Pre-launch. In development, not for sale yet.
Trace anything. Get clean CAD.
Run the Tipmark pen around a part, a stair or an opening. Your phone turns the movement into lines, arcs and a DXF. No point cloud, no clean-up. The editor half of that runs today. The pen is in development.
Only the edges you touch.
A 3D scanner records every surface it sees: the part, the bench, the dust and the crumbs. Before you can cut anything, someone cleans up a mesh and redraws it. Tipmark records only the points and edges you touch.
| Question | A 3D scan | A Tipmark trace |
|---|---|---|
| What it records | Everything in view, as points or a mesh | Only what the tip touches |
| What you get | A mesh to clean up and redraw | Lines, arcs and circles |
| Sizes | Read off the mesh by hand | Suggested design sizes: 400 mm for a traced 399.6 mm, with the difference shown |
| File for the machine | STL, OBJ or PLY, then a CAD step | DXF in millimetres, and SVG |
89.6° becomes 90°, and you see the 0.4°.
Openings, sills and worktops are rarely built true. When a traced corner comes out at 89.6°, the editor offers 90° and shows the 0.4° it would change before anything moves. You decide what to accept.
- Works today
Right angles, parallels and design sizes
Right angles, parallel and perpendicular edges, tangent arcs, equal radii, mirror symmetry and round sizes, each with the traced value and the change shown. In the Tipmark Editor, tested on synthetic traces.
- Planned
Level and plumb
The phone’s own sensors give true vertical, so a sill that runs downhill can be drawn level with its slope reported.
- Planned
A deviation report with every DXF
Every correction you accepted, and by how much, saved next to the drawing.
The head is the reference. Your phone reads it.
Every face of the head carries a unique printed code, the same kind of marker used in robotics. The camera finds the codes and works out where the tip is.
Your phone watches the pen
The camera reads the codes on the head every frame and works out the pen’s position and angle.
You touch a point, or trace an edge
A corner, an edge, a scribed line: anything you would mark with a pencil.
A tone tells you when it’s registered
The tone rises as the hold steadies and changes once the point is locked, so your eyes stay on the tip.
Export when you’re done
Points are in millimetres, scaled from a calibrated reference in the same shot. Export the shape as DXF.
In development
Steps 1 to 3 are tested on recorded footage with the earlier PEN-09 prototype. On the phone they come next.
From trace to cut file.
A hand trace wobbles. The Tipmark Editor finds the lines, arcs and circles under it and suggests the sizes the part was probably made to. It runs in a browser and as the Edit screen next to Measure in the app.
See what you traced
Switch between the raw path of the tip and a smoothed one. The raw samples stay in the file.
Take the tip off
The tip is round, so a traced outline sits one tip radius outside the part. Say which side the pen ran and the editor moves the outline back by that radius.
Square it to true
Edges meant to be level or plumb are squared. Where the wall or frame itself is out, the editor reports how far, in millimetres over the edge. That edge stays as measured unless you square it.
Fix the rest by hand
Drag a point, pull a curve handle or type a length. Every step can be undone.
Export for the machine
DXF in millimetres with true lines, arcs and circles, closed outlines and no doubled pieces. SVG too.
What works today, and what doesn’t yet.
Tipmark is my own build, in Reykjavík. Here is where each part stands.
Works today
- Tipmark Measure, AndroidMeasures an outline from one photo of printed pointer markers and exports a DXF. Runs on the developer’s phone.
- Tipmark EditorRuns in a browser: lines, arcs, suggestions, tip offset, DXF and SVG. Also built into the app as the Edit screen (app 0.3.0, not yet tested on a phone).
- Pen trackingTested on recorded footage with the earlier PEN-09 prototype, including a blind test in a real room.
In development
- The PEN-10 itselfDesigned and drawn for manufacture. Not built yet.
- Live tracking with the hold tone, on the phoneThe tone logic runs on a computer against recorded footage. The phone version comes next.
- A published accuracy figureOnce the finished pen has been tested in real rooms. Until then I quote no number.
- Level and plumb, deviation reportPlanned, see above.
Everything the pen needs, in one case.
Pivot calibration stand
Holds the tip still while you turn the pen, so the app can find the exact tip position after every tip change.
Tip box, 3 tips
A fine point for hard corners, a 1 mm ball for detail, a 6 mm ball for soft surfaces, and the swap tool.
The pen, the stand and the tip box pack into a carry case with a cut foam insert. The pen works with the Tipmark app on your own phone’s camera, so there is no other hardware to buy. Images are renders of the current pre-production CAD; the shipping kit may differ in finish and colour.
The price I expect.
€399–699
An early estimate from my own sourcing research, not a supplier quote. It will move as real manufacturing costs come in. Signing up does not lock in this price or commit you to buying.
Get notified at launch.
No payment, no commitment. I’ll email you once, when Tipmark PEN-10 is ready to order, and nothing else.
Plain answers.
- Is Tipmark available to buy now?
- No. This page tests whether there is real demand before I commit to a production run. Nothing is for sale yet.
- Is it a 3D scanner?
- No. It records the points and edges you touch and gives you CAD geometry. If you need the shape of a whole freeform surface, like a sculpture, a scanner is the right tool.
- How accurate is it?
- I will publish a figure once the finished pen has been tested in real rooms, measured on the pen itself. Until then I quote no number. The app also checks your own phone before it trusts it.
- What phone do I need?
- An Android phone with a normal rear camera (not the ultrawide). The app tests your phone and camera and tells you if it isn’t good enough for the job. iPhone support is not built.
- When will it ship?
- No date yet. This list is how I decide whether, and how fast, to move toward a production run.
- What do you do with my email?
- I use it only to tell you about the Tipmark launch. It is never sold or shared. The privacy note below says how to have it removed.