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Protowire - Adds Prototyping to Sketch

almost 6 years ago from , UI developer

Protowire screenshot

XD has prototyping, Invision Studio will have prototyping so I thought I would add it to Sketch. You can see it in action here.

So what does the Sketch plugin do?

UI Animations

Have overlays appear and disappear by moving layers around and animating the transitions.

Screen Transitions

Quickly wire up your artboards to see how the flow of the application works. Preview the prototype in Sketch or on a smartphone.

Responsive Prototypes

The prototype makes use of Sketch's resizing constraints and responsive artboard groups so that it can adapt to any screen size.

You can sign-up for early access at protowire.com.

25 comments

  • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

    Mark here, the creator of Protowire. Feel free to ask me any questions.

    2 points
    • Joshua TurnerJoshua Turner, almost 6 years ago

      How were your holidays?

      14 points
    • Taylor PalmerTaylor Palmer, almost 6 years ago

      Hi Mark, congrats on the release. How does this compare to Craft or Mirr.io?

      0 points
      • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

        Comparison with Craft:

        • You don't have to upload to a webapp before you can view the prototype, everything is done locally in Sketch.
        • The prototypes will adapt to any screen size and orientation making use of the design's resizing constraints. Invision scales the whole prototype to fit the screen ignoring resizing constraints.
        • Protowire has support for links inside symbols as well as hotspots in Sketch.

        Comparison with Mirr.io:

        • In Mirr.io to add transitions you have to go through the plugin menu each time, with Protowire you just press W while a layer is selected.
        • No visual indication how the artboards are connected.

        Neither has support for animating layers.

        7 points
        • Taylor PalmerTaylor Palmer, almost 6 years ago

          Impressive. nice work!

          0 points
        • Dan W, almost 6 years ago

          Sounds very promising

          0 points
        • Sean R, almost 6 years ago

          Hello. Does it have more interactions then Craft has or same ones? I need to try it out. Would protowire be able to do (or in future) micro interactions skipping apps like protopie or principle.

          0 points
          • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

            Does it have more interactions then Craft has or same ones?

            By interactions do you mean screen transitions?

            Would protowire be able to do (or in future) micro interactions skipping apps like protopie or principle.

            You can do micro interactions but it's currently not as powerful as Principle. I'm currently working on developing it further. The ultimate aim would be to facilitate any prototyping task with just Sketch and the plugin.

            0 points
            • Sean R, almost 6 years ago

              Sorry, yes screen transitions. Great direction. I’m going to download it but love idea of one stop shop prototyping in sketch. Great job so far.

              0 points
  • Pablo StanleyPablo Stanley, almost 6 years ago

    Looks neat, Mark! Can't wait to try it out :)

    1 point
  • Joe Roberto, almost 6 years ago

    Looks interesting. I recently had to uninstall Invision Craft plugin due to it constantly force-crashing Sketch, so this looks like an interesting prototyping solution.

    I would also love to help if you need any design help!

    1 point
  • Artur Eldib, almost 6 years ago

    This is awesome! Can't wait to try

    0 points
  • Mike A.Mike A., almost 6 years ago

    When do you plan to release it? What will be pricing?

    0 points
    • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

      When do you plan to release it?

      It will depend on how the beta testing goes. If you sign-up to the mailing list I'll let you know when it's ready.

      What will be pricing?

      I haven't decided on a price yet. It will work similar to Sketch - when you decide to upgrade to the pro version you will get 1 year of updates and can continue using it after that. The reason for this, is that I will have to continuously make sure that the plugin works when a new version of Sketch is released.

      0 points
  • Luis da SilvaLuis da Silva, almost 6 years ago

    Nice job, Mark! I'm looking forward to try it! +1 Anyway to try out the beta version?

    0 points
  • Cryt ., almost 6 years ago

    Is this free ? :)

    0 points
    • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

      While it's in beta it will be free. After that it will be freemium - for small prototypes it will be free and for larger prototypes there will be a modest charge. The problem with Sketch plugins is that they need constant maintenance. With every new release of Sketch I have to make sure that it doesn't break the plugin. Luckily Sketch release a beta version so I can check it before users update Sketch.

      1 point
  • Vipul. MishraVipul. Mishra, almost 6 years ago

    Looks very promising. Keeps up the good work.

    0 points
  • James FutheyJames Futhey, almost 6 years ago

    Looks neat!

    Would love to see a simple prototyping tool in Sketch.

    Developer here as well, might be a fun project to work on (since others have offered). futhey at gmail.

    0 points
  • Mal SMal S, almost 6 years ago

    Hey Mark, great job on the plugin. How long have you been working on it? Can you interact with form fields? Would be great to use it for usability testing.

    0 points
    • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

      Thanks Mal. I've been working on it for a few months. Currently you can't interact with form fields but I'll consider adding it in the future.

      0 points
  • Jonathan De Heus, almost 6 years ago

    This looks really good! This may be too early to ask, but do you have any additional features that you'll be adding in later on?

    0 points
    • Mark Horgan, almost 6 years ago

      Thanks Jonathan. I plan on adding a timeline to the animation section so you have more control over how each of the layers is animated.

      1 point