Microsoft’s Garage lab is releasing a new Ink to Code app that turns your sketches into an actual app. The app is in its very early stages, so don’t expect it to be something that you would use in a professional project.

Ink to Code uses Windows 10’s Smart Ink feature to turn your drawings into shapes. So for example, when you draw a square, it will turn it into a button, or you could draw a button. Once you have the basic layout of the app drawn, you will then be able to import it as actual code to Visual Studio and compile it as an app, which is pretty neat.

This is meant for rapid prototyping, and it should work for the most part as long as you are building something simple. But of course, this is still a prototype, so it can’t work with anything complex. For now, the app only works with things like labels, text, login, text inputs, images, and that’s about it.

The idea behind Ink to Code is certainly pretty cool, and it’s a good example of how powerful inking is in Windows 10. This is still a proof of concept, and you probably won’t ever use it to build real apps or prototypes. Either way, you will be able to download Ink to Code from the Microsoft Store sometime later today.

Tagged with Ink to Code, Smart Ink, Windows 10