TouchSmarter: Touch Screen Gadgets

Snowflake Suite for Windows XP, Vista & 7	TouchCore rear camera image processing	Snowflake for Mac

The Snowflake SDK for Windows and the Snowflake SDK for Mac will be available for download in the upcoming days.

30 June 2011

NUITEQ® launches major version upgrade with the release of Snowflake Suite 2.0, its award-winning multi-touch software product

Skellefteå, Sweden, June 30, 2011 - NUITEQ®, the award-winning multi-touch software technology
company, today announced the launch of version upgrade 2.0 of its industry leading muli-touch software product Snowflake Suite.

The new version release is the most in depth version upgrade NUITEQ has released in over four years.

The new 2.0 release comes delivered with a much requested multi-touch browser, allowing users to zoom in/out, pan around and tune into details on websites simply by using iPhone alike finger gestures.
The multi-touch browser comes with an on-screen keyboard, supports e-mail, chat and popular websites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, CNN, Youtube and other Flash based content websites.

Additionally Snowflake is now compatible with Apple’s Mac operating system, offering System Integrators that prefer Apple’s operating system over Windows, the opportunity to use small form factor Mac minis.

Furthermore NUITEQ developed a cost free Apple iOS application named Snowflake Remote, which allows users to utilize their iPad, iPhone or iPod as a remote input device.
Snowflake Remote can be downloaded from iTunes completely for free.

A 180 degree interface flip functionality is integrated into Snowflake, giving people that use horizontal multi-user multi-touch systems such as tables, an easy to use solution to work more collaboratively.

For months the software developers at NUITEQ have worked on completely rebuilding the Snowflake framework, making it fully QT based. This allows software developers to be more flexible and time/cost efficient when creating their own multi-touch software applications with the new Snowflake 2.0 SDK.

Other than that, the NUITEQ developers have integrated an auto updating feature, which gives users the capability to easily upgrade Snowflake in the future, without having to unininstall and reinstall complete versions, offering a more user friendly approach. Updating the software when a new release is available will be a matter of a few mouse clicks.

As by popular request of NUITEQ’s partners and customers, content such as videos, images, PDF brochures and MP3 audio files can now easily be sorted for better viewability in the Media Viewer.

And the icing on the cake, new graphics have been incorporated to give it that fresh, smooth and professional Snowflake look.

NUITEQ worked closely with its customers and partners during the beta testing process of Snowflake 2.0, to listen to their input, so that crucial feedback was integrated.

Snowflake is known for its customizability, stability and performance, however NUITEQ raised the bar even further with this new 2.0 release, making it probably the fastest performing and most stable multi-touch software product in the world.

“We are extremely excited to offer this amazing new release of Snowflake. The large amount of improvements and changes we have made to this new version, emphasizes our strong focus to continuesly develop the product so it stays in line with the expectations of our partners and customers.”, says NUITEQ’s CEO Harry van der Veen. “We are also very much looking forward to see what kind of new multi-touch software applications developers will create with our new Snowflake 2.0 SDK.”

The Snowflake 2.0 SDK allows software developers to create their own innovative multi-touch software applications on top of the Snowflake platform. The brand new SDK comes with sample applications, tutorials and instructions to assist developers to create their own applications.

Companies that prefer to outsource projects so they can focus on their core business, can access NUITEQ’s inhouse multi-touch software development team.

NUITEQ has been specializing in developing customized multi-touch software applications for over four years, which has given the company a deep experience in delivering bespoke user experiences across a wide range of industries.

Snowflake is compatible with Microsofts Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Apple’s Mac operating systems.
Snowflake is supported by virtually every multi-touch hardware device in the industry, including platforms such as:
Wacom, PQ Labs, 3M, N-trig (amongst others integrated in HP, Dell and Lenovo laptops), NextWindow, dreaMTouch, Visual Planet and rear camera based systems.

Snowflake is worldwide being used in a wide variety of industries including Public Spaces, Education, Entertainment, Exhibitions/Events, Real Estate, Museums, Retail -stores and shopping windows, Interactive advertisment, Digital signage and other industries.

A free trial version of Snowflake Suite can be downloaded from the NUITEQ website, located at www.nuiteq.com.

About NUITEQ
NUITEQ is a 2010 Red Herring 100 Global award-winning Swedish multi-touch technology company,
that offers advanced multi-touch software and hardware solutions.

Late 2010, the company was awarded the 10th Most Promising Tech Startup in the World by Guidewire Group.

NUITEQ’s vision is to improve the way people interact with technology, by creating rich engaging user interface experiences.

Visit www.nuiteq.com for more information.

In a few hours from now we will be releasing the largest version upgrade ever to Snowflake, namely version 2.0.

Keep your eyes on NUITEQ’s Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/multitouch/ as well as the NUITEQ website.

Before the release though, we wanted to already share some Snowflake 2.0 application screenshots, which you can find on the photo section of our Facebook.

Enjoy!

NUITEQ’s award-winning multi-touch software product Snowflake Suite version 2.0 will be launched tomorrow, but in the meanwhile we want to share with you already now what we have added and improved since version 1.9.4.

Added Multi-touch Browser application
Added Mac support
Added Snowflake Remote iPad application integration (free download on iTunes)
Added 180 degree interface flip functionality
Added auto updater
Added folder support in Media Viewer
Added content sorting in Media Viewer
Added a new Snowflake core based on the Qt framework
Added a new menu type for placing icons freely
Added a completely new graphical style
Added more customizability options
Added more settings for visual quality control (VSync, AntiAliasing)
Added a mini map to the PDF Viewer
Added more loading info messages
Added drop shadow to most of the text
Added a check during Snowflake startup to see if the computer meets the requirements
Added more logging messages
Added new clip art images to Draw
Added support to have videos as menu icons
Added support for playing audio when launching an app
Added support for playing background audio
Added animation support to Bugs
Added MP3 file support in Media Viewer
Fixed various memory leaks
Fixed handling PDF to be more stable
Fixed aspect ratio issue in PDF Viewer
Fixed so that content is automatically loaded when there is just one item or folder
Fixed a lot of code optimization across the entire Snowflake Suite
Fixed a bug in Slider where content could disappear
Fixed graphics positions in CardCollect
Fixed some issues with font handling
Fixed rendering speed, is now faster performing
Fixed the Configuration Editor with new settings
Fixed TUIO handling, faster performance
Improved the general visual quality
Complete new SDK based on Snowflake Suite 2.0
General bug fixes and performance improvements

To learn more about all the changes we have made to Snowflake through the years, you can have a look at the full change log on the NUITEQ Support Wiki here.

PS: Today is the last day that you can purchase Snowflake at a 200 EUR lower rate than tomorrow. You can purchase your Snowflake license with credit card (Visa, Mastercard or American Express) or with Paypal in the NUITQ online store here.

If you prefer payments through bank wire transfer, contact us here or open up a chat with one click of your mouse, in the lower right corner of this website, where one of our colleagues will assist you.

The NUITEQ June News letter is out now, with amongst others:

- Snowflake Suite 2.0 release this upcoming Thursday the 30th of June
- 26 Hidden Snowflake gems
- Snowflake Suite Configuration Editor
- Sahara Presentation Systems plc CleverLCD Touch Fusion product brochure
- NUITEQ’s multi-touch software Snowflake Suite popular in Korea

Check it out here.

Here at NUITEQ our mission is to offer the best multi-touch software in the world.
Our partners share that same passion, which is why we always work very closely with them, to improve the product.

The three top benefits of our software that we take the greatest pride in:

- Stability
- Performance
- Customizability

Stability
Many of our Partners and customers have high demands when it comes to the stability of a multi-touch software. For example Snowflake is used in high traffic public environments like entertainment parks, busy airports and crowded retail environments. Such public spaces need a rock solid stable multi-touch software solution that does not crash, in those cases companies turn to NUITEQ.

- After creating the first internal beta release of Snowflake, we internally went through the software from top to bottom from an user perspective, noting down anything we ran into and started integrating the results of that report
- In parallel several of our close Partners went through the internal beta version to report any feedback, which was accordingly integrated
- Based on the integration of some of our own feedback and the feedback of our Partners, we created a second internal beta version that was sent out to several Partners to receive any followup feedback
- After having ironed out the items we ran into during our internal tests and the tests by our Partners, we started to really stress test the software with auto tests that ran non stop over-exaggerating interactions that normally wouldn’t occur, but by trying to find issues that way and solving them it would ensure rock solidness
- In addition to the auto tests, we ran C++ code analysis checks to remove any minor inefficienties to fine polish the last pieces, putting the icing on the cake

The result being, that the worlds best multi-touch software just got even better.

We will however continue to strive and explore new ways to test to ensure that Snowflake continues to raise the bar when it comes to stability and performance.

Performance
We have developed Snowflake in C++, to be able to squeeze out as much performance as possible in order to create smooth and responsive applications. A Business Development Manager from a globally well known multi-touch hardware manufacturer told us that there are a couple of great looking multi-touch software solutions out there, but when they are loaded onto their system, the performance is bad. NUITEQ however is offering the fast performance their customers are looking for.

This is a great testimonial in our pursuit to continue to build the best performing multi-touch software out there.

Customizability
One of Snowflake’s main benefits is the fact that the entire look and feel of the software can easily be changed in your own or your customers branded solution, simply by changing images, backgrounds, colors, words, pdf files, 3d models, audio, movies etc.

To learn more on how to customize Snowflake, check this blogpost about the Snowflake Suite Configuration Editor.

QT framework

For months we have worked on completely rebuilding our framework of Snowflake, so that it would be fully QT based, allowing software developers to be more flexible and letting you even more easily create your own multi-touch software applications with the new Snowflake 2.0 SDK.

In addition to the example tutorials that we will offer you with the new Snowflake 2.0 SDK, in the upcoming weeks we will dedicate video tutorials and blog posts to how to create your own multi-touch software applications, using the Snowflake 2.0 SDK.

Download the NUITEQ 10 Benefits brochure here, to learn more about the benefits that Snowflake and NUITEQ offer.

Thank you
A big “thank you”, goes out to all the people that have been involved in testing and providing feedback on Snowflake 2.0 beta.
Thanks for your time, energy, feedback and kind encouraging words.

Special thanks go out to:
Mr. Homam Alghorani from Innovation Now in Malaysia
Mr. Lahmar from Interactive Box in Italy
Mr. Roberto Mendizabal from Skyluft in Ecuador
Mr. KJ Kim from AVA Vision in Korea
Mr. Anup Tapadia from TouchMagix in India
Mr. Jonathan Chee from NUITEQ Asia in Singapore
Mr. Kristoffer Lindgren from Zenton in Sweden
Mr. Michel Lantz from Concept Solutions in Sweden

Greece based Modernita leveraged one of the unique benefits of Snowflake, namely the ability to completely customize the entire look and feel of the software, in order to create an own branded solution.

In the two videos below you see Snowflake in action on the Evoluce One a true multi-touch hardware solution from Germany based Evoluce.

Customized Snowflake for Caprice Papadopoulos running on the Evoluce One

Children having fun at Nounou Kid kiosk while playing Snowflake multi-touch games on the Evoluce One from Modernita at Village Cinemas in Athens, Greece.

NUITEQ’s multi-touch software has previously been showcased on tv in countries such as Brazil, India, Canada, France and Greece. This time it was Malta’s turn.

Charles Aquilina is showing his multi-touch hardware solutions in combination with Snowflake on the tv show Gadgets Malta.

On the 22-24th of June at Tokyo BigSite in Japan, the 19th 3D Virtual Reality exhibition was held.

Nihon Binary, a Japanese expert in the field of Virtual Reality, that visited us two weeks ago here at the NUITEQ headquarters in Skellefteå, used Snowflake on their multi-touch systems to attract people to their booth and to demonstrate the capabilities of their multi-touch hardware technology.

Is your company going to visit an event to showcase its multi-touch hardware? Let us know here and we will let you know how we can help you to attract people to your booth and engage with them in a powerful way, resulting in more qualified leads and increased sales.

With the introduction of Snowflake 2.0 (launch next week end of June), the pricing of the software licenses will be as follows:

Discounts apply to orders in larger quantities for System Integrators, VARs, Partners and OEMs.

- Snowflake for Windows 7 / flat multi-touch solutions (including all the Snowflake applications and the new Snowflake SDK) - 699 EUR
- 1 year of upgrades (improvements, fixes and new applications) - 249 EUR
- 2 years of upgrades (improvements, fixes and new applications) - 399 EUR
- Snowflake SDK (no Snowflake apps included) - 249 EUR (free upgrades included) - You can create your own multi-touch apps with the Snowflake SDK.

The above configurations are especially popular for flat multi-touch systems that work with Windows 7 such as PQ Labs, dreaMTouch, N-trig, Visual Planet, Zytronic, Touch International, 3M, Wacom, Nextwindow, Zaagtech and others. These do not include image processing rear camera based systems. If you are using rear camera based multi-touch systems, please check the below options.

The below configurations only apply to rear camera based multi-touch systems (not multi-touch overlay systems), such as large scale interactive projection systems.

The below option you want to select if you want to use the NUITEQ image processing tracker and/or SDK to create your own applications and if you want to use the existing Snowflake apps as well:
- Snowflake TouchCore (includes image processing tracker, SDK and Snowflake apps) - 1299 EUR
- 1 year of upgrades for Snowflake TouchCore (includes improvements, fixes and new Snowflake apps) - 449 EUR

The below options you would typically select if you want to use the NUITEQ image processing tracker and/or SDK with your own developed multi-touch software apps:
- Snowflake TouchCore (includes image processing tracker and SDK - no Snowflake apps) - 999 EUR
- 1 year of upgrades Snowflake TouchCore (includes image processing tracker and SDK - no Snowflake apps) - 349 EUR

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us here and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.

The upcoming 5 days, you can still purchase Snowflake for Windows 7 here at the lower price.