[blindza] Android: DrawBack Draw and Feel

From: "Jacob Kruger" <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "NAPSA Blind" <blind@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:26:37 +0200
Very cool/nice idea - an app that's meant to let blindies draw shapes on their 
android's screen, and then feel them, save them as images, load other images to 
then feel them, etc. etc.:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stereomatch.blind.draw.back.tactile

from that page's description:
"Use your finger to Draw. Use Menu - Feel to switch to feel mode. Save your 
drawing as an image. Load an image into the app.
When you draw, it will usually draw with a white pen or brush on black 
background. The device will vibrate whenever something is being drawn on 
screen. In Feel mode, you can move your fingers across the drawing. The device 
will vibrate when your fingers move across a white area. If you keep your 
fingers still there will be no vibration.

The vibration effect tries to mimic the vibration you feel in your finger as 
you swipe it across a textured surface. This happens when your fingerprint 
ridges stick and slip to the texture of the surface. With this app, the android 
device tries to mimic that vibration.

The app can be used as an aid for drawing - as users can use Feel mode to 
practice retracing over a drawing.

The app is designed to work in landscape mode. When you press Menu, it will 
appear on the left edge of the screen when the phone is held in Portrait mode.

For Accessibility TalkBack users using Explore By Touch:

Because of an issue with Explore By Touch interfering with single-finger 
drawing on screen, it is advised that users either turn off Explore By Touch if 
possible. Or use this app on Android 4.2.2 and above, and turn on the Single 
Tap Mode in TalkBack settings.

If you are running without Single Tap Mode, or on Android versions lower than 
Android 4.2.2, then every drawing stroke will have a short straight line at the 
beginning of every stroke. In addition, you will not be able to draw very small 
strokes. This is because Explore By Touch forces touch events to not be 
delivered to the app until you move the finger far enough after first pressing 
down on the screen.

So TalkBack users should try to use Android 4.2.2 and above and turn on Single 
Tap Mode in TalkBack settings.


Usage

The app is designed for Landscape mode. However, it maybe easier to use when 
held in Portrait mode. When you press the Menu button, the menu will thus 
appear on the left edge when the phone is held in Portrait mode. 

Draw on screen with your finger. A thick white stroke will be drawn wherever 
your finger moves. The device will vibrate to indicate when drawing is actually 
taking place.

Then press Menu and switch to Feel mode. Swipe across the screen with your 
finger to feel white areas of the drawing. The device will vibrate whenever the 
path of your finger crosses a white area. There will be no vibration if you 
keep your finger still.

Use Menu - Save to save the image to the SD card. Use Menu - Folder to pick an 
image to show.

The image on screen will be retained and shown again when you restart the app. 
Use Menu - Clear to clear the screen to black.

You can even send external images to this app. From the Gallery app and other 
apps, you can use Share on an image file to send it to this app. The image will 
be scaled to fit within the screen area.


Improvements
Please send your suggestions to the developer e-mail address.

The vibration feature is still a work in progress. We have implemented a simple 
vibrate feature which can be improved in the next version."

Either way, did a quick test, and, yes, could draw shapes on screen, swithc 
over to feel mode, and trace them again - will take bit more playing 
around/practice, but, still...<smile>

Stay well

Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
"Roger Wilco wants to welcome you...to the space janitor's closet..."
[blindza] Android: DrawBack Draw and Feel

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