14 DAY TRIAL // NetSketch is the first collaborative drawing application for the iPhone and iPod touch, developed by Mac programmer, web developer and photographer Ben Gotow. The app lets users co-draw / paint in real time, over a wireless network. They also have a complete spectrum of colors and brush sizes at their disposal, with infinite pan and zoom options.
One of the great things about NetSketch is that, when you draw, the image is rendered in a fully scalable vector space. This space is independent of the size of the iPhone's screen, which makes it possible to get accurate, anti-aliased lines when you zoom in. “You can draw at any level, so its easy to add detail to your work,” the developer notes. It took Ben Gotow four months to write the 9,000 lines of code NetSketch is comprised of.
Still, the most attractive feature NetSketch boasts is, undoubtedly, its ability to show the drawings visible on a network. While the numbers printed on the right hand side show how many people are editing each drawing, you can choose a drawing to view and edit it by selecting it from the list. Those editing the respective "masterpiece" will see your changes in real time. You have to admit that this could actually be a great way to ask someone out on a date. You can also choose to share a drawing only with whom you want to (choose specific iPhones and iPods on the network).
As you can imagine, network sharing is only available when your iPhone or iPod touch is connected to a wireless network. You should remember to turn network sharing off when you're not using the app, so it doesn't drain your battery.
There's more. You can send snapshots of your drawings to the photo library on your iPhone, email them to friends, or upload them to my.netsketchapp.com and create an online gallery. You can also export to Adobe Illustrator, from the site. Have a look at these live examples of how drawings are made using NetSketch.
NetSketch requires an iPhone or iPod touch running firmware 2.0 or later. Wireless sharing requires a wireless internet connection, while Sharing over EDGE and 3G cell networks is not supported. The new version of the app (V. 1.2) introduces several improvements to the drawing interface, adds a progress indicator for long redraws, and more. Undoing changes is now faster, and the app no longer lags when drawing new lines, regardless of the size of the drawing. According to the developer, several more features are on their way soon, including drawing replay and PDF vector export.