Spaces takes performance to the next level and unleashes the power of the iPad, allowing you to Design More
- More Concepting
- More Exploration
- More Great Buildings
- More Fulfilment
Multicore and Background Processing
When I first started exploring ideas that ultimately led to the creation of Spaces I was drawn to the iPad for both its power and portability. Coupled with the Apple Pencil, I could see a powerful combination to allow people to draw with the freedom of a pencil while using the power of the iPad to transform these sketches into three-dimensional forms.
When you boil it down, a computer is pure and simply a number-cruncher, and the number of these calculations that a processor can execute determines the overall speed of the device.
iPad Pros have potent chips inside capable of performing trillions of operations. Generally, this would sound far more than an application like Spaces requires, and to a certain degree, that is correct. However, as we added more functions and created more complex models, we needed to keep a firm eye on the overall performance and user experience.
Part of the way new chips can perform such enormous numbers of calculations is because they have several cores allowing multiple processes to run in parallel.
Until now, Spaces has been developed – like most software – to run on one core doing everything in series. With our latest release, however, Spaces is now multicore capable. This means two primary benefits which both contribute to exceptional performance.
First, we can split specific tasks into multiple pieces and perform these in parallel. So, for example, a process in four parts can run almost 25% of the time it previously did.
The second part is that we can push many tasks into the background, which means the users can continue exploring their ideas without waiting for these processes.
Coupled together, these two benefits allow us to continue to focus on delivering a fast, fluid and flexible interface, allowing you to explore more, think more, design more, and take even more advantage of the iPad’s immense power.
Sketch Recognition Engine
With the increased performance the above development delivers, we can continue investigating ways to use this power to make Spaces quicker and more accurate so you can focus purely on your design.
Returning to the idea of number crunching, computers are great at performing calculations and doing so to incredible levels of accuracy. For example, internally, Spaces calculates the usage areas to at least six decimal places – though this is overkill for our customers’ requirements.
However, as we put models together, there are other areas we can use this internal accuracy to support the user.
Sketching is a core part of Spaces, and while it is fast and allows you to explore freely, it is also inaccurate. This inaccuracy is fine during the early design stages, which are all about exploration. However, as you develop your ideas and start focusing on a specific concept, you want to increase the accuracy of your drawing and, as a by-product, the accuracy of your model.
Combining the power of sketching with the power of the iPad allows us to build our Sketch Recognition Engine, which can automate and improve the overall quality of your model.
For example, while sketching, Spaces can compare each stroke you draw to existing strokes and model items to snap the stroke parallel or perpendicular. Or, if you are dividing up your project into spaces, your strokes can be snapped automatically to existing elements to ensure accurate junctions leading to a clean and precise model. These examples are only a sample of what we have in store so keep an eye out as our sketch recognition is improving with every release.
As much of this recognition can run in parallel and in the background – thanks to our recent developments – the overall sketching speed of Spaces is not impacted by any of the functions outlined.
Our goal is for Spaces to be your go-to concepting tool and to provide an easy-to-use interface – i.e. the pencil – that allows you to explore designs quickly and effortlessly. In addition, we want to free you from the decisions other design tools require by using the power of the iPad to make these decisions for you.
Allowing you to:
- Think More
- Explore More
- Make More
- Express More
- Create More
For more information, refer to our website: https://www.spacesapp.io. We offer a free version of Spaces toget you started on your new creative journey.
