If Jackson Pollock painted in a digital medium, what tools would he use? Modern digital art and design tools allow an incredible range of flexibility and control – but often require dozens of steps to accomplish what can be done naturally with paint and canvas. But with newer technologies, it’s possible to further bridge the gap between physical and digital to create something new.
That’s what drives Anastasiy. As the founder of Crispy Driven Pixels, he builds software tools for creative professionals all over the world. You’ll find his software in studios from Disney and Dreamworks to Marvel Comics and Blizzard. He’s already forever changed how we draw and paint on computers.
Now, as part of the LEAP.AXLR8R, Crispy Driven Pixels plans to take touchless digital art creation to the next level. The current version of Ethereal – a powerful plugin for Adobe Photoshop that lets you draw and create art with your hands in the air – is just the first step. It appears as a native panel within Photoshop and includes Pen Pressure control, color wheel integration, and animated tutorials. Here’s what you can download and try right now:
Crispy Driven Pixels is currently developing a new, natural user interface for Ethereal that will make it easier than ever to paint in the air. We managed to pry Anastasiy away from coding long enough to ask him about his experience so far:
The main problem in the field of graphic design is that software is not evolving. It’s almost the same as it was 20 years ago. We want to lower the barriers and the learning curve for new artists and designers, and now it’s evolving very quickly.
Our biggest challenge is to reimagine the UI, and Ethereal has progressed a long way since the beginning of the program – thanks to the great mentors of LEAP.AXLR8R and the Leap Motion team. Soon you’ll see new tools and intuitive ways to bring your ideas to the canvas. It’s a new world we’ve never faced before.
Arvind Gupta is the founder of the LEAP.AXLR8R and partner at SOSventures. This post originally appeared on the LEAP.AXLR8R blog.
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March 18, 2014 at 8:01 amI hope this would help me to treat my arthritis after years of using mouse….
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March 19, 2014 at 5:52 amCan’t help but think it looks like you’re trying to reinventing the wheel the wrong way, and this goes for many projects. Don’t map controls 1:1 I’d keep the hand gestures to change tool properties, those seem that they could work very well, but keep the pen for the pressure and tactile feedback
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