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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