ART 019 : A Time-Based Sketchbook Interface

Sketching has been regarded as a primary means of externalization for creative processes in the early stages of design. Existing sketchbook interfaces have primarily used two notions in their interaction design: layer-based or page-based. This paper presents a third approach, which focuses on the temporal aspect of drawing. We have developed ART019, a sketchbook interface based on a time-based representation for hand-drawn strokes, where free-hand drawing is recorded as a sequence of timestamped strokes. While drawing in ART019, a user takes a snapshot of the drawing area, draws anew, or draws on top of one of the previously taken snapshots and takes another snapshot. ART019 records all the strokes with time-stamp information, including the duration and the speed of drawing. Each stroke has either an active or inactive state, where only active strokes are visible in the drawing area. A set of active strokes is stored as a snapshot. ART019 provides a timeline-based representation and a list of all the strokes to help a user make strokes active or inactive. By using these mechanisms in ART019, a user may re-experience, select, or compare different stages of sketching.