Sketchpad for drawing?

Help & Support
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Hi! I’m a newbie here and trying to find a suitable platform for a new collaborative working and gaming environment. It is for a sevice-design company that is currently at a planning and funding phase, so nothing concrete yet.

My base requirement would be to have a multiuser sketchpad for workgroups and then maybe build simple gamification elements on top. The system would have to be agile and simple to create and modify content. I find that retrieving data from external sources (json via http f.ex.) is possible, and quite realtime also?

But mainly, does it seem feasible to try and create a drawing pad in here? Anyone has any links or projects going on? I didn’t find any of yet…
Thanks!
LasseS.

2

Hi @lasses and welcome,

Creating a drawing pad in Playcanvas it’s definitely doable, I can see two ways in doing this:

  • either using a plain Canvas object to draw on top of it
  • or use shaders to paint directly in UV coordinates

Usually the first way is easier to implement (more resources online, e.g. stackoverflow), though the second way is more versatile.

Here is an example on how to draw on objects using shaders:

https://developer.playcanvas.com/en/tutorials/character-damage-demo/

And here is a helpful post on the forums, someone created something similar (paint on sphere):

Yes, Playcanvas is using plain Javascript running on the browser meaning that you can use any web technology to communciate (node.js, websockets etc.).

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It’s doable but not 100% if PlayCanvas the right technology. Sounds like you would like a Jamboard, Miro or similar like environment?

You could use a combination of several methods such as using PlayCanvas for gamification and something else for the Sketchpad and collaboration.

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Hmm, might think about taking up the challenge…

I have an idea of replacing the physical flip chart in the classroom etc. with a digital one. It could be done piece by piece. Could start with writing (via keyboard or by hand) post-it stickers on a common canvas so that different workgroups could see eachothers notes. Then the leader could show it all on a bigger screen and draw conclusions on them etc…

This platform could be a bit overkill, but it would be amazing to do something more complicated with the results. For example this was made within an hour of finishing a seminar, taking writings and talks from the seminar itself. Done with common office tools back then!:

It has taken me time to see through the obvious game-like elements and 3d stuff to see them as tools for more informational, educational things I am planning now.

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