BumpTop For Mac 3D Desktop Interface
BumpTop is a creative 3D interface that changes the way you think about a computer desktop. After installing BumpTop users find themselves looking at a three quarter perspective view of the desktop, complete with four walls. Files and folders can be dragged around and now react with other objects in real physics. Features include the ability to group items into piles just like a real desk. The difference is that these piles are sortable and searchable. Files easily pin to any of the walls and can be stretched or shrunk to help signify importance. This can all be done using Multi-Touch gestures on the Mac trackpad.
BumpTop is a free download with a premium option for $29. The pro version removes the 2 sticky note limit and supports multi-touch and scroll wheel capabilities. There is also a find-as-you-type feature that allows users to type part of the filename and BumpTop will highlight all matches on the desktop.
Unlike the Windows version that was released last year, BumpTop for your Mac doesn’t yet include social integration for Facebook and Flickr. In the Windows version these are handy widgets that can be pinned to the wall for easy viewing. Also, there seems to be some existing issues/wish list items for multi-screen users. BumpTop defaults to one screen and does not allow switching between the two.
User interface is at a crossroad. Next week’s rumored Apple Tablet announcement is another step toward this revolution. Interfaces like BumpTop recognize that the keyboard and mouse are simply tools we use to interact with a computer. These tools have no intrinsic value other than the ease with which they facilitate that communication. New interfaces based on touch continue to gain in popularity because they are intuitive. BumpTop strikes me as uniquely suited for touch and perhaps we will see it on these devices in the near future.
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This looks cool. Have you actually used it? Does it impact your computers performance at all?
That’s a great question. I meant to make note of it in the post. In my experience it is pretty light on the processor considering the graphics involved. When I used it with the Activity monitor open I never saw the application go much over 10% of processor capacity. I used it on my machine with Photoshop, iTunes, Safari and several other applications open and I never saw any noticeable lag or even heard the fan spin up.