With the new exciting designs to come. I was just curious if we are going to have to pay for designs we want on the app or do they all come free?
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All free! We’re exploring the idea of having an optional “tipping” feature, but the app probably won’t launch with that, and you’ll have the option of downloading everything for free either way.
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I think that would be an awesome feature!
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you are fantastic, I would love it if you could create a community where you could vote for the best or most beautiful (hearts to indicate likes) or a kind of social profile where you could publish my designs…
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Yeah, that’s exactly what we’re planning. We’ll have “most popular” rankings and probably a community playlist feature as well.
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Tipping feature is definitely the way to go.
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I have faith in your work, I await the publication of the application
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Is there gonna be a certain file format like Eps or SVG?
I use adobe illustrator to make my vector stuff, so wanna pre check some thing.
Yep, it’ll be .thr files from sandify and SVG files from illustration software. We’ll put together some articles about how to format the SVGs. In the short term, if you make an SVG that’s one continuous line we can make it work.
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Hello, Oasis and everyone! Just a few initial questions regarding software/app function with regard to image production on the Mini (does that nomenclature mean there’s going to be a “Maxi?”).
In work processing software, especially in laser engraving/cutting, redundant lines can be incorporated into one “pass” to ensure uniform application of energy or work (or not, as desired).
Will the illustration software enable that choice as well? I can see where resolution might be affected by repeating lines, if that’s important (I realize it’s sand). Also, the time it takes to render in the medium could be reduced if reduntant lines were eliminated. If it’s a continuous line without an on/off modality throughout the execution of the image, it may not be possible, and I am sure it’s design-dependant.
Next, is the intake to the illustration software dependent on scaled vector graphics files (.svg specifically) or will there be other options for image files?
Lastly, it looks as though you mentiontioned the output from the illustration software is a “.thr” file. Is that a fixed, proprietary format, or will another machine guiding file work, as well (2D, of course)?
I know these are a little ethereal, and may only be keeping me sleepless, but maybe it triggers other insight or questions, too.
Haha, I’m not sure about “maxi” for future products, although Oasis “mini” does imply that. We’re laser-focused on getting Oasis Mini out the door for now and haven’t thought much beyond that.
The general idea with the SVGs is that they’ll be hairline strokes. The ball will follow whatever line you draw even if you double back over the same spot. We’ll make tutorials for all of the big illustration programs - I’m thinking Illustrator, Inkscape, and Vectornator. The short of it is that you need to make an open SVG that’s made from one continuous line. If you’ve got that, it should work with Oasis Mini.
The .thr files are in reference to output from Sandify.org. They’re really just text files that contain “theta” and “rho” coordinate pairs. All you need to know for those is to select .thr output when exporting from Sandify.
In short, .SVG files and .THR files both work. SVGs are used for hand illustrated patterns and THRs are used for the mathematically driven patterns generated by Sandify.
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The Bambu 3DP company has learned to take a hybrid approach towards getting creators paid and forming a community around the product, its associated creations, and end users.
It’s worthy of a conversation to model after to top contributors.
There is scoring, tipping/paid, and comments/forums around it all.
Oh nice. We do use the Bambu X1s, but I haven’t looked into how they handle creator incentives. Their hardware execution is great, so I would expect their software to be a similar caliber.
Hello Zach and Sand Friends (better than Sand Fiends),
Started playing with Sandify, I like the interface, although, on a mobile device like a phone, it’s a little inaacurate with just a thumb or two (those of you that have more than two thumbs, you’re likely more adept than I am).
In the upcoming app designs for sending designs/images “to sand,” will there be a way to schedule them? As an example, can we schedule a refreshed image daily, weekly, or some set timeframe? Additionally, can it be a random image?
It would be cool to get the “top rated,” most downloaded, newest, or from a specific posting author automatically. That might also drive design volume (likes, tipping, dopamine hits, influencer status, etc.) if there was less effort in harvesting new designs.
What about automatic weather forecasts? Any way to hook up to a simple weather forecast (daily) and have it at the ready for morning coffee?
Lastly, would these designs need to be resident on our respective connected devices, or could that random, automated download of designs be done at a hosted website or other repository? I understand that hosted platforms cost time and money, and these things eventually migrate to a paid subscription (please wait as long as possible on that, or maintain a larger “free” section), but perhaps a mechanism to point to other sources of designs would be a nice flexibility. I could see adding a home network connected drive of my repository of designs, it would be cool to point to it, or have it automatically get designs (filtered by some of the parameters mentioned above), and then send them to the machine on a schedule.
Okay, one last thing… Along this same vein, I have seen a couple of posts referencing classroom environments. That’s fantastic! Designating a certain segment of designs that uniquely come from classrooms might be a really nice way to encourage students to be more active in ALL the technologies and facets of this platform - there are so many modalities, not just the images.
Science fairs, poster events, art shows, etc., are all used to encourage and further activity and engagement. Getting recognition, accolades, and other unsolicited feedback (I would gear it towards the positive, of course) are the inertial catalysts that drive interest and gratification. You might even set up periodical “competitions” (there are several notable ones in the rapidly expanding “maker” society, maybe even latch onto those).
Leads to better people in the world.
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Haha, I bet there’s a bunch of nicknames we could come up with based on the Star Wars or Dune universes.
Scheduling isn’t in the app currently, but it’s something we’re planning on adding. The same goes for a “shuffle” mode. I think it would be cool to tell the app just to pick a random design from the community library, although it would also be a bit of a gamble.
We’ve talked a bit about weather and clock apps in this thread: Smart Home Stuff - #17 by Puzzometry
We do have a hosted platform that stores designs. It’s required to have a community library, and it does cost us a bit of money, but we’re planning on keeping the app free.
I certainly wouldn’t complain if a high school teacher challenged their students to make mathematically driven designs in Sandify 
Maybe we’ll put together a little lesson plan to encourage something like that.
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Working on how to make some of my current brand graphics into 1 path…i think it turned out iight, i figured the overlapping parts would look thicker.
Yeah, it looks like you got it. What was your workflow? Did you generate a point cloud and then use some kind of algorithm to connect the dots in a sensible way?
For that one, since i already created the graphic, i pretty much removed all the closed shaped points and tried to find good points to reconnect. into a single path like you recommended
here is the original image
Nice, that should work. If you email me the SVG, I can test it for you contact@grounded.so is a good email
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Hey Zach did yall get the design we sent? Super hyped if the graphic worked out or not
