iModelKit v.13.0 for the iPhone/iPad
By Stephen Tontoni
By now, iPhone and iPad users have had access to a dizzying (and growing) number of applications. They range from basic utilities, touch versions of common applications, games and goofiness. I seem to remember seeing a fart application some time or other in my travels, while Zombie Booth is always good to crack people up. My favorites have been Pandora and IMDB. Games? Words With Friends, although Cut the Rope is very amusing.
Now, however, there’s an app that fills scale modelers’ needs that’s nowhere else on the web as far as I know, and it’s mobile. Both the paid and free versions of iModelKit are powerful. While the free version has all the features (less the ads, I guess) of the paid version, I really want to support the developer so that he'll do more.
Color Charts
Wait wait wait Stephen! What good is a color chip on an iPhone? That can’t be accurate and you can’t trust it. Well, yes you can, and here’s how:
Paint Mixer
Paint Mixer is so cool! When you click into the Mixer, if activates your camera and it interprets the color it sees into RGB. You’ll see that those numbers in the lower left of the screen as you’re pointing it at your subject. You can also control the size of the pipper; the smallest size (the default) allows you to grab the color of a smaller subject, while it can get a good average of the subject by making a larger pipper with a slider tab. Kinda cool, but RGB? What good are RGB numbers to a modeler?
Aha here’s the first thing that I think is killer. This sequence of screenshots illustrates the progression; you capture the color, you import that color to the paint mixer, then you match the color and get your paint mixing formula. Here's how: in the first screen shot, click the check mark on the upper right and that will freeze the color it’s pointing at, and export that to the mixer. The second screen shot shows that color chip in your paint mixer on the left side. Next, you will choose colors from your palette of modeling paint colors and “mix” them in. When you have a good match, you will know how many parts of each to get the color you took that picture of. You can also save all these colors on your iPhone and those can be messaged or emailed.
This is how you employ those color charts! The blue I took was from my coffee cup (yes, I have pin-up art on my coffee cup) and I matched is hastily for example.
Scale Computer
The paint mixer alone is a great little modeling app. But are you also a scratchbuilder? Do you write reviews for any exciting modeling websites? Do you need to compare dimensions of a new kit to the prototype? Do you have modeling references in meters, feet, inches and want the equivalent dimensions in 1/72 or 1/35 scale? How about taking 1/33 drawings and computing them to 1/76? Can do.
This part of the iModelKit is very intuitive. It already has common scales in its default window, but you can enter whatever you like. In the example I have in the screen shot, I entered length=32, scale= 1:1, unit=meters. My target is 1:72 and inches. It immediately shows the answer in the right hand window, showing that 32 meters in 1:1 scale equates to 17.498 inches in 1/72 scale. It’s so flexible.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ve just scratched the surface here and you’ll probably find more than me. I just hacked my way through there, figuring it out on the fly, but when you click on the "i", it gives you some information as well as directions. You know how many times I’d been told RTFM?
iModelKit is a fantastic little iPhone/iPad app that any modeler could find useful. It’s portable and fast. I hope that you give this a try and I also hope that you’ll choose the full version and pay for it. I think the paid version is $6.99 or something, and it’s well worth it. I just want to support this developer and hope he continues to create great stuff. There’s an About Us section that solicits modelers’ input on improvements and ideas.