For many people, making art is something aspirational — it seems like something that would be fun to do, but they don’t feel like they have any artistic talent, and even if they do, they don’t quite know where to start.
At cupixel, our goal is to remove those barriers to creating art, making it possible for anyone to create — regardless of their part art experience — and one of the ways that we do that is by using some very cool (but simple to use) tech in our app. But for someone who has never used cupixel before, we realize it can be hard to picture what that means.
We’re here to explain exactly how the technology works, so you understand exactly what you are getting.
The first thing to understand is that there are two key aspects to technology driving cupixel: the augmented reality and the artificial intelligence.
Keep in mind, you don’t need to understand how this all works to enjoy the app! But if you have any questions, hopefully you can find the answers here.
Augmented reality
So, how do they work? Let’s start with the AR.
We call the AR-power technology “smart trace.” But what it’s called isn’t really important — how it works is.
In the simplest terms, smart trace makes it so your phone can project, or cast, an outline of the art you chose onto your paper or canvas.
As long as there is a dark border around your drawing surface, the AR will recognize its edges and superimpose your image to the exact specs of the paper.
Once the AR has done this, you can actually adjust your image on the surface by using the drag feature to position it where you want it. Then, you to look through your phone and trace.
One thing to note: The image will not actually be projected onto the paper, but when you look at the paper through your phone, it looks like it has been, which is why you can trace it while looking through your phone. It can be a little weird to start, but once you get used to it, you barely even notice you are doing it!
Very cool, right? That’s not even all of it — you can also zoom in while tracing so you can capture the fine details. And if you want to, you can use the AR to add additional aspects to your art, like sunglasses or crowns to a portrait, or text in some of the white space. It is pretty amazing — if you haven’t seen it in action yet, we recommend that you check it out.
Artificial intelligence
Ok, that’s the AR, but what does the AI do?
The AI is the technology that makes is possible for you to upload and draw or paint your own photos.
When you go into one of the personal photo experiences and hop over to the “Artwork” tab, you can select a photo from your own camera roll to upload and use for your art.
Once you have done that, the AI converts your photo into an outline, so that you can then use the AR to project it onto your drawing surface and trace it.
That isn’t all, though. The AI recognizes the background details in the photo and will automatically remove some of those (although you can add them back if you want to), and after your photo is uploaded, you can use the refinement tools within the app to adjust the lines and level of detail so that it is exactly how you want it.
So what does this mean for you, the people using cupixel?
Honestly, not much. We will worry about keeping the tech working, and all you have to worry about is picking the art you want to make, and then relaxing and having fun while creating.