Cado is solving the fat finger conundrum

I am surprised that mobile CAD leader Autodesk hasn't gotten around to solving the problem of drawing on tablets with fingers. The problem, you know, is that our fingers hide what's underneath the finger -- precisely where we need to see what's going on.

And so the conundrum is, how d'we see what's under the (relatively) fat finger?

The Chinese software company that make GstarCAD MC has one solution: a bird's-eye view (remember those from the early 1990s?) that's offset, and moves in conjunction with the finger. This clever solution provides an enlarged view of what's under the finger. I don't see why Autodesk can't implement this, because they have bird's-eye window technology for which they paid $25 million (and among other things).

Another solution is to use tablets from Samsung that come with an active stylus.

These are not the only ways to go about things.

Cado from Orange Juice Studios  

Head peeler Vimal (ouch on the title!) wrote me today about his company's CAD-for-iPad software that has another approach to the fat-finger problem. Cado has (a) the offset-cursor solution (the cursor is located to the upper-left of the finger) and (b) two on-screen buttons located under your fingers.  
Best thing see how it works is to watch the video at their Web site: http://www.orangejuicestudios.com/cado/index.html

The technology is patent-pending, and so best thing is if an Autodesk or a Dassault buys them out. In the meantime, the software is due to launch by Q2 (Apr-June) of next year.

 

Comments

[Ed]

This idea is similar to how iOS works. In the iBooks app, you can highlight text in epub files by swiping your finger. When you do, a magnifying glass appears above your finger showing the cursor position.

[RobiNZ]

You obviously haven't seen the AGETF* Project in Autodesk Labs yet! : )

* Autodesk Genetic Engineered Thin Finger