To begin with, it’s questionable whether there really has been a decline in sketching, given the conviction with which so many architects defend the importance of hand drawing. Even for the most technologically savvy architects, many simply don’t see an alternative to the humble pen and paper.
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As a user of digital creative applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator, I can completely understand the direction of this article. Despite the the improved interface of this software and others like it, there are often times when my idea (that I sketched out beforehand!) does not meet the "digital" translation. The importance of sketching is undeniable, as at this point in time it still is the easiest mode of conveying ideas, as the fluid nature of translating mental ideas to a physical 2-D model is best done with paper, as the interaction of paper and pencil has much more life in it than hand to screen. While tablets with writing devices are becoming more popular, it is hard to imagine or believe that paper will be one day be replaced by a screen. However, the Formlt 30 app is one way that digital sketching is in competition with paper--since phones are most likely the object that the majority of young adults has on hand or in pocket, this may be more convenient to pull out than paper. Yet, there needs to be much more technical development before one can truly say the end of hand sketching has come.
Really the one thing about this Form It product that sets it apart is that it offers tablet compatibility. This is the thing that really bridges the gap between pen and paper to digital sketching. Designers now have the ability to do their pen and paper sketches right into a transitioning program. This isn’t to say that they will however, most designers are so used to beginning their work in the physical world that it will be a hard habit to break. The real problem of this program is that it provided a level of accessibility that isn’t necessarily needed. Its fun yes, but the gap that is really needed to be bridges is the transfer of my hard copy in to the digital world. Something that will scan my work then translates that to 3D. This is step in the right direction, but not completely there. I think that this will good place for the company to assess the further improvement of this particular software.
This article caught my eye because I am currently in a school of Design class, Visual Notation and Journaling. This class is not just for improving technical drawing skills, but it also shows students how to describe their ideas in images that are relatable and understandable by other people. There is significant value in the ability to take out a napkin and communicate an idea in the moment to a client, a co-worker, a manager, etc… So as far as I can tell there is no program that can really do the same thing. As cool as the sketching programs are, I think it is starting to become an alternative for designers. Why spend years developing hand drawing skills when you can learn a program? I hope this is not the case because the visual appeal of a hand drawing, I think, is still unmatched. The organic nature of drawings is a beautiful touch.
As they say in the article sketching has never been exclusively pen and paper, but it is exclusively a quick rendering, and in the past the only way to do that is with pen and paper. With more advanced programs and program users it is easier to construct sketches on the computer. For those of us who are less than pencil inclined and cannot make sketches that usually represent our ideas, sketching on a computer is quite useful. I can make a more accurate representation of my ideas with google sketch-up or autocad than I can with pen and paper. However, if I am designing something I have to start with a pen and paper sketch for myself, to get my ideas on paper. I can draw stuff so I can understand it but if I want to present a sketch I usually have to do it on the computer. But with that said I do often never use pen and paper and go straight to google sketch up because that is where I feel more comfortable and a lot of other people are with me. So I do not think sketching is dead, I just think it is taking new forms.
Coming from a limited Cad background I find this article very interesting. Personally, I think that these new programs trying to ease the translation between mind and screen could only ever add enough step, never get rid of the steps. There is too much of a disconnect between the interface and the user to be able to relay the needed ideas as seamlessly and as effortlessly as one can with pencil and paper. I believe this is because the thought one uses when creating is a separate entity then the thought used to control a cad program, where as pencil and paper is so commonly used by us that getting something out of your head and onto paper is second nature to us. I do think that these programs will at the least give you an easy way to get from paper to screen first, before making your full cad creation, but at the end of the day it is another step, another program, So I don’t know how often it would be used.
A sketch has always been for me a way to spill my idea into the physical world and see what sticks. My sketches, for drawings, paintings, sculptures, whatever I happen to be working on, are always a combination of quick drawings, notes jotted down about additions to the concept or clarifications, bullet points about materials, etc. But they're never just a traditional "sketch."
Everyone's process of developing a design concept is different, a fact I have had a very up close encounter with since coming to CMU. The class will receive a project and within minutes many people in the class will have a fully fledged idea, whereas I need several hours, if not days, to come up with something worthwhile. At first I felt intimidated by this, but I've tried to accept that my design process is not worse because its slower, its just different.
And sketching is just an extension of that process, therefore it would make sense that different approaches would work for different people. While these digital programs work for some people, I bet that others, like me, will feel the need to stick to good, old pencil and paper (at least for the preliminary idea-vomiting.)
Although Revit is primarily a program used by architects I do like Autodesk's idea to create a new program that works alongside the technical drafting program Revit to allow designers more freedom to sketch out their ideas in a free flowing way, and then translate them seamlessly into more refined draftings. I think Formit 360 sounds like a great concept, but I don't know if it'll be as effective as Autodesk hopes at driving new customers away from programs like SketchUp that they are already familiar and acquainted with. Yes theirs the added benefit of being able to sketch out drawings anywhere from an iPad, but ultimately the success of Formit really depends on its versatility and range of tools to allow designers to explore new concepts and ideas without having to go too in depth with more complicated tools. If Formit 360 requires too similar a knowledge of technical tools as Revit does it won't serve as an adequate sketch pad for designers because they'll just question why they aren't just drafting the final product in Revit to start with. Don't get me wrong a sketch pad that generates the same geometry in a drafting program is a great idea, I just don't know if Formit will make big enough of an impact to drive users away from similar sketch/rendering applications.
There is something intrinsically valuable about the method of creating with pencil and paper. Even for something more complex that requires a more methodical approach (like drafting) I have always worked best with my hands. Using a computer interface, regardless of the touch-screen abilities or tablet style, has always created a disconnect between myself and the project. A computer can be a wonderful way to store and create information: all through high school, I used a tablet to take handwritten notes in classes: it allowed me to store years worth of notes in a single place without carrying around a stack of notebooks, and to take notes that I would actually remember, instead of typing them. But though this works well for a lecture, where information is spouted out at you, I don’t think it worked well for putting my own ideas down. For that, I always hunted for a paper and pencil. The simple fluidity of it, the easy changing, the emotional scribbling when something doesn’t look right, furious erasing and quick dashes of line- that is what sketching is.
The idea that the definition of what it means to sketch is changing has been inevitable since apple came out with the first tablet the Ipad. The fact that it has taken this long to be realized is the sad fact. Paper and pen just isn’t practical anymore. The whole idea behind the Formit 360 is really just to increase productivity if you examine it at is core because before the thought of taking the many hours to research and painstakingly sketch out your ideas by hand on paper and then have to again recreate the same drawing on the computer to work out structural and logistical issues takes a lot of time that essentially can be avoided by using this software that easily transfer the file to Revit. I’m glad to see the article give credit to the great stride Sketch up made to be the gateway in computer aided drawing of conceptual ideas. I wish article could have discussed the impact this program will have on the industry because it’s clear that while it does eliminate the time wasted on recreating the same drawing again it take away the opportunity to make last minutes decisions that have the potential to be better ideas than the original.
In my opinion the computer will never replace the art/process of the human hand. a drawing takes on a while new meaning and tone when you know it was done by hand. You know there is only one true copy, it took time and effort to make the forms and not mess up, and it makes a human connection to the work. For example that is why we continue to look at old cartoons drawn by hand in addition to the computer animation of today. Unfortunately there are many fields who have replaced artists with programmers but that does not mean it was the right decision. personally I switch between sketches and google sketchup to help me realize my vision. I always do a sketch first to capture what i have in my head. I have never been able to do that on the computer even with a stylus. I have much less of a connection to it than a hand drawn sketch in my notebook. A mentor of mine once told me that the process that makes you have to think of how to draw it out should not be used in developing your process. in other words if you have to think of steps in photoshop to do something then dont use photoshop for that until you can. Sketching in the digital age for me is still the first and most important step. all computer aids come after that.
So i was talking to a friend of mine recently and he's a Mechanical Engineer. He was working on homework and he was drawing different images in a sketchbook. I was curious, so i asked him if he was taking an art class. He said that this was a design and manufacturing class and that the professor was very interested in the idea of engineers learning how to draw and sketch their ideas. When he said this I was confused, I said that they have autocad, isn't that enough? He wasn't the best drawer and it made more sense about getting his point across if his renderings were accurate and easy to read. He said that's true but what the professor said was that when you show a client a autocad drawing, they see something that is finalized and even though it can be edited, there is a level of finality to the design that the client just senses. When you show a client a sketch, there is some freedom to it. It shows that this is what it could look like but it can easily be erased. That was what really sold the importance of sketching to me.
This is such an interesting topic for an article. Back in the olden days sketching was pretty much all the same. It consisted of a rough drawing on paper of a design for people to get the idea of what you were going for. Now that there are all kinds of technologies and software programs sketching has become something completely different. Some people go full out with their sketches to produce full on three dimensionally looking renderings. I think that this totally defeats the purpose of doing a sketch. This is because a sketch is something that is both rough and quick. And to me, a full on three dimensional rendering done in a professional software is not a sketch. This because to create something like this it takes a tremendous amount of both time and energy. As comparison, to me this is like doing a full drafting package instead of doing a simple sketch in your sketch book
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