Freeform

I did not name the gear of the year 2022 this time. But thinking of what devices I have been using most often (except for the obvious essentials like a computer and a phone), these were the Palm Phone and the iPad.

iPad does not seem that exciting in 2023, but the truth is I find myself using it increasingly more each day and to complete more things. It still falls short from being a content creation device. It would be difficult to write even a blog like this on the iPad. Of course it shines in content consumption. But recently I realized I keep using it more and more for conceptual creations.

iPad (and iOS in general) is very strong in using images (photos / screenshots) across the board. It is much quicker to take a screenshot and crop / save / share it, compared to Android. And it has been a blast after Apple added the subject lifting feature. Subject lifting was great from the start, but the issue was where to put all those lifted subjects.

So here comes Freeform - the latest addition to iOS. It is a great app for doing conceptual work. Especially when you have the companion tools like photo subject lifting and the pencil. I must say this is probably the first time ever when a mobile device outshines a traditional computer in content creation. True, some things like typing or using a CAD for even simple 3D modeling is much more efficient on a regular computer, but for sketching, and creating various concepts, I find it unbeatable.

This probably means a death sentence for applications like Paper. I was using Paper for several years but no more. Interestingly Paper lost primarily because it did not handle clipboard operations well - you could not paste and image (saving to the camera roll was a clumsy necessary intermediate step).

As an example - on the attached image you can see my design process for an overlanding camping shower, which led to the creation of a custom mounting bracket. When Spring rolls in, I will probably make a series of short videos on converting my (almost 20-year old) Subaru into a camper. There are many things to talk about. In the meantime enjoy the teaser time lapses.