A Martha Stewart Living Invitation to create with Sprout by HP (part 2)

A week ago I posted about the Sprout by HP event I was invited to by the team at Martha Stewart Living and today I want to tell you all about on my once-in-a-lifetime invitation by Martha Stewart Living to create my own project using the new Sprout by HP!

Martha Stewart Living invited three bloggers to design with this new technology. We would be part of just a few lucky people who would have this opportunity to try out Sprout by HP. How exciting!! It was tough to keep it a secret, but I managed! 

I was assigned holiday wrapping paper and a holiday gift tag using my needle felted animals. I chose my fawn and moose.

I was a bit nervous, especially since this was a new program AND (that’s a big AND) I’ve worked on a PC maybe once in my life…so this would be my second. Let’s hope it goes well.

The design is built around a concept HP is calling “blended reality” that blends the 3D physical world with our 2D digital one.

I got a simple tutorial and I was on my way. Well, it turns out Sprout by HP is super intuitive. Whew!

The HP Sprout has a giant touch mat which is the primary point of interaction and a downward facing projector/camera that scans objects and then lets the user manipulate them in 2D or 3D.

I decided to create a pattern. I was allowed into the Crafts storage area (WOW! I could die happy in there) and it was super overwhelming in a fantastic way, but my time was limited, so I chose a few simple items to help me with my project… some ribbon, bows and gift tags. I placed them on the touch mat and pressed the camera button. I then placed my animals on their sides and took their image as well. 

Viola, in a split second, there were my items on the screen in their full 3D glory. 

This technology also allows the user to remove the background art of your image by outlining the areas you want and don’t want, but I decided to use my images against a white background so there was no need for retouching. I saved all to a folder.

The HP Sprout is so hands-on. 

I located my images from the folder and dragged them from the screen to the touch mat.  

With a tap and a pinch, and a few clicks I was able to rotate, resize and duplicate my images.  

For instance, the ribbon wasn’t long enough, so I just duplicated it a few times to create the length I needed. You can also crop out whatever you don’t like or need. I was also able to flip images like I did with the deer.

 

I created 3 different wrapping paper patterns and 3 holiday tags

I added a message by selecting the type tool. Here I got the chance to choose a font, color and size. I also chose to hand-write part of message right on the touch mat…and no keyboard or mouse was used. I used the tip of my finger directly on the touch mat to create blue dots for “snow.” All these elements can then be grouped and duplicated to create my pattern…which made it much easier to move around.

I wanted to stay longer and play all day, but my time was limited and there were other bloggers waiting.

I can't wait to hand out my custom-wrapped gifts this Christmas!

Sprout means to spring up, to grow, to develop…so, I look forward to HP developing more and more programs for us creative types! 

 To find more information and happenings about Sprout follow the hashtag: #sproutbyhp

Also, check out what the other bloggers created: inmyownstyle and fatveganbaby