Air Sketch

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Connection & Sharing Tips:

  • Air Sketch works with any HTML-5 capable browser, including Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.
  • Use your browser's full-screen mode to view or record full-screen sketches.
  • Air Sketch live drawings can even be viewed from another iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch!
  • Record your sketches using any desktop recording tool, such as QuickTime's Screen Recording feature (check out the short tutorial).
  • Or share them with remote colleagues using any desktop sharing app such as iChat.
  • The remote drawing updates as quickly as the network allows. Make sure both your iPad and computer have a strong wireless / network connection. Public networks and hotspots may introduce intermittent lag.
  • Note: Most public hotspots allow client-to-client communication, which Air Sketch relies on to work. However, some network administrators may choose to explicitly disable this feature. Contact your network administrator if you are unsure about this.
  • You can even use Air Sketch peer-to-peer with a computer via an ad-hoc network when a WiFi hotspot is unavailable.

Drawing & Sketching Tips:

  • Basic controls:
  • [basic controls]
  • Use the snapshot tool [camera icon] to save your current sketch at any time.
  • Return to any snapshot from the folder [folder icon].
  • To delete a snapshot from the folder list, swipe horizontally accross it with your finger.
  • Snapshots can also be used to prepare a series of sketches for quick presentations.
  • Tap the Send To icon to email your sketch as a PDF or JPEG image, or to save it to the Photo Library.
  • Zoom in and pan using two fingers. Tip: Write smaller and more detailed text while zoomed in. Also, the eraser shrinks when zoomed in, allowing finer control.
  • For finer-control on drawings or extensive writing, you might find a third party stylus such as the Pogo Sketch useful.
  • If you make a mistake, just tap the undo button [undo icon] to undo the last stroke or board erase.
  • Tap on a color when selected to edit that color. Build your own custom palette.

PDF Documents:

[Open in Air Sketch]

How to open a PDF file in Air Sketch:

  1. Email the PDF file to yourself, or use a File Manager App that supports the "open in..." feature such as Dropbox to transfer it to your iPad.
  2. Open the PDF file within Mail or the 3rd party App to view it.
  3. Tap "open in..." and select Air Sketch.

Importing Keynote Decks Directly:

You can even open PDF decks directly from Keynote for the iPad:

  • In Keynote, tap the Tools button (wrench/spanner icon) and select "Share and Print".
  • Select "Open in Another App".
  • Select the PDF format.
  • Tap "Choose App", then select "Open in Air Sketch".

Working with PDF files:

  • Air Sketch works with one PDF file at a time, and doesn’t store or manage PDF files directly.
  • Tip: Tap the page number on the PDF page controls to quickly jump to any page. [PDF controls]
  • Tap Send-To -> Email As PDF to email the entire annotated PDF document.
  • Note: There appears to be a limit to the size of email attachments on the iPad. We’ve found that documents under around 10MB (or PDF files up to around 75 pages) tend to be sent ok, but sending larger ones may fail. This appears to be an OS limitation and happens in other Apps as well, which we hope will be addressed in a future upgrade.

Background Picture:

  • Tap on the background image icon [Add picture icon] to set the background image to any picture in your photo library.
  • [Edit image controls]
  • After selecting a picture, position it on the screen with the round top-left grip. Resize the cropping window using the triangular bottom-right grip.
  • Scale the image using the slider on the bottom right of the screen.
  • Drag the picture to position it within the cropping window.
  • Use the pre-sets (left, center, right, full-screen) to quickly set the image position.
  • You can rotate the image using the arrow icons. This is handy for using landscape screenshots.
  • Tip: Press the home and sleep (power) buttons simultaneously to take a screenshot of any app that's currently running. You can then pick this image from the photo library to use as your background image.

Server Tips:

  • A note on multiple clients: Air Sketch is designed to work optimally with a single computer connected to the same local network as your iPad. While there is no "hard" limit to how many clients that can simultaneously connect to Air Sketch, we have observed that performance degrades with additional connections. At some point, you may start to see intermittent connection issues. So while limited multi-cast works for the most part, we can't officially recommend or support it.
  • We recommend that you use desktop sharing software (such as iChat for Mac) to share your sketches with additional participants, and dedicated online meeting services (such as WebEx) for larger audiences.
  • Tap the envelope icon [envelope icon] next to the IP address in the server settings dialog to send the address in email.
  • You can also find the link in Safari's Bonjour bookmarks. Click on the Bookmarks menu -> Show All Bookmarks -> Bonjour.
  • Make sure that your browser is running on a computer on the same local network as the iPad, and that your iPad is connected via WiFi (3G is not supported).
  • If you are running Air Sketch on a public or large network, secure your sessions by turning on the "Require Login" switch and specifying a username & password.
  • You generally won't need to change the default port, unless there are restrictive settings on your network's firewall. We recommend keeping it at the default 8080 unless you need to change it.

Air Sketch Free Edition:


When You Need to Record a Presentation:

Use Presentation Recorder to record HD videos of your slide decks, right on your iPad:

PresentationRecorder

A Revolutionary Creativity Device

We believe that the iPad is a revolutionary creativity platform, and that we've only begun to scratch the surface of what's possible. If you find Air Sketch useful, or have other uses in mind, please drop us a line and let us know about them. We love to hear from you!

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