Shapecatcher
Business Profile
Core Value Proposition
Shapecatcher provides a way to identify Unicode characters by drawing their shape and finding the most similar glyphs in its database.
Target Customer
People who know the visual shape of a Unicode character but do not know its name or Unicode code point (e.g., students, designers, editors, linguists, developers).
Key Differentiator
Shape-context based similarity matching with GPU-accelerated processing for near real-time results; uses free Unicode fonts to avoid licensing problems; browser-based drawing and recognition workflow.
Implementation Timeline
Immediate use via the web interface; value delivered as soon as you draw and run recognition.
Pain Points
- 1Difficulty identifying Unicode characters when you don't know the name or code point.
- 2Need for a quick, shape-based method to find the correct character without relying on the character name.
- 3Incomplete coverage for CJK glyphs due to font licensing and font availability.
Key Features
- 1Draw in a drawbox to sketch the target character (multiple strokes supported).
- 2Recognize button to find the most similar Unicode glyphs from the database (11,817 glyphs).
- 3Tools to fill, erase, and clear the canvas; draw as many strokes as needed.
- 4Unicode blocks and support information; note that Chinese/Japanese/Korean glyphs may be unavailable due to font issues.
- 5Upcoming API for programmatic access (announced in updates).
- 6Uses free Unicode fonts to avoid licensing problems.
Target Customer Industries
Client Results
- 1Near real-time Unicode glyph similarity search via GPU-accelerated processing.
- 2Reported performance: over 15x faster comparisons than CPU in the engine.
- 3Large glyph coverage (11,817 glyphs) with ongoing expansion.
- 4Immediate, browser-based access with no installation required.
Competitive Advantages
- 1Shape-based search eliminates the need to know character names or codes.
- 2GPU-accelerated recognition provides faster results than CPU-based approaches.
- 3Large database of glyphs and use of free Unicode fonts to avoid licensing issues.
- 4Web-based, no installation required; API potential in the future.
Additional Product Information
Product Description
Shapecatcher is a web tool that helps you find Unicode characters by drawing their shape in a drawbox and comparing the sketch to a database of glyphs to find the most similar characters.
Technical Requirements
Web-based interface; server-side GPU-accelerated recognition (uses CUDA and NVIDIA GPUs); relies on free Unicode fonts; supports multiple strokes in drawing
Pricing Model
Not specified in the provided content
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