Cake Central › Cake Forums › Cake Talk › Cake Decorating › cake design app... what would you like to see?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

cake design app... what would you like to see?

post #1 of 24
7/29/12 at 6:41pm
Thread Starter 
Working on an app for cake designing. I've been in the market for a good paint like app since i started decorating with almost no luck. So I'm wittering one. I was wondering what fellow cake decorators would like to see inan app.

Currently its basically a paint type program where you would select your cake shape from a list of templates, or just start with a blank screen. You pick from colors from Wilton and Americolor, but also have the ability to create acustom color. I'm working on the ability to put in generic flowers and the ability to draw a figurine or character and put it in place. I'm also adding a section to list flavors of cakes, icing and filings and compile it all into a document you can email and print. Its quite a work in progress but I'm rather impressed with myself and how far its come lol...

What functionality would you look for in an app? Its strictly a design app so I've only been pulling from my personal want list and figured I'd ask for another decorators opinion since we all decorate differently.thanks for your input in advance.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 24
7/29/12 at 7:25pm
I would like to see different borders, ball,shell etc. As well as drop strings, different types of bows.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 24
7/29/12 at 7:51pm
sizes with servings so when you email the sketch all information is there
yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that is why it is called the present. from the movie Kung Fu Panda
Reply
yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that is why it is called the present. from the movie Kung Fu Panda
Reply
post #4 of 24
7/29/12 at 8:10pm
With your app cake designing program, is it possible to be able to design a cake with satellites cakes? The cake design programs so far only allows the placement of cakes to be stacked bottom to top only. More selection of decorations, such as fondant swags, more flowers and borders. I love cake graphic designing!
……..”As long as we have memories, yesterday remains. As long as we have hope, tomorrow awaits. As long as we have friendship, today is beautiful.”
Reply
……..”As long as we have memories, yesterday remains. As long as we have hope, tomorrow awaits. As long as we have friendship, today is beautiful.”
Reply
post #5 of 24
7/29/12 at 8:47pm
I'd love to be able to type in 150 servings and have a computer show me all the possible tier sizes/combinations possible to get me that number of servings +/- 10% (based on Wilton). Select the shape the client likes then start doodling designs from there.

I currently use http://shinymetalobjects.net/cake/calculator/cakulator.cgi like crazy, I'd love for this database to be taken one step further.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 24
7/29/12 at 8:48pm
If you want an international audience - don't make it specifically 'American'

Sometimes I think I should just keep my opinions to myself,  but someone has got to be the voice of reason 

www.facebook.com/applegum

The BEST chocolate mudcake recipe
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/pams-chocolate-mudcake

Misc 3D Cakes
(1 photos)
  
Reply

Sometimes I think I should just keep my opinions to myself,  but someone has got to be the voice of reason 

www.facebook.com/applegum

The BEST chocolate mudcake recipe
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/pams-chocolate-mudcake

Misc 3D Cakes
(1 photos)
  
Reply
post #7 of 24
7/29/12 at 8:50pm
I would like the ability to easily add images to the cake. Something like a logo or design that you just want to show.Maybe I'm paint challenged but I find it hard to do in most tools.

Texture would also be awesome or some predone templates like swiss dots or quilting for an entire section.
Visit me at www.keeponcaking.com for tutorials and other cake stuff.
Reply
Visit me at www.keeponcaking.com for tutorials and other cake stuff.
Reply
post #8 of 24
7/30/12 at 12:42am
Thread Starter 
yall have given some awesome ideas!!!! i was planning on the borders and swags but completely forgot about that... so thanks for reminding me... (most of my cakes arent exactly the usual 3 tiered cakes lol so i dont use many bc borders, honestly i can go thru almost a full cake and never touch a piping bag lol)

jlynnw - awesome idea... may take some thinking and may not be in the original release but ya know.... if i can figure out how to do it... ill do it!

hamsquad - most of my cakes dont fall into the usual cake category... i do alot of sculpted cakes so the ability to have a free design is definitely gonna be there. i cant say that there will be an ability to do more than one template at a time, but i can possibly figure that out...

fromscratchfm - hmm.... if i can figure out the servings and tiers, i can try to figure out how to reverse search it and go from there. id like to have the ability to create templates by answering questions like sharp edges vs curved edges and shape sizes available etc. So that way it doesnt give you a bunch of templates for pans you dont have. I'm thinking the template designs may have to be on almost a webpage, that you can go to and download into the app. personally I dont have every pan so I dont need the temps for the pans i dont have. Its all a work in progress.

if i can get the templates and sizing stuff all together i may put it into a seperate app, i dont want the app to be too large and i can put more detail into the template app if its apart from the main design. so to design you would put in servings and get shapes into the template app, then open it in the design app??? would that be too complex? lol

applegumpam - ill look into how to make it available to nonamerican markets. i read something about setting that up but thats part of the publishing process and ive got a lil ways to go.

silly wabbitz - textures... not a bad idea.... and yeah. I'm gonna see about having the ability to cut out an image in another screen and paste it into the cake. I'm always doing some kind of logo and such and even being paint savvy i still find it hard to cut it into the design without the complexity of photoshop.

yall had some great ideas so far. glad to see im not the only one who would use this lol. crossing my fingers i can figure out how to get it to do most everything i can. in about a month i'm meeting with a coding student to go over the app and whatever i cant figure out, i'm sure they can help me with so i'll add all the ideas into my to do list and see what we can get.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 24
7/30/12 at 12:54am
Oh I meant more like .... the American cake market is SO much different from ours - our cake serves are traditionally smaller - coffee serve is the norm here. We are probably more in line with English and South African decorating styles

Extended tiers and sharp edges - and buttercream is RARELY used for special occassion cakes - so no piped roses or piped edges.

Satellite cakes haven't made it to our shores yet - and the fountains and staircases haven't either icon_smile.gif

Sometimes I think I should just keep my opinions to myself,  but someone has got to be the voice of reason 

www.facebook.com/applegum

The BEST chocolate mudcake recipe
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/pams-chocolate-mudcake

Misc 3D Cakes
(1 photos)
  
Reply

Sometimes I think I should just keep my opinions to myself,  but someone has got to be the voice of reason 

www.facebook.com/applegum

The BEST chocolate mudcake recipe
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/pams-chocolate-mudcake

Misc 3D Cakes
(1 photos)
  
Reply
post #10 of 24
7/30/12 at 1:13am
I would use it! Another thing I thought of is to have your preset decorations color customizable. So instead of red and purple roses, you could make them yellow or white or any custom color. It would be so nice to use any custom decorations from the web, as well. There is a cake program that was geared toward brides that you can add on to, maybe check it out and get more ideas from there, and look at the cake apps that already exist. Make some cakes and make a wish list while you attempt to recreate cakes you have made in the past. Some great add ons would be standard items you can make from cutters that are readily available at Michael's or hobby lobby or global sugar art. Lace molds, impression mats, .... You can also use the premade decorations off these sites, like DecoPac gumpaste flowers, and luck's sugar sheets. Though you may need permission. Lol, how about promising them a link telling where to buy the items used.

I'd have you releasing it next century if you put in all my suggestions! Good luck! You are doing a great thing! I hope it makes you rich$$$$$$$ don't lose sight of the goal, and have fun!

You could even do a lite version that is free, more like a game. I already have 4 cake apps, and they all leave quite a bit to be desired. The add ons for a couple of them are quite extensive, but not good enough to use professionally. My kids love
Playing with them.

I would rather make 1 cake for $150, than 3 for $50 each.

The person who works for nothing will always have plenty to do!

My sarcasm is good-humored. People generally really like me, in person ;-) 

Licensed, inspected, insured, home-based commercial...

Reply

I would rather make 1 cake for $150, than 3 for $50 each.

The person who works for nothing will always have plenty to do!

My sarcasm is good-humored. People generally really like me, in person ;-) 

Licensed, inspected, insured, home-based commercial...

Reply
post #11 of 24
7/30/12 at 8:33am
If you check that link I posted, you can get your servings by volume.

For example:

"Your serving slice of cake is: 1" x 2" x 4", which is 8 cubic inches.

11" round:  5.5" x 5.5" x π x 4"   = 379.94 cubic inches

total volume: 379.94 cubic inches
379.94 / 8 = 47.4925 total servings"

So there you go. Same math that Wilton uses, only they round down. You don't need to look up every Wilton pan and type in a chart - I think all you need to do (or someone needs to do) is the formula based on how many cubic inches per serving so it would be universal and suit all countries. The tricky part would be figuring out a formula for the computer to figure out pan combinations to meet a serving requirement. Which is why it probably hasen't been done yet.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 24
7/30/12 at 9:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FromScratchSF

The tricky part would be figuring out a formula for the computer to figure out pan combinations to meet a serving requirement.


You probably don't need a formula...the number of combinations that make sense is relatively small so you could prepopulate a sorted array with each combination and the volume. When the user enters the number of servings and the serving size it would convert to volume and display the list in ascending order starting from the closest matching combination, with a user-editable tolerance (e.g. 5% smaller to 10% larger).
.
The Bakery Business Perspective
An experimental blog with new content every Tuesday!

Recent Articles: The Magic Pricing Formula • Copyright Law
Reply
.
The Bakery Business Perspective
An experimental blog with new content every Tuesday!

Recent Articles: The Magic Pricing Formula • Copyright Law
Reply
post #13 of 24
7/30/12 at 10:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

Quote:
Originally Posted by FromScratchSF

The tricky part would be figuring out a formula for the computer to figure out pan combinations to meet a serving requirement.


You probably don't need a formula...the number of combinations that make sense is relatively small so you could prepopulate a sorted array with each combination and the volume. When the user enters the number of servings and the serving size it would convert to volume and display the list in ascending order starting from the closest matching combination, with a user-editable tolerance (e.g. 5% smaller to 10% larger).



You're hired! Get on it, Jason! You'd make MILLIONS.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 24
7/30/12 at 11:28am
I'm assuming you're going to have other shapes available besides round and square? I totally love the pattern and border ideas. Just being able to import items like logos, pictures and toppers and such could help a lot.

Different fonts to show lettering and initials.

I'd love the idea of putting in info like '75 servings, 3 tiers', and getting an example of what size pans would work to achieve that. Or maybe just having something similar to the 'shinymetalobjects' link that someone earlier mentioned where you find out the servings and then be able to visually stack the tiers based on that info. (I'm probably clear as mud).

Here are some random things that are just popping into my head...have design elements such as ganache drips, strawberries, various flowers both 'real' looking and fantasy (and the ability to fill with color). I like the idea of various borders, shell and such...also ribbon borders that you can change colors.

What about cake boards? They are an element of design as well.

So...aren't you glad you asked? If you can do half of this I'd be thrilled! Good luck to you!
A closed mouth gathers no feet.
Reply
A closed mouth gathers no feet.
Reply
post #15 of 24
7/30/12 at 12:00pm
If I had the spare time and skills to do this I would (it's been years since I've done programming and I have no experience with Objective C or Cocoa, the iPhone app development platforms) so I think I'll let the OP take this.

There's a decent potential for monetization here, especially on the advertising side since you will be reaching a very specific niche.
.
The Bakery Business Perspective
An experimental blog with new content every Tuesday!

Recent Articles: The Magic Pricing Formula • Copyright Law
Reply
.
The Bakery Business Perspective
An experimental blog with new content every Tuesday!

Recent Articles: The Magic Pricing Formula • Copyright Law
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cake Decorating
Cake Central › Cake Forums › Cake Talk › Cake Decorating › cake design app... what would you like to see?