This patented Apple Pencil can swatch colours and textures

Apple has filed a patent for an Apple Pencil stylus that may establish and digitally replicate colours and textures from real-world objects. Patently Apple spotted the application final week (which we noticed via MacRumors), which describes a stylus geared up with a colour sensor, gentle detector, and light-weight emitter inside its “pencil” tip. According to the patent doc, the stylus can wirelessly transmit “color sensor measurements, texture measurements, and associated angular orientation measurements” to exterior units like an Apple iPad. 

The patent says that the stylus is able to measuring texture by detecting how lighting and angles have an effect on an object’s floor. Similarly, a mixture of optical sensors can be utilized to measure how reflective an object is and supply extra correct colour info.

The idea of a stylus or pen that may pattern colours from the true world isn’t new. The Scribble pen was launched in 2014 and is ready to scan and reproduce colours each in actual ink and as digital swatches, whereas sensors from manufacturers like Nix and Palette Pico are used to match real-world shades with digital colour programs like sRGB, CMYK, and HEX codes. These sensors can be utilized to duplicate long-forgotten paint formulations and for different sensible purposes.

As with all patents and patent purposes, there’s no assure this idea will change into an actual Apple product, however I’m conserving my fingers crossed regardless — not simply due to the chances of colour sampling with an Apple Pencil however as a result of a stylus that may precisely reproduce textures would make my 3D sculpting pastime an entire lot simpler. Physical textures might be tedious to design from scratch, and there aren’t all the time appropriate choices available in purposes like Unity or ZBrush. For content material creators who create digital belongings for video video games or fashions for 3D printing, with the ability to shortly and simply copy real-world textures on an iPad may very well be a game-changer.

A souped-up Apple Pencil would additionally make sense given the iPad’s rising recognition with digital artists and graphic designers. Applications like Procreate and Clip Studio Paint have been warmly acquired on iPadOS, and units like the usual iPad and iPad Air are comparatively inexpensive in comparison with the price of drawing tablets from manufacturers like Wacom or Huion (particularly when you additionally issue within the laptop computer or desktop pc wanted to run them). The iPad Pro, in the meantime, is able to working illustration software program near, if not on par with, many equal desktop graphic design apps. And when mixed with the Apple Pencil, the iPad is extremely light-weight and transportable in comparison with pill workstations.

The iPad hasn’t made as a lot of a splash with 3D artists because it has with illustrators and graphic designers because of the compute calls for of 3D software program. But enhancements are being made thick and quick with every iPad technology. I exploit iPadOS apps like Forger and Nomad simply as a lot as I exploit Blender on my desktop PC nowadays, for instance, each of which run completely on my 2019 iPad Pro. As demand for 3D belongings will increase (because of the creating metaverse, 3D printers, and video video games) iPads and Apple Pencils may quickly change into a extra sensible software for digital sculpting professionals and college students alike.

It’s price remembering, after all, that Apple information a lot of patents annually, a lot of which by no means change into precise merchandise. In reality, Apple beforehand filed patents for a texture-detecting stylus in 2015 and a color-swatching Apple Pencil in 2020 — neither of which have been realized but. Still, given the current-gen Apple Pencil 2 was launched again in 2018, it actually appears as if the system is due an replace. If Apple does find yourself releasing a mixed color- / texture-detecting Apple Pencil, I’ll be the primary in line to buy it.