Sketch 360 is back once again with panoramic sketches on Surface Duo

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

It's time to get sketching.

Surface Duo Sketch360
Surface Duo Sketch360 (Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Sketch 360 is available again for the Surface Duo.
  • The app initially launched in September before being pulled temporarily.
  • You can download Sketch 360 at Google Play now.

Sketch 360, a Microsoft Garage app that originally launched on Windows 10, is once again available and optimized for Surface Duo. The app originally launched for Surface Duo in September, but it appeared to only be available for limited testing. Microsoft announced its release today, alongside a behind-the-scenes look at how it came together.

Sketch 360 is the creation of Michael Scherotter, a principal program manager at Microsoft. The app allows you to quickly and easily draw ideas you have for 3D spaces. It then projects the drawings against the inside of a sphere, with you at the center.

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"I was up for the challenge of moving my native C# UWP app to a C# Xamarin Forms. When the Microsoft Garage sponsored an internal hackathon to encourage employees to build or adapt apps for the Surface Duo, I jumped at the chance," Scherotter said in a blog post from Microsoft. Scherotter's app was selected as one of the hackathon winners, all of whome then shared their work with "experts and leaders of the Surface business," Microsoft says.

Sketch 360 is especially handy for VR designers, game designers, architects, and the like. It allows creatives to quickly get a look at how their ideas will look in real space. It also allows exports to Facebook, Adobe Lightroom, Kuula, and VR Media Player.

Developers who are interested in learning how Sketch 360 was adapted for Surface Duo can check out a deep dive at Microsoft's Dev blog. If you want to give the app a spin for yourself, it's available at Google Play now. Finally, for more Duo apps, check out our running list of Surface Duo optimized apps.

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Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl.