Interview with PicSay Creator Eric Wijngaard
by Android Tapp
Dec 11, 2008 11:34 AM –
Looking to spice up the photos on your G1 or Android powered phone, give PicSay a try. You can do all sorts of cool or goofy stuff for manipulating pics on your phone. We interviewed the Google Android Developer Challenge winner and creator of PicSay, Eric Wijngaard… here’s the interview:
AndroidTapp:Can you tell us a little bit about yourself/company?
Eric: My name is Eric Wijngaard and I am co-founder of Shinycore Software, a company that develops plug-ins for Photoshop and Illustrator. With mobile phones becoming more powerful I thought it would be interesting to see what was possible. Then Google released the Android platform and announced the Android Developer Challenge, it was the perfect opportunity.
AndroidTapp:Why did you create PicSay?
Eric: PicSay was born out of all the bits I created while exploring the graphical capabilities of the Android Software Developer Kit. Almost every aspect of what you can do with a picture is covered in PicSay. You can add word balloons, titles, and other graphics, you can distort people’s faces, you can color correct images, you can mark things by painting with your finger, and more all in a single application.
AndroidTapp:What is a cool uncovered tip or trick you can do with the App?
Eric: When working with word balloons, titles, and props in the PicSay editor I encourage users to use all the gestures like tapping, double-tapping, dragging, and touch and hold. Also, most screens have additional options in the menu, for example, when you press Menu in the Word Balloon editor screen you can change the font and the font size. And a tip for those who want black & white images, simply use the Saturation Effect and drag the slider all the way to the left.
AndroidTapp: Can you tell us about future feature enhancements with PicSay?
Eric: We are working on a premium edition of PicSay which will have more effects and options, and it will also support higher image resolutions.
AndroidTapp: What did you really like about creating Apps on the Android platform?
Eric: I like how the Android platform provides an easy way to share data between applications. For example, if you also have the MySpace app you can upload your picture straight from PicSay to your MySpace account, all thanks to Android’s intent system.
AndroidTapp: What are some things you would like to see improved with Android?
Eric: I would love to have some sort of possibility to do native code execution so I can edit a lot of pixels really fast. This will allow me to add all sorts of new effects that are currently not possible.
AndroidTapp:Must-have Android Apps?
Eric: PicSay is of course the must-have app if you want to spice up the images on your phone 
I also like apps that you would never have on your desktop computer like the barcode scanners and Shazam.
AndroidTapp:What advice would you give to another aspiring mobile application developer?
Eric: Focus on the part that interests you most first. It is quite easy to get lost in all the possibilities of the Android platform.
Thank you Eric for that interview, keep up the great work! Read our full Review of PicSay of Android.