I am a developer. Why should I use PaintCode?

Using PNG images to draw user interfaces is tedious. PNG images are not resolution-independent, so you have to provide many variants for all kinds of displays. Some effects are also difficult (if not impossible) to achieve using raster images. For example, you might want to draw something with complex resizing behavior, or you might want to alter the color of the drawing based on some outer conditions.

A better approach than using images is to use Objective-C or Swift code to draw the user interface. The code is resolution-independent and very flexible, so it works really well on all kinds of displays.

Unfortunately, writing this code is very tedious. This is where PaintCode comes in. PaintCode is a unique vector drawing app that automatically turns your drawings into code. The code which would take hours to write by hand will be generated instantly.

PaintCode will combine all your drawings into a single class that is very easy to use from your code. We call this class “StyleKit”. A great deal of care was put into making it well-structured, efficient and clear. Most importantly, you can change your PaintCode drawings and re-generate the StyleKit at any time. Changes you make to your user interface drawings in PaintCode can make it to your live, running app in a matter of seconds.

PaintCode is perhaps the only drawing app on Mac that allows you to use variables and expressions when creating your drawings, allowing you to make parametric illustrations that would be impossible to achieve using traditional approaches.

If you have already created images in other vector drawing app, you can easily import SVG, PSD, PDF, EPS and AI files to PaintCode. You can even copy & paste drawings from Sketch.

If you decide to adopt code-based approach to drawing user interface, you don’t have to go “all-in” at once. You can easily use this approach selectively in places where it makes sense to you, and continue using PNG and other raster image resources elsewhere. However our company and many of our customers use the code-based approach exclusively to draw the user interface. For example, PaintCode itself was created in PaintCode, and aside from the app’s icon, it doesn’t use any images - everything is drawn using PaintCode-generated code.

Even if you decide to “start small” and only adopt PaintCode for certain parts of your app, PaintCode will save you a tremendous amount of time.