As many of you now know, I work as the visual director at iPhone GUI design studio, RFlyGD. Being involved in the design industry has it’s ups and downs just like any other business sector.

The most important aspect for me is being able to create professional content, even when on the move, all the time, every time. You can probably imagine the excitement that hit me when I came across an iPhone application which was capable of both multi-layering and file export to .PSD (Photoshop document) ..

Update [07.08.09 @12.06AM]

On Wednesday, Gotow Creative Studios pushed an 1.1 update to Layers. The update added the option to rotate individual layers at 90 degree increments, as well as the following:

- Adding a photo from iPhone’s camera roll no longer result sin the image being distorted.
- The eyedropper tool appears more quickly which taping and holding on your canvas
- The tool bars appear after a short period of inactivity
- The round and square brushes now have sharper edging
- New layers added to a drawing are selected automatically

All welcomed changes.

Update [05.08.09 @ 20.09PM]

I forgot to mention that Layers for iPhone also supports the compilation and e-mailing of .PSD documents straight from the iPhone application itself. To do this, while on your drawing canvas hit the top right hand button, and hit ‘Email PSD with Layers’. The app will compile a new Mail.app e-mail, with your layered .PSD file attached, to send to whoever you please!

Original Article

Cue, Layers. Designed by Gotow Creative Studios, Layers is a drawing app for both iPhone and iPhone touch. Similar to Steve Sprang’s highly popular Brushes [App Store], Layers for iPhone allows the user to create endless numbers of paintings and drawings, by just using your fingers. For the purpose of this review, I created a very quick sketch of a sunny day (and yes, it is very quick).

Using Layers

Opening the app you’ll be presented with your current gallery of half-finished and finished drawings. Along the top you’ll find options to ‘Edit’ this gallery, removing drawings which are no longer needed, and an addition button, for adding a blank canvas for that world-known piece of iPhone art you were just about to start on.

Opening a new canvas, Layers provides what you would probably expect, and a little extra. Along the bottom toolbar you have your tools, and along the top you’ll find your various export options, under the ‘Export Drawing’ menu which you’ll find by tapping that top right button. So lets take a closer look at what all these buttons do. Starting on our bottom tool panel, and running from right to left, the first functions you’ll run into are your colour and brush options.

Colour and Brush Options

Just like Brushes for iPhone, Layers offers a number of different shaped (and textured) brushes (8 in total), and the ability to choose the thickness of your chosen brush set. On screen you’ll find a live preview of what you brush stroke will look like once you paint with it.

On the same screen you’ll notice a ‘Color’ tab (top right). Tap this and you’ll be thrown into Layers colour options. From here you can choose any colour from an RGB colour set, the density of that colour, and the opacity. Finally, bottom right you’ll find your eraser. Simply tap it to active it, and tap it again to return to colour mode.

So that’s Layers brush and colour options covered.

Colour Picker

The third tab in from the right is your colour picker (or eye dropper) tool. Just like in Photoshop, this tool allows for you to pick out a certain colour in your drawing, and replicate it somewhere else. Simply tap it to active, and scan your painting for the colour you wish to use next. Once select this option you’ll also notice the the app gives you two more options. Select colours from the current selected layer only, or allow you to select colours from all the layers in your drawing.

Undo and Redo

The next two options are pretty self explanatory. You guessed it,
redo that last move, or undo it with a tap.

Activating Layers

The last icon on the bottom tool panel is where Layers comes into it’s own. If you’ve ever used Loren Bitcher’s Scribbles, you’ve used this exact functionality before. Tapping the ‘Layers’ button brings up an animated 3 Dimensional view of your drawing, in layers. Tap to select a layer, drag a layer to reorder it or double tap on a specific layer, to start drawing on it.

Once inside the layers view, you’ll have a few further options than just ‘adding a layer’. Tapping the plus button will give you three options, including; Transparent Layer, Layer with Current Color and Layer with Picture – which in turn will allow you to add one of your own photos from your iPhone’s camera roll, to your drawing.

Layers for iPhone currently supports a maximum of 5 layers, per individual drawing, which at first sounded low, but once I had chance to play with the app some more, I found I really didn’t need any more. The amount of content you can fit onto these layers (bearing in mind you can zoom into your drawing with a magnification level of up to 1000%), is pretty cool.

Okay. How do I export to .PSD?

In order to export your Layers drawing to .PSD or .JPG format, you’ll need to grab a copy of the app’s free counterpart. ‘Layers Replay Viewer’ for Mac OSX 10.5 (or later). Available here.

To export to .PSD simply connect your Mac and iPhone to the same Wifi network, and launch both Layers for iPhone and Layers Replay Viewer for Mac. Once both apps are running, simply hit the ‘Sync’ button on Layers for iPhone (bottom left in ‘Gallery’ view).

Layers Replay Viewer will find your device, recognise it, and start syncing all your latest drawings over. Once complete, simply select the drawing you want to export to .PSD, and hit the ‘PSD’ button (bottom right). You’ll then have options to save the drawing in it’s original size, or at: 1024 x 1024, 2048 x 2048 or even 4096 x 4096!

[Update] – I forgot to mention that Layers for iPhone also supports the compilation and e-mailing of .PSD documents straight from the iPhone application itself. To do this, while on your drawing canvas hit the top right hand button, and hit ‘Email PSD with Layers’. The app will compile a new Mail.app e-mail, with your layered .PSD file attached, to send to whoever you please!

Overall

Can you smell the polish? I can. In my personal opinion, this app is the pinnacle of UI design when it comes to layered drawing on the iPhone. The whole user interface is a pleasure to use, fluid, and where animation is present in Layers, it is so smooth.

Although it’s far from having Photoshop in your pocket, and it’s a little on the pricey side, it’s a fun application with a great user experience to boot. One which uses the Mac and iPhone ecosystem well, to enable you to produce high quality iPhone art – on the move.

Current Status: Highly Recommended

Reviewed at: v1.1
Reviewed on Firmware: 3.1 Beta 3 (iPhone 3GS)
Download size: 1.9MB
Released on: 20th Jul 2009
Retails for: £2.99 / $4.99
Compatible with: iPod touch Gen 1 & 2 / iPhone Classic / iPhone 3G / iPhone 3GS