DIGITAL UP MAGAZINE LIGHT BEHIND-THE-SCENES TECHNOLOGY The Air Pencil taps into a smartphone’s native micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) — namely the three-axis magnetometer, threeaxis accelerometer and three-axis gyroscope. It then calls on sophisticated algorithms to reliably calculate the precise movements of the user based on sensor data. You can use such an application in education, art, and collaboration. For example, you might use Air Pencil in a physics class to teach students about flight dynamics, or how objects move through space. As a collaboration tool, several users can draw independently with different colours and then combine those images on screen. The images you create can be shown on any size screen. As Calder said, “Above all be happy.” And the end result of exploring Air Pencil should be your smile! Want to share your work? You can easily send a recorded 3D space file to anyone as a link in a text message or put it on social media. What if you shared 3D sketches through messaging applications like Facebook Messenger or WeChat? What if you could draw something and have it 3D printed? What if you could put on an Oculus Rift headset, grab your smartphone, and watch yourself draw in 3D space? They are all possibilities, Forsblom says, but it’s unclear what he plans to eventually build, and what he would prefer the development community to build. In the meantime, head to this link, and maybe you can try your own hand at being Picasso. DigitalUP [ 91 ]