PhotoProto is designed to speed the creation of device user interfaces with Photoshop. From in-dash car displays and mobile phones to medical devices and tactical navy ship displays, just about everything has a display on it of some kind, with the graphics more often than not being created in Photoshop. However, a problem typically faced by designers is that the services of programmers or multimedia authoring experts are needed to turn the static drawings into working prototypes.

With PhotoProto, artists arrange and name the layers in their Photoshop artwork to identify these elements—a layer can be named “button” so the images can be pressed like a button (an approach used by the SiteGrinder plugin to generate Web sites). Then from within Photoshop, PhotoProto creates a working, interactive prototype that can be independently run on a Mac or PC, allowing the user to push buttons, navigate screens, scroll lists and perform similar interactive functions. PhotoProto can also create an XML file and PNG images that can be passed on to others within the workflow, for incorporation within other software production tools.

Altia claims PhotoProto 1.05 is twenty times faster than previous versions when creating GUIs from Photoshop files employing hundreds of layers.

PhotoProto for Mac and Windows can be purchased at www.altia.com/products_photoproto.php for $495. A downloadable trial version is also available.