Camera Lucida™: AR Drawing App Reviews

The Camera Lucida for the modern age....done right! The developer has listened to the artistic community and created and innovative and useful art tool. The digitized version of the Camera Lucida has cleverly updated this classic art tool with new innovative ways of displaying the subject, new tools for helping you draw on your chosen media and even the ability to record the drawing process as you create your masterpiece. If you ever wanted to learn to draw, paint, etc. or wanted to speed up the layout process, or just want to try out a new technique, look no further......and purchase the Camera Lucida App ....you will thank yourself and you will have a lot of fun.

This app is amazing! Not only does it work as a camera lucida, but the included filters can change images into sepia tones, line art, and more. Perfect tool when you want to practice painting or some other technique and need a quick layout drawing done to exact measurements.

Loved this app but I can not even open it anymore. It keeps shutting off. I dont want to delete it. Please get this fixed!!! I hope to be adding some starts soon!!

This is a great app for doing rough sketches of things like birds to get the proportions right for later watercolor and detail work. Have found nothing that works anywhere near as good as this.

This is the best camera lucida around. Having used the old prism lucida I can say this app blows any other camera lucida away!!!!!

The earlier version of Camera Lucida was terrific. This new release is a knockout! As much as I love drawing and painting on my iPad, theres nothing like working with real paint, real pencils, and the sensuousness of real paper. You can accelerate your learning by watching the videos, and reading the web site. Be prepared to be surprised. I have recommended this app to several friends who, though interested in art, but were intimidated by the drawing process. Camera Lucida has opened new possibilities for them. I have been drawing and painting for most of my life, and made a living creating on a Mac. I had been frustrated that I could not put the technology to use other than to scan, compose, print, and then project onto a canvas in a totally dark room, flipping the lights on an off to check myself. With Camera Lucida, the path is so much smoother, from concept to completion. This is a brilliant use of the two cameras on iPhones, iPods and iPads. (All except the first generation iPad). It works better than the traditional camera lucida for transferring images to any surface, and truly more functional than my $400 Artograph Super Prism. The light bulb for the Artograph is six dollars! Your source image is viewed on the screen, as you see your working surface through user controllable transparency of the source image. You can zoom in for working with fine detail, and move back and forth with the sliders between different opacities— 100% source image to 100% natural media image, and every degree in between. After a bit of practice, the process will become intuitive to you. It takes a little while for you to tune in to the hand/eye coordination necessary, if you usually draw from life. Secure your drawing surface with tape, raise your iDevice on a stack of books or a solid tripod/device holder, and lock it down so that the iPad doesnt wobble and your drawing doesnt slip. Your image remains aligned with your drawing. This is not as complex as this sounds. The zoom and pan feature boggles my mind. I can zoom in and out, pan to whatever part of the image I want, and continue drawing with the image still aligned. The scale is only limited by your imagination. I have just mirrored this app onto my large screen TV through my Apple TV. This way, I could work with a much larger format. The distance from the iOS device to the drawing surface determines the size of the final piece. This is a one-of-a-kind app, there are no others for for real drawing with iOS, and I have not found an art projector that works as well. It is worth the purchase price, and much more. Bravo to the developer of Camera Lucida, for creating a valuable and original artists tool! ************************************************************************************ June 7, 2013 Update Great new features added, thank you!

The first time you try it, you will be addicted. Its easy to use and amazing to review the time lapse at the end. You will be going through your old photos looking for something else to draw. My eleven year old daughter loves it as well.

This app is wonderful. Easy to use, I am enjoying drawing with it.

Best $5 ever spent. Makes making art cookies so much easier. Thank you!

This app makes drawing fun, I am learning so much! Cannot wait for the grandkids to try it out. Try it and discover the artist in you.

A camera lucida allows you to see your drawing surface and your subject photo at the same time. When you draw you look at your iPad screen that’s held over your paper. Check out the videos on YouTube if you want to see how it works. It’s really different and clever! Other apps that are trying to copy this one are starting to pop up, but this one blows them (and the traditional prism camera lucidas) out of the water. Get some paper, a pencil and a flower vase or something to hold your iPad steady over your drawing and go for it.

My wife has asked me for twelve years why I stopped drawing, and I never had a good answer. In the month following my purchase of this app, I have drawn more than I have in the past twelve years. Camera Lucida has made me fall in love with drawing again. iTunes has that 15 minute grace period where you can "return" an app, right? I wanted to see what I could accomplish in that 15 minutes, and after a very quick sketch session, I realized that in the short time I had been sketching I had accomplished hours worth of work. This app would be a bargain at twice the price.

4 stars for making me retype this review multiple times....having great fun with the ap. I have not been disappointed with its functions, great on its own for sketchbook size, possibilities for bigger art work.

I seem to do fairly well artistically on my own… except for getting proportions just right. And when I dont, I get frustrated and scrap everything. The fun is taken out of it. Thats where this app comes in. I can take a photo, any photo, and have the proportions projected onto my work surface, taking all of the hard part out of it. It closes the gap in my abilities, making it possible to turn out a fantastic and impressive work. Calligraphers, leatherworkers, sketchers, painters, printmakers, etc.: You need this app! It will be worth every penny.

Words cant express how happy I am with this app. I will be using it for cookie decorating for my business. Peter went above and beyond my customer service expectations. He answered every question promptly in a very friendly manner. I highly recommend this app to anyone who is interested in drawing in a fun and new way. And the best part is you dont have to be an artist to use it.

For someone thats new to photography, this app is a lot of fun. Most of my friends are senior citizens and they get a lot of kick out of the photos I send.

got this app this morning and have been messing with it all day. I never write reviews but this app does what it says and it works like it claims and when you email you get an answer right away. Just get the app and enjoy all sorts of fun and creativity.

I keep a project notebook and now my sketches dont look like a blind person did them. Easy to use, and features that will make me better when I get ready to use them.

In 15 minutes I had sketched out my first drawing. Im in love!

The camera lucid sometimes used by the old masters is a wonderful tool for artists. I just found out about it and already love how it works with my iPhone. I can now quickly capture details and add them to my paintings. Has effects I like to use for color blocking. Good job!