Advanced Prototyping Made Easy | ProtoPie Review

Introduction

When it comes to creating the most advanced prototypes, designers and developers have far too many tools to choose from these days. From the seemingly ever-growing list of options, ProtoPie is one relatively recent arrival that stands out for its ability to support the building of hi-fi prototypes “as easy as pie.”

What is ProtoPie?

ProtoPie is a high-fidelity, code-free prototyping application that works on Mac and Windows systems alike. It is designed to facilitate the creation of responsive and elaborate prototypes that can get tested on real devices without involving any code. It supports interactive prototyping for mobile, desktop and web applications hence suitable for UX and interaction designers across different industries that need to build and share mockups that look and feel lively without much ado. Whatever creation one is working on, ProtoPie makes it possible to come up with prototypes that is almost similar to the end product. In essence, this tool allows users to examine design solutions, communicate with stakeholders in the given project, and gain valuable feedback even before getting the actual development phase.

Features

Concept model

At the core of ProtoPie functionality is its unique natural language-like concept model. Its operational framework is tailored to enable the creation of interactions through objects, triggers, and responses. The objects, in this case, refer to affected assets while triggers are what activates change on assets, and the response being the ultimate effects of the triggers. It means interactions come about by bringing together the right pieces of the same in the name of triggers and responses. Unlike programming, this model is clearer and easy to follow.

Cloud

ProtoPie supports cloud-based sharing. In case you want to share creations with others, just save the prototype and hit the Cloud button. This uploads your work and a link will be generated automatically which you can then share. Beyond this, ProtoPie features a dashboard from where users can maintain, modify settings, track version history, edit details, and allow or deny download permissions of uploaded prototypes. After license expiry Cloud allows you to access uploaded creations even though new uploads are not possible.

Bridge

With ProtoPie it is possible to build interactions that can facilitate communication involving multiple devices. As highlighted on its concept model, Bridge involves sending responses and receiving triggers from one device to others. Both ends are linked via a similar set message ID. ProtoPie Studio in practice acts as a communication channel essentially enabling interactions between several devices. To connect devices, you only need to have a Windows or MacOS computer with ProtoPie actively running and Wi-Fi network. Otherwise, connecting via a USB is also possible.

Import

The studio equally makes it easy to utilize external designs through Sketch integration for MacOS and Adobe XD CC for both Windows and MacOS users. In a few clicks, one can import design files into ProtoPie. Depending on your preference or needs, there are different approaches you can utilize to import from Sketch or Adobe XD CC. For instance, you can simply open Sketch or Adobe file and ProtoPie Studio at the same time and from the ProtoPie end just select import from the file menu. Alternatively, you can also customize where you only import particular layers and so on. The tool also gives you the freedom to select source artboards, import size, exportable layers among other actions when importing and re-importing.

Preview and play

Although you can preview prototypes made on ProtoPie Studio on your computer, it also comes with a handy ProtoPie player app that allows designers to test and play their creations on Android and iOS Smartphones. To import prototypes built on the Studio in the player, there are different ways including by QR code scanning, IP address linking, and USB connection. The ProtoPie player can nonetheless run prototypes without direct connection since it is possible to send the design files through email among other instant messaging options. The app further allows code-free utilization of sensors in smart devices such as 3D touch Sensor, compass, sound, and tilt.

Why ProtoPie?

Pros:

Allows simultaneous testing on actual devices
Provides multiple and easy ways of sharing prototypes
Requires no coding
Features an intuitive interface hence simple to learn and use
Simplifies workflow through seamless collaboration
Saves time and effort
Runs on both Windows and MacOS giving users added flexibility

Cons:

Supports no gradients, shadows, text properties or fonts

Pricing

Self-plan
Costs $99

Allows perpetual use with free updates for one year

For others
Costs $99

You can buy single or multiple licenses at once and provide license keys to team members.

Enterprise package

Ideal for design teams
Supports collaboration on highly interactive prototypes on a secure environment
Currently, a public version is not available so you have to make a request to get it. Other features in the plan include:-
On-premise private server
Collaboration and commenting
Centralized permissions

ProtoPie for students and teachers
A 50% discount off the normal price is available for students and teachers.

Conclusion

ProtoPie Studio is built to expand prototyping possibilities for designers working on a wide range of projects. What makes ProtoPie stand apart from it’s competitors like Proto.io, Origami Studio, Justinmind and others is its features can bring an extra-edge on your work allowing you to create more dynamic, advanced, and as realistic as the end product. Considering you can do all this code-free makes it a nice addition to your UX design tool collection.