Tag Archives: free solution

Put your iPhone photos on a T-shirt… tell everyone… make money

There are many options to have products made with your iPhone photos, a few of those options have iPhone apps to do the creative work on. A new service and free app joining the mix is Snaptee.

As the name implies, the iPhone app is a tool you can use to create T-shirts with. The T-shirts can then be purchased as well offered for sale via the Snaptee Web site. T-shirts are priced at $19.99 + shipping. If a T-shirt is sold with your design on it, Snaptee pays you 10% of the sale (to your PayPal account when the amount owed to you reaches $100). You can also create/buy T-shirts that are private so others can not see or buy. If you set a T-shirt creation to ‘private’, the service does not offer the ability to change your mind later and offer for sale. The solution is to ‘remix’ your design onto another T-shirt. Speaking of ‘remixing’, this is an option that has to be allowed near the last step of creating your T-shirt. But doing this means anyone can take your design/photo and remix onto a T-shirt they offer to sell. So, your photo and T-shirt design is protected to you by Snaptee… unless you let others remix, in which case your photo is up for grabs.

snaptee

The Snaptee T-shirt design app lets you choose from a series of templates or free form your own design. You can add text, which can be colored via a picker. I noticed quite a few T-shirts on the site that where just lettering and no photos at all so there is no limitations on your creative there. Speaking of the site, if you want to make any money selling your T-shirts, you will need to do all of the promoting yourself. The Snaptee site is a single long list of T-shirts which means it is by chance that someone would happen upon your creation. Your best off creating, then promoting. Is this better than Zazzle or CafePress? Snaptee is a new addition to this group of long term professionals so while their list of offerings may be limited right now, they may be highly motivated to make this a winning solution.

Floor plans and dimensions of a room using just your iPhone and a free app!

I just knew this had to be possible. We used to do it with a quick sketch on an Newton screen and pacing off the floor. Why couldn’t we collect data with our smartphone camera and then use modern processors to crunch dimensions of the room we are in. Well, actually we can, with the help of the free app MagicPlan.

MagicPlan is free to use for non commercial use. Launching the app starts you off with a list of videos on how to use MagicPlan. You can’t get past the videos without watching at least the first ‘how to’. There are many in the list to get the maximum out of the app for any room or building layouts. Next, choose to view a previously created room map, start a new, set english or metric measurements or scale calibrate. The calibration step can happen right after taking a series of room photos later if you find the need without having to return to the start page.

Choose to start laying out the rooms of a house, MagicPlan tells you where in the world you are, complete with map and address. Take a picture of the location, great for when your touring houses to buy. MagicPlan handles multi story houses, just tap the big green ‘+’ button to get started.

OK, after watching the videos, I learned all I have to do it take a panorama photo of a room, telling MagicPlan where any corners are. As you can see below, the yellow corner graphic is the alignment tool. As you turn the iPhone, the yellow line aligns with a corner, the lower split even moves about by it’s self to match the angle of the corner. When the line is on the corner, tap the button on the right of the screen, then continue to the right to the next corner. For doorways, align with the corners of a doors and tap the button on the left of the screen. Serious… that is all you have to do!

From just snapping shots of corners, MagicPlan produced the below. I just had to pace it off to see how close it was… insane, spot on! All of the slight angles and cut backs matched up. I didn’t put in the doors in this text, but did do one inside of the house and the doors addition meant the finish result would be perfect for thinking about furniture placement without having to be in the room.

Move from room to room and capture all dimensions, stitching together for an overview of the floor. You can add items within each room like partial walls, room dividers and closets too. Imagine what buying a house will be like if you can get a full layout in just minutes. MagicPlan is actually amazingly accurate. We can image a lot of different businesses will be stepping up for the commercial version.