Welcome to Magic Box

Magic Box is a Flex-based editor and viewer for parametric vector drawings. It consists of two Flash-based apps that can be run in any Flash-enabled browser. You can see it live on

The Magic Box Demo site (NOTE: not working ATM! will be online soon)

Currently, we are looking for a coder who can port the project to HTML5 + Canvas, while keeping intact the ease of use of the interface.

Support page

Documentation (Google Docs)

Getting started with the editor

Philosophy

We need a way to allow everyday users of the Fablab to create the designs they want in a way that requires little effort and is fun and inspiring. Magic Box aims to do that by bringing the engineers/designers/artists together to create content for the other 90% and allows everybody to participate in the design process in a way that best suits them.

read more about the philosophy behind Magic Box

The Viewer

Built for end users, it lets you view magic box templates, adjust the variables set by the designer beforehand and export to SVG for use with a laser cutter, vinyl plotter or a 2D CNC mill.

Soon, the viewer can be used live on magic-box.org

The Editor

Built for engineers and designers, the editor lets you build parametric designs using a simple extension on the SVG path language. It allows for

Variables
Expressions
Simple Repetition

If you want to learn more about the language, take a look at the It is very much a work in progress.

Info on SVG Path Data

Path data tutorial

A screenshot of the interface (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Background

Inspiration

FabLabs and the open make community have been the inspiration behind this project. We believe in a world where design is open and designers are able to create better products because they have the tools to communicate with users and to actually figure out what they want.

Magic Box is an experiment to see if we can create a platform where designers and users participate in the design process.

Sites like Thingiverse.com are already well underway and Magic Box intends to be easy to integrate with such platforms.