Instaviz ($9.99)
Version – 1.4
REVIEW – “The ultimate app way to diagram anything!”
Pixelglow Software has come out with a truly revolutionary app in Instaviz. This app allows you to design a flowchart pretty much freehand by drawing the shapes and direction of flow with your fingers. If you find yourself working with any kind of diagramming or flowcharts on a regular basis, or even just occasionally this could be a must have app for you.
When you open this app for the first time, there are two diagrams that have already been created. These two graphs tell you how all of the advanced features of this app work, but trust me, it won’t be long before the processes are second nature.
Once you start drawing your first graph you will find that everything is done by either drawing, double tapping, shaking or dragging. All of the items are rendered extremely fast. If you make a mistake, deleting an item is as simple as selecting it and shaking your device.
I was able to create a simple flowchart in just a couple of minutes and then use the simple interface to email it to myself. You can access options for your flowchart by going into “Edit” mode and then double tapping anywhere that doesn’t have part of your flowchart there. This allows you to name your flowchart, change the direction or type of flowchart you are creating and even export it.
There are lots of options for exporting your charts. You can save it as a photo on your device, email it to any email address, or upload it directly to a variety of different server types. All of these options for exporting are accessed from the same double tap menu you use to change the name of your chart, or how it flows.
Learning this app is surprisingly easy. Even so, this app is very powerful, and offers more features than any other app I have seen of its type. $9.99 may sound like a lot to spend on an app, but I’m sure that anyone that works with flowcharts regularly will tell you that an app that is this powerful, and fits in the palm of your hand is worth far more than a couple of fast food meals. I would highly recommend this app to business professionals everywhere!
- David H.
Download Now!
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Developer – Pixelglow Software
URL:
http://instaviz.com/
DEVELOPERS NOTES:
“Instaviz is one of the best mindmapping apps that I’ve come across. It’s dead simple to use and works quite well.” – 8/10 Editor’s Pick, AppCraver
“the developers put their energy into making a powerful one. What is under to hood is pretty impressive.” – 3 ½ stars What’s on iPhone.
“I often wish for a tool that would let me sketch charts on my iPhone. Instaviz is exactly what the doctor ordered.” – TUAW, The Unofficial Apple Blog.
“It does offer a pretty robust set of tools, and it’s all integrated fairly well into the iPhone, with great support for multi-touch.” – 4 Stars 148 Apps.
“On the iPhone my mindmapping app of choice is Instaviz. It is a powerful, yet easy to use app that can’t help but impress.” – Gear Diary.
INSTAVIZ is a diagram sketching for your iPhone.
When you were young, the grown-ups used to catch you doodling little circles and lines on the back of your exercise books or paper napkins, instead of paying attention to what they said. They didn’t relize that you need to sketch things out, how they relate to other things, in order to get them into your head and other people’s heads.
Much later, you learnt the grown-up names for the sketch – mindmap, concept map, semantic network, org chart, flowchart, social network, workflow diagram, genomic hierarchy, E-R diagram…
- Tap on the Edit button and sketch out a rough shape. Instaviz magically transforms it into a neat ellipse, circle, rectangle, square, diamond or triangle.
- Tap on the Edit button a sketch a link between two shapes. Instaviz quickly redraws the diagram with the most pleasing layout.
- Scroll the diagram by dragging with one finger. Zoom in and out by pinching with two fingers.
- To edit the label, color or style of a shape or link, tap on the Edit button, then double-tap on the shape or link.
- To change the shape, tap on the Edit button, then sketch the new shape over the old one.
- To delete a shape or link, tap on the Edit button, then tap on shape or link and shake the iPhone.
- To export the diagram, tap on the Edit button, double-tap on the diagram background then choose Export Graph. You can export the diagram to box.net, iDisk (MobileMe) or any WebDAV server, in Graphviz DOT/GV, PDF, PNG and Visio VDX formats. You can also Preview the diagram to the Camera Roll or Saved Photos, or Email the diagram with attachments.
- To import a new diagram, tap on the Import button at the main graphs list. You can import the diagram from box.net, iDisk (MobileMe) or any website, in the Graphviz DOT/GV format.
Instaviz is a whiteboard in your pocket. Throw away the exercise books and paper napkins, Instaviz will figure out the diagram for you. Brainstorm and conceptualize like you use pencil and paper, without a pesky interface getting in your way. Then with a couple of taps, share your diagrams with friends and colleagues through email and websites.
WATCH a video of Instaviz in action:
PRINT and EXPORT Instaviz diagrams with the FREE Mac and Windows application Instavue:
- Instaviz uses Recog, a new shape recognition engine. Trained on over 2,500 sketches drawn by real users, Recog uses advanced fuzzy logic to recognize what you just sketched in a split second.
- Instaviz uses Graphviz as its automated graph layout engine. The industry standard for automated graph layout, Graphviz represents over 18 years of research work at AT&T and won two Apple Design Awards in 2004.
These apps and websites now support opening their diagrams in Instaviz:
Noscos myDBR – http://mydbr.nocsos.com
Ideatree.us – http://ideatree.us
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