Morpholio has announced new updates and features for its mobile app Trace, which will be implemented with Apple’s just-announced iOS 17. With iOS 17 comes upgrades to Apple’s RoomPlan API, including improved lidar scanning, which allows for multiroom composite scans that create 3D floor plan models for buildings. The system can now also recognize more complex geometry, like sloped beams and ceilings.
Morpholio, a New York–based developer of design software, has been working with Apple technology for more than a decade, developing new digital sketching, drawing, and designing tools. Its Trace app allows users to create designs to scale, access live 3D RoomPlan models, and create infinite views to mark up and sketch over. Trace can also display accurate lighting angles and shadows: Its ShadowMaker tool allows users to set exact solar positions based on their project location and alter designs based on available light.
Part of Trace’s appeal is the streamlined user experience for creative professionals. According to Morpholio’s Sept. 12 press release, co-founder Anna Kenoff envisions Trace users at a job site scanning the space with their iPhones or iPads with lidar and iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 (available on iPhone 12 or later and iPad Pro 4th Gen or later) and generating design options, dimensions plans, diagrams, and sketches with a digital model within seconds. Trace automatically sets scale and elevation for plans.
In that same release, Morpholio co-founder Toru Hasegawa said, “Putting design first, Trace has always championed hand drawing paired with digital tools like RoomPlan that allow creators to interact with the world they are shaping in efficient and intuitive ways.”
Once a designer is satisfied with their sketch in Trace and is ready for next steps, they can export files as a PDF, JPG, or PSD. A future update will allow users to export RoomPlan-generated models as 3D files and drawings as vector files, Kenoff tells Architectural SSL.
Morpholio Trace is free to download from the Apple App Store but requires paid subscription tiers to unlock more features. With the free version, users can work on up to five projects and access features like basic pens and brushes, layers, instant scale, and a color palette maker. Upgrading to the plus subscription ($9.99 per year) offers access to 20 projects, magic lasso, stencils, and PDF markup tools. An upgrade to the pro subscription ($19.99 per year) releases unlimited projects, perspective tools, smart fill, AR Perspective finder, and AR SketchWalk.
