ah, the disadvantages of being a perpetual lurker...

~~~
shawndumas
I have purchased every app you've made and am constantly recommending them. I
was very pleased to see this hit the front page.

Keep up the outstanding work...

------
NLPsajeeth
Taptrix (the developers behind Inkpad and Brushes) was YC S10, though if I
remember correctly they joined YC after their Brushes app was already a
smashing success on the iPad. Brushes was released the same day the iPad 1
came out and the two guys behind it were both Apple veterans. [1] [2]

Brushes — This startup created the Brushes application for painting on your
iPhone or iPad. The app was used to create the well-known iPhone covers for
the New Yorker. With 250,000 paying users and $60,000 in monthly revenue,
Brushes apparently holds the YC record for most profitable startup on Demo
Day. Its eventual goal is to become the “Adobe of touch devices” by building a
suite of apps. [3]

If I had to guess, I'd say the devs probably have enough money to retire.
Congrats! Thank you for contributing your code to the world.

[1] [http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/03/brushes-ipad-launch-
scree...](http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/03/brushes-ipad-launch-screenshots)

[2] [http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/24/y-combinator-demo-
day-2/](http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/24/y-combinator-demo-day-2/)

[3] [http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/24/five-new-y-combinator-
star...](http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/24/five-new-y-combinator-startups-to-
watch/)

~~~
phaus
60k a month in revenue for a painting app and people act like I'm crazy when I
say its time for Apple to create an iPad with a digitizer, as if no one wanted
to paint on an iPad.

~~~
nicholassmith
The lack of a digitizer hasn't stopped people from creating _amazing_ artwork
on the iPad. Maybe the constraint forces a new approach.

~~~
phaus
Just because someone that's really determined can overcome the iPad's
shortcomings and make something that looks professional, doesn't mean that
drawing with a capacitive stylus isn't terrible.

Have you ever used a proper digitizer? If you did you should notice
immediately how much better it is.

------
jawerty
I'm not asking this to be a jerk or anything, I'm legitimately curious--what's
the benefit of open-sourcing something like a mobile app? I would think that
making an app private would be help you keep a level of proprietorship with
your llc or whatever company you have producing the app. I know the benefits
of open source projects in the developer-sphere but I would think a small-time
developer would want their app to be generally private.

~~~
niels_olson
I want a specific arrowhead. Even if he doesn't make it, I can. Which is why I
forked it yesterday.

------
y2bd
> please do not submit unmodified (or trivially modified) versions of this
> application to the App Store

I wonder how common this is for mobile applications.

Considering desktop applications, I've heard that many of the media conversion
programs you find on sketchy websites are just reskins of Handbrake.

~~~
ssprang
I've heard that some people are already re-signing and successfully submitting
other developer's binaries.

So, I suspect there will be some submitted clones eventually. It's possible
Apple would reject them for being "too similar" (if they're paying attention).

On the other hand, it would be cool if someone used these as a starting point
and built something unique.

~~~
conradev
Clones always seem to get through. The open source Hacker News client
news:yc[1] has had a lot of problems with this in the past. In chronological
order:

[https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/291380036269899776](https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/291380036269899776)

[https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/291385819799896064](https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/291385819799896064)

[https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/303371858340884480](https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/303371858340884480)

[https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/308312460551651328](https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/308312460551651328)

[https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/315522279519961089](https://twitter.com/newsyc_/status/315522279519961089)

[1] [http://newsyc.me](http://newsyc.me)

------
sovande
This must have taken a few years to create. Why free and open source!?

~~~
ssprang
Why not? I feel the overall value of the app is increased this way. There are
many other much bigger free software projects.

~~~
niels_olson
You are my new favorite HNer! As soon as I figure out how to make a flat,
T-shaped, arrowhead, I will be sending you a pull request! This is easily the
best SVG editor for iPad. Keep charging the hill, man. This is great stuff.

------
allochthon
Is there a link to screenshots somewhere?

EDIT: To answer my own question:
[https://github.com/sprang/Inkpad/tree/develop/Screenshots](https://github.com/sprang/Inkpad/tree/develop/Screenshots)

------
d5tryr
I absolutely adore this app, I've used illustrator for +10 years and I
honestly feel that manipulating beziers through direct input in Inkpad is not
only a more pleasing, and intuitive, experience but in a lot of cases a more
effective method of creating vector art. I frequently use it throughout my
design process (and occasionally for the entirety of it).

You should be extremely proud of the powerful a tool you've created, and I
hope that this transition to open source is positive for the app and for you
and your team. I can't wait to contribute, even if it's only by way of design
suggestions.

I'm pretty sure I've emailed you with glowing compliments before but I can't
tell you enough how much I love using your app.

I'll post a few of my illustrations in the hope that other designers might see
the potential of this tool and start using it too:

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/Ibis%20small...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/Ibis%20small-
compressed.png)

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/corin%20ston...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/corin%20stone-
compressed.png)

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/reclinging%2...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/reclinging%20dancer-
compressed.png)

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/Sweeno%20scr...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24117106/yh/Sweeno%20scroll-
compressed.png)

I assure you any perceived simplicity in my images are a product of my style
rather than any limitations of the app :)

------
DigitalJack
The comments in this code are very sparse. It's easy to think "this code is
obvious and needs no explanation" when it's your own code. But even if I can
tell what the code is doing, a comment explaining why is a big help in
understanding context.

I'm guilty of this in my projects, and one of the things that helps me
understand better what and how to comment things is to run the code through
something like Pycco or related side by side doc generator.

I use Pycco on my systemverilog code and it works nicely and has greatly
improved my comments too.

------
k_bx
Just for a person who doesn't have an iPad. So, can one modify this app and
then share it to others via internet? Or is it only possible to do via
AppStore?

------
lcnmrn
Can this be ported to OS X? It could be the best UI design tool.

~~~
ssprang
I had a very basic version of this running on the Mac a while ago. It could
open Inkpad/SVG documents and all of the editing tools were usable, but I
never got around to implementing the rest of the UI (inspectors, etc.) so it
was pretty limited.

That's why a bunch of the code is organized in the Inkpad-Core directory, by
the way. All of that stuff worked on the Mac too.

When I updated Inkpad for iOS 7, the Mac version stopped building and I
haven't had a chance to investigate yet. Once I submit this version of
Brushes, I'll take a look at it and if I can get it to build in a reasonable
amount of time I'll put the code on GitHub.

