In June, we launched Shaper Trace on Kickstarter! Trace is Shaper’s accessibly priced tool for going from sketch to vector in seconds: Make a drawing, take a picture, and BOOM – you’ve got a cut-ready vector file. With over $1 Million in pledges on the Kickstarter, its fair to say that people are excited about what Trace will allow them to create.
In the time since launching the first generation of Shaper Origin, we’ve introduced a number of tools to make it easier for our customers to solve the “first step” of cutting a project in the shop: making the actual design. ShaperHub makes it easy to download preexisting projects that work great on Origin. Our premium projects that a step further with extremely detailed guidance. With Shaper Studio, our CAD software for craftspeople, making designs for Origin or other digital fabrication tools is a breeze. But for many craftspeople, they are most comfortable working with their hands – that’s why we made Trace. Trace adds digital enablement and precision to hand-drawn designs. We’ve leveraged the robust computer vision pipeline that my team has built for Origin, and paired it with a unique “trace frame” bordered by fiducial markers. Using the Shaper Trace webapp, you make your drawing, snap a pic, and it is instantly vectorized, while retaining perfectly accurate scaling. Trace works great with Origin, but is also great for making designs that you can use with a vinyl cutter, laser cutter, traditional CNC machine, embroidery machines, and more. You can buy trace now on our website. Check out this video showing some of the things you can do: