Best App for fine-line sketches, using fine stylus???

[mike160304]

Ballpen sketches on cigarette packets are a pivotal part of our engineering tradition, and I would like to be able to do them on my Nokia Lumia 520.

Which is the best App for fine-line sketches (simply black on white) on a Lumia 520? Is there a corresponding fine stylus, or would I have to make one, and if so, what with?

Note - this is engineering, not art.

Mike

 

[mike160304]

I've now read the descriptions of the various sketch/draw apps in the Windows Phone store and none of them mention freehand drawing with a thin stylus, just as one would naturally draw with a pencil - simply black lines on a white background. They sound more like kids' games, like Etch-a-Sketch, etc.
Does line-drawing with a thin stylus not exist, on a Windows Phone?

 

[steve_w_7]

I agree with you. There really aren't any sketch apps that allow you to simply draw in a realistic manor. There are a lot of them out there, but most of them aren't very precise.
The one that I have landed on - which I use for just taking quick notes - is Chalkboard.
It seems to be the most precise that I have found, and it has a fine tip option, but the line isn't dependent on the size of the stylus if that makes sense.
It's got a lot of customizable options, including a cool little straight edge tool. The UI isn't the most intuitive, but it doesn't take long to figure it out.
Try it out and see if that works for you.

 

[mike160304]

Thanks Steve, I shall try that. I have written to the makers of Papyrus about this - Papyrus at least mentions "stylus" in the Shop description, and their website is less "kiddy" than most of them - sounds quite techie in fact.
With Chalkboard, are you using a "passive" stylus, i.e. just a dumb mini-rubber-ball metal-mounted on a ballpen-like handle? I understand what you mean about the program ignoring the thickness of the stylus itself.
Mike

 

[Ixia]

I like Sketch Pro Lite, it does have a technical pen option for a fine line and isn't 'kiddy' . Not sure about stylus support though.

 

[Ixia]

Thinking about it, is there even a fine line stylus in existence for windows phones, have only ever seen the rubber ball type. Though I know I can use my keys to draw a line (!)

 

[mike160304]

Thanks Ixia, for both replies. I'll look at Sketch Pro Lite, sounds less kiddy than most!!! Re Stylus, the hollow-rubber-ball ones are a rip-off anyway, I shall play around with a craft knife, making pencil-shaped bits of rubber from an eraser or a door stop. Someone told me that the rubber has to be mounted in metal, but I don't know yet whether that is right.
Mike

 

[Ixia]

Would be interested in any results. I had read that the point has to be a quarter inch wide or the screen won't register the touch. I know I can draw with the handle of a steel fork, but if I try to turn it round and draw with one of the tines, then it doesn't work. Oddly the fork or key trick doesn't work on my OH's Iphone ( I have a Lumia 1020).

 

[mike160304]

Thanks, that is helpful. It is encouraging that the handle end of a fork will do the job. Others have commented that the actual drawn line thickness is not related to the thickness of the stylus point, but is set in the Program - I can understand that, but I feel that I need to see a thin stylus point anyway, because of my previous ballpen/pencil conditioning.
Mike

 

[Kevin Rush]

ArchiTech Sketchpad has an interesting user interface you should look at. I'm just learning it. I like that it can draw horizontal and vertical lines, like CAD does. So far, though, I haven't drawn anything other than very simple images.

 

[mike160304]

Thanks Kevin, I've added it to my things to look at. Sounds interesting, if it will do freehand sketching too.
Mikw

 

[Ixia]

I've tried Architect, but it's not what I need. I love Autodesk Sketchbook pro on the Ipad, I use an ordinary rubber ball stylus and concentrate on the line, not the pen. But I would like a finer stylus for the phone.
BTW I don't normally prod my phone with a fork, I was eating whilst reading your thread

 

[mike160304]

I have downloaded Papyrus for a start. The interface is good and I could quickly select an 0.5mm (or whatever) thin line, simply black on white. The software is fine, but there is no way I can make a properly joined-up sketch with my finger. I tried all kinds of materials as a "passive" stylus - plastics, wood, rubber, various steel things, copper, brass - but they were very inconsistent. The finger must be an "active" stylus, somehow, as it never fails to draw a line. Is this because of electrical impulses in our body? I must try to find out what an "active" stylus consists of!!!
Mike

 

[Ixia]

Some of the styluses (styli??) that advertise as being fine point actually have a clear plastic disc around the fine point, to give the illusion of drawing with a fine point, but I assume the disc is to provide the quarter inch width for the screen to register the touch. That might be worth looking at?

 

[mike160304]

Some of the styluses (styli??) that advertise as being fine point actually have a clear plastic disc around the fine point . . .?

Thanks - In theory that might be the solution, I'll look for one. Have you seen this, I wonder whether it would work, I have asked the question:
https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...var%3D%26hash%3Ditem19e0e98467&token=l9YstIHO

 

[Ixia]

I think that's a normal ended stylus, the 3.5 mm refers to the size of the other end?
The stylus I was meaning is an Adonit Jot, but I don't know if it will work with WP8, i found a blog claiming that it worked with a WP8 app called InkNotes, but I can't find an app by that name.

 

[mike160304]

Adonit Jot - I'll definitely look at that. Thanks. I have had a reply re the plug, yes, the 3.5 mm is the shaft diameter, to fit a socket and keep dust out. They say the rubber ball "can be used as a stylus" but they have not told me the diameter or replied whether it will work on a WP. They are not interested. I'll forget it.

 

[mike160304]

OK, I have now understood that no active stylus works on Windows Phones, and that therefore we are limited to a passive stylus (no batteries). Also that the "magnet" mentioned with some passive styli has nothing to do with the writing, it is just for attaching the stylus to something.

I have also learnt that there are dozens of sketching/handwriting programs, of which Papyrus is the only one I have had time to test, and it works fine, with fine lines too if desired.

So the hardware is the problem, not the software

I have now ordered an Adonit Jot Mini stylus from Amazon UK and I'll let y'all know how I get on with it.

I may put a protective film on my screen
Mike

 

[Kevin Rush]

"Learnt" You taught me a new word.