Skip to main content

Morpholio Trace sketch CAD app lets you automatically calculate and label area size with iOS

Morpholio Trace, a popular and highly rated sketch CAD app is receiving an update today with a major new feature, Smart Fill.

Morpholio Trace is geared to be useful for a wide range of users. From architects to designers, interior designers to illustrators, or just those looking to get started. The app allows users to design, draw, markup and more.

Now, a new Smart Fill feature is coming to Morpholio Trace “that not only calculates the area of the fill, it actually changes as the sketch evolves.”

Here’s how Morpholio describes what you can do with the new feature:

“Slice a room in half and watch it reduce or, erase a wall and watch it expand.” Whether it’s a simple DIY home renovation or a professional project, Smart Fill lets you sketch in real time while it calculates the actual area of any space and then…fills it for you, providing vibrant colors, text labels and precise data.

The developer has also shared seven use cases where it thinks Smart Fill can improve your work:

  • Home Design, Renovations or Additions
  • Diagraming of All Types
  • Site Plans & Master Planning
  • Concepts and Design
  • Budgets and Material
  • Construction Sites or On the Go
  • Pure Beauty and Graphics

Here’s a look at the new feature in action:

Morpholio Trace is a free download from the App Store. The new Smart Fill feature is available now with the Trace Pro upgrade available for $7.99/month or $19.99/year plans.

For more details, check out the full press release below:

Calculating the area of a design is already difficult, but doing it live, in an active sketch, without a single straight line, in seconds? Now that’s nearly impossible!! Nonetheless, that has not stopped the Morpholio Trace team from making it happen.

Today, the minds at Morpholio launch “Smart Fill” for the already popular TracePro on iPad and iPhone. “The new feature is a fill tool that not only calculates the area of the fill, it actually changes as the sketch evolves,” says Anna Kenoff, Morpholio Co-Founder. “Slice a room in half and watch it reduce or, erase a wall and watch it expand.” Whether it’s a simple DIY home renovation or a professional project, Smart Fill lets you sketch in real time while it calculates the actual area of any space and then…fills it for you, providing vibrant colors, text labels and precise data.

“Architects move between technical drawing and illustration allthe time. This is our art–conceptualizing an idea, and then realizing it in the real world. We need tools that allow our thinking to move between concept and reality without hindrance. Reinforcing the creative process by providing a bit of intelligence to the fluidity of sketching has always been the goal of Trace,” explains Toru Hasegawa, Morpholio Co-Founder.

How does it work?
To use “Smart Fill” simply start sketching–from scratch or over any drawing or background image. Set the scale and move the target to the area you want filled. You will receive an area calc for that space which will evolve as you shape the space with further sketching.

Want more than one area? Press the Smart Fill “+” to add additional regions and keep a running tab of all areas. The “Areas Chart” will appear and can be copied or dragged directly to Excel, Sheets, Notes or any other format. “It’s a peek into the future of augmented drawing. We’re floating a dynamic overlay on top of your world, which can respond intelligently to what you are drawing, offering supportive info and advice. Today we’re adding an areas layer with Smart Fill, but in the future, there could be a swarm of these intelligent layers,” says Mark Collins, Co-Founder.

Feedback is the language of architects as they massage ideas into their place in the real world. With Smart Fill anyone can generate fast studies that are informed by imagination and a free flow of ideas as well as the input of constraints. If you ask any designer, this combination is where the magic happens.

Drawing Matters.
Morpholio engaged top minds from some of the world’s most influential architecture firms to discuss their design process and how drawing is instrumental in developing and shaping world changing ideas and designs. See the video here [below]:

Here are 7 ways Smart Fill will change the way you work:

01: Home Design, Renovations or Additions:
For homeowners and contractors: Calculate floorplans, home projects, additions, garden designs or simply wall areas so you know how much paint to buy.

02: Diagraming of All Types:
Need to create a program diagram, illustrate vision vs. spandrel glass for elevations or energy calcs, or show green area or site coverage for site plans? The possibilities are endless AND you can bring intelligence to an earlier phase of the project by starting with a smarter sketch.

03. Site Plans & Master Planning:
For large scale city or site visions calculate building areas, roads, parks and more. Pair areas with the “Maps” tool which will bring in a scaled map of any site in the world. Simply type in an address and throw down your ruler. You are ready to begin.

04. Concepts and Design:
For plans calculate room sizes, massage program in real time, and generate fast area calcs that can be exported to Excel, Sheets or Notes. Create versions quickly and keep track along the way.

05. Budgets and Material:
Designing to a material budget? Want to impress a client or team on the spot? Imagine now being able to say with confidence that a scheme has 2000 sq. ft. of stone and 1500 sq. ft. of glass as you sketch and collaborate.

06. Construction Sites or On the Go:
Also available for iPhone, Trace is at your fingertips wherever you are. Quickly calculate areas on site and live check the work of your team or consultants to keep the conversation moving.

07. Pure Beauty and Graphics:
Make it fast and beautiful. Smart Fill can also fill any region instantly with a beautiful palette of colors. Sketch a perspective and shade the glass blue, fill a landscape sketch with lush green, or add a pop of color for emphasis. The graphic pop of sketching with Trace’s eight unique pens and Smart Fill is unique and makes a statement.

Work Better.
“The only reason we draw is to communicate ideas. Anything that gets in the way of this communication weakens the whole process. Direct, clear line hand drawings remain the best way to communicate visually and Morpholio Trace is the best app out there for architects to get across their ideas fast and beautifully.” – Architect and Illustrator, Jim Keen

Historically, architects, or even a homeowner, would sketch a design and not to long after, discover just how far off it was. The opposite was equally as troubling as architects could start in a CAD software so that the dimensions were right, but realize that they had completely abandoned the creative process. Smart Fill, together with the suite of unique Trace tools, finally changes this in a way that puts creativity first, amplifies thinking through drawing and executes one of technology’s foundational promises…to make our lives easier.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.