The iPhone turns to be a great platform for experimentation. A mini-computer with advanced graphics capabilities and two great means of interaction with the world: a touch screen and an accelerometer...
The goal of this first series of experiments was to become familiar with the platform by porting the software toolkit – developed at chronotext.org over the years – to the iPhone while embracing the new sensorial + physical paradigm.
Browsing the news using intuitive touch gestures: single-finger pan to move around; two-finger pinch to zoom-in / zoom-out; double-tap and drag to rotate...
Courtesy of the chronotext software toolkit: 3D text rendering and 3D picking capabilities.
Reading text by making it slide over a terrain. Gravity is controlled by tilting the device and the terrain can be remolded by simply touching it.
Courtesy of the chronotext software toolkit: cubic curves, polished physics and fine 2D text rendering.
Update! This evolved into Text Dune, available for free on the AppStore.
Creating your own curves and composing some text to slide over... Here again, the motion of the text string is controlled via device tilting.
When information visualization meets metaphorical representation: starting from the top, your eye will follow the passage from the Bible where the Tower of Babel is mentioned and without paying attention, you will reach the bottom of the tower.
Now guess what happens when the device is shaked...
Update! This evolved into Babel Tower, available for free on the AppStore.
Warm up you fingers by controlling a worm, then proceed with text...