Optical Apps

[LensGrinder76]

Hello all!! I was wondering what some of your favorite optical apps are. I'm looking at helping an apprentice with formulas. Thx

[LensGrinder76]

Almost 100 views and no suggestions. Hmmmm....very interesting.

[MikeAurelius]

Right on this website: http://www.opticampus.com/tools/calculators.php

[Tallboy]

Right on this website: http://www.opticampus.com/tools/calculators.php

It would be cool if someone that knew how would create a MeisterApp Calculator, maybe a buck a download, all proceeds go to the family.

Someone better than me should do that. I use that site almost daily.

[HarryChiling]

It would be cool if someone that knew how would create a MeisterApp Calculator, maybe a buck a download, all proceeds go to the family.

Someone better than me should do that. I use that site almost daily.

Would you pay for it?

[Tallboy]

$1? Sure. Maybe more than that if it created 3d renderings.

[Chad Sobodash]

Would you pay for it?

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find people here who wouldn't, so long as it were available for both Android and iPhone. I would pay $5, easy (for just simple calculations). I'd pay $30 for the kind of features you get in his Spectacle Optics program.

[mervinek]

Would you pay for it?

$1-$5 sure. No problem. I agree. Someone better than me should create this.

[HarryChiling]

Here is an example of a recent app that I finished, I have a whole bunch of them and many of the same calculators that Darryl also has available on his site. I explained this to an individual earlier this week, but I will try in the open. The number of opticians willing to pay for the development and deployment of apps is small, just by nature it's a small subset of a market. So if only a few want it, the development costs for a customized app would not make sense for "ME", personally.

iPhone requires a $100+ a year to develop on their system and I would also have to own a Mac which I don't want, I could always borrow my sisters but I am not that interested. Android is $25 for a development account and no yearly fees (that's how they are growing so rapidly). I tend to develop on Android just because I have an android device and it's a hobby. I sign my code with a debug certificate and side load, so I don't upload them to the play store. Google would take almost a 50% cut of any money coming in from the app and then the government would of course take their roughly 30% that leaves me with roughly 20% of $1 (I say roughly because the 30% is of the 50%) maybe more if I code it in 3D highly possible and I am working on that now but not worth it again.

The future is apps but right now people own locked phones and have a hard time loading apps that don't come from the google store which means the revenue is gutted from the developer. If I was coding full time I would focus more towards the gaming market and avoid tools unless I was putting together a medical app which would have to be price heavy on the front end which is why we see so many apps at exorbitant prices. The trend seems to be towards giving apps away and charging for functions in the app, but if you look at reviews for apps that employ this technique the reputation of the developer is often slander.

On a side note I have been working on porting most of my apps over to HTML5 since most of the capabilities exist in current browsers and I can serve them over the web, however this avenue leaves the code exposed. I have made offers in the past to a few and return for an app was feedback to let me know about it's usability and help with refining the UI, but often once its downloaded installed the optician disappears leaving me with a lot of wasted time providing instructions on use and setup with no reciprocation of feedback.

Fear not DRM in the browser will allow for developers to serve code from the web without exposing their code in the very near future, see you then.

[DanLiv]

Brent McCardle (lensgrinder) made an iphone app here http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...cal-iPhone-App but I can't seem to find it in the app store anymore. I use it a lot.

[HarryChiling]

I offer a custom app design for offices, the code is turned over and uploaded through your own portal so it can be tracked:

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...id-Application

I had extended an invitation to try and create collaboration with members of the board, by providing data entry in return for a completed app. That would allow me to multiply my efforts exponentially in releasing a slew of apps in but no takers I was even willing to fund the iPhone developmnt costs:

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...r-contributors

If their is value someone will build it, I could exploit third world workers by farming out a scanned version of a TQ in pages and compile a database in a day if not less, but it feels wrong.

The point is that together things can be accomplished to a greater degree then alone.

[HarryChiling]

With all that said Web Optics is near complete. Here is a teaser.

[HarryChiling]

more..

[HarryChiling]

more 2...

[HarryChiling]

more 3..

[HarryChiling]

more4..

[HarryChiling]

Details:

RayTrace Module
Virtual Frame Try-On (using facial recognition)
Pupilometer (currently only PD, but extensible for other measures as well)
Virtual Tint/Transitions Demonstrator (using the camera as augmented reality)
Frame Trace (verify trace files before submitting to lab)
Prescription Aligner
Progressive Identifier
Progressive Layout Charts
Minimum Blank Size (including prism, frame and Rx data for more accurate results)
Lens Thickness / Weight (using ray trace formulas for super accurate results)
Tilt Comp / Decomp
Vertex Compensation
Spectacle Magnification

And a side loaded menu system to keep it all in check, scale is consistent throughout modules, and math vs. images are used whenever possible keeping package size lean and mean. Touch enabled, swipe enabled, etc.

I am still contemplating how to roll out, I want a small test group and I hav a few people picked but I am still a bit away from that stage. I am hoping to demo it to a few opticians I am meeting this month. ; )

[LensGrinder76]

Brent McCardle (lensgrinder) made an iphone app here http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...cal-iPhone-App but I can't seem to find it in the app store anymore. I use it a lot.

I used to have that one as well, but I can't find it anymore either.

[golfnut]

Details:

RayTrace Module
Virtual Frame Try-On (using facial recognition)
Pupilometer (currently only PD, but extensible for other measures as well)
Virtual Tint/Transitions Demonstrator (using the camera as augmented reality)
Frame Trace (verify trace files before submitting to lab)
Prescription Aligner
Progressive Identifier
Progressive Layout Charts
Minimum Blank Size (including prism, frame and Rx data for more accurate results)
Lens Thickness / Weight (using ray trace formulas for super accurate results)
Tilt Comp / Decomp
Vertex Compensation
Spectacle Magnification

And a side loaded menu system to keep it all in check, scale is consistent throughout modules, and math vs. images are used whenever possible keeping package size lean and mean. Touch enabled, swipe enabled, etc.

I am still contemplating how to roll out, I want a small test group and I hav a few people picked but I am still a bit away from that stage. I am hoping to demo it to a few opticians I am meeting this month. ; )

Hopefully everything goes well with your test group as I would love to get something like this for myself! Good luck

[WFruit]

Harry, is it Android only, or will it be iPhone at some point? Because I'd easily pay $10 for all of that, but I have an iPhone.

I'd also happily pay 1$~5$ for opticampus/spectical optics (or more for both), or pretty much anything from Darryl, even if all it did was tell me that 6x9=42.

[lensgrinder]

Brent McCardle (lensgrinder) made an iphone app here http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...cal-iPhone-App but I can't seem to find it in the app store anymore. I use it a lot.

I used to have that one as well, but I can't find it anymore either.

I had to pull it because iOS 7 came out and I had no time to code what need to be coded.
I have started coding it again to revamp it for iOS 8. Like Harry has no desire to code for the iPhone, I have no desire to code for Android.
I don't want to give a date for the release, but it is getting closer.

[MikeAurelius]

I guess I buck the trend, but I see absolutely no use for a pad or even a smartphone app in the lab. PC based, heck yeah, but the other? You'd spend more time squinting at the screen or redoing an entry because your tree trunk sized fingers are too big for the keyboard on the screen.

Call me old-fashioned, but give me a PC any day over a pad/smartphone.

And yeah, I program only for PC's...my current project is converting an 8 year old early windows app (was originally written for Windows 3.? but runs under XP compatibility mode and uses unaccesible data file formats [anyone ever hear of Clarion/TopSpeed?]) into ASP.NET MVC 5 Code First Entity Framework. Web-based, but not cloud-based. Won't do the "cloud". Nope nope nope.

[drk]

Forgive me, but what's the point of all this work?

[MikeAurelius]

Prevents your brain from drying out.

[drk]

Got it, but why all the phone apps? Do dispensers need it? Is it for the public?