Apps for Stage Design: Wybron’s Swatchbook for the iPad

This past summer Wybron released an iPad version of their popular iPhone swatchbook app “Gel Swatch Library” (or iSwatch for short), appropriately named “Gel Swatch Library HD” or “Swatch” on the icon. My first thought was, would it cost more?  Apps “upsized” for the iPad often do.  Thankfully, they retained the $9.99 price tag, but it is important to note that it is not a universal app so if you have both an iPad and an iPhone or an iTouch, you might purchase both. If you are wondering why you would want both, here is a brief rundown of why one user finds value in the pair of apps.

Both programs have the transmission, CMY, RGB and SED curve (Spectral Energy Distribution) for each gel from Apollo, Gam, Lee, and Rosco.  Both programs also show similar colors and complementary colors to a chosen color, can compare two gels side by side, have a list of recently viewed colors, and employ a search feature.  On the iPhone or iTouch this is all valuable information in a quick-access-ultra-portable mode, so why bother with two versions?

First, the “iSwatch” app on the iPad is small, so it will either be literally the size of the phone screen centered in the middle of the iPad screen, or it can be magnified to fill the screen, which makes the fonts a little pixellated. Not bad for functionality, but not great for eyes. Second, “Swatch” makes great use of the screen real estate, allowing the list of gels and the similar/complementary colors to be viewed all at once in landscape mode.

Selecting the icon that looks like a ‘winding road ahead’ sign takes you to the full screen blowup of the SED curves. (Tapping on the mini version yields the same result).In this larger view, selecting any point along the color distribution curve gives you more detail about that particular point.

There is also an “eyedropper” tool, which enables the user to select what visually looks interesting and then see the RGB in both percentage and DMX value (switch between them by tapping on it) as well as Hex and HSL. The tool also finds the closest gels to the color selected.

The biggest and most notably different feature in “Swatch” is the “projects” feature.  Unfortunately the Wybron website offers little instruction on how to begin a project.  Happily, it is written for the same intuitive nature as the iOS, so merely holding down a color for a few seconds pops up a menu that asks which project the user wants to assign it to, if they have a project already started.

Starting a project is easy; the folder icon at the bottom opens the projects list. Select “edit” then “+” to add a new project and give it a name.  If you have multiple projects they can be easily re-ordered by being selected on the far right where the triple linesare and dragging it up or down. Choosing the blue dot will allow you to change a project’s name, or add general notes to it.  The red dot will delete a project (as will swiping over it to the right when in the previous screen). Select “done” and then “list” to go back to selecting gels.

The “projects” folder is where users will view their lists of gels. Here gels can be re-ordered and deleted in the same fashion as when editing the list of project names, and notes can be added to a particular color.  And when finished with, the list can be emailed; it will send the color and note information, as well as a small representative color swatch.

Both apps are well laid out and have been thoroughly thought through for the strengths of each device.  Recommendation: buy it!