Camera Lucida vs Translucent
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Camera Lucida
Transform your phone into a tracing projector using augmented reality. Overlay any image onto a surface and draw it with ease. Perfect for artists and hobbyists looking to enhance their drawing skills.
- Augmented reality drawing
- Trace images onto paper
- Intuitive user interface
- AR tracing templates
- Accurate perspective rendering
Read full descriptionHide full description
Camera Lucida is a revolutionary app that brings the experience of drawing on paper to life with augmented reality. Create amazing drawings using your phone's camera and bring them to life! Our app makes it easy to draw on paper with the power of augmented reality. With its intuitive user interface, you can quickly create stunning artwork on any paper surface. Unleash your creativity and explore the possibilities of augmented reality with our app! Using Camera Lucida app is the same thing as always having a sheet of tracing paper. It allows you to duplicate key points of the scene on the drawing surface, thus aiding in the accurate rendering of perspective. Choose any image you'd like to draw then look at your screen while you trace the image on paper Our app is not affiliated with Camera Lucida app created by Peter Moeykens. We provide artists with our original AR tools and tracing templates. Privacy - https://playhawker.github.io/privacy/ Terms - https://playhawker.github.io/terms/ Support - playhawker@gmail.com
Translucent
This app transforms your device into a digital light box, offering a premium library of over 220 professional tracing images. It provides advanced camera overlay and drawing tools to help artists of all levels improve their skills and create detailed artwork.
- Premium image library with 222+ curated tracing images
- Adjustable opacity camera overlay
- Pinch-to-zoom with 20x capability
- Grid overlay and filter modes
- Import own images and reference photos
- Lifetime access to new images
Read full descriptionHide full description
TRACE ANYTHING ONTO REAL PAPER. YOUR PHONE IS THE LIGHT BOX. Hold your phone over a sheet of paper and the drawing appears on the page through the screen. Trace what you see. No printer, no carbon paper, no taping a page to a sunny window. YOUR OWN PHOTOS ARE FREE. FOREVER. Import any picture from your camera roll, set the opacity, trace it. The light box, zoom, rotate and your own photos are not behind a paywall and never will be. That is the whole point of the app. HOW IT WORKS 1. Pick a drawing from the library, or import a photo of your own. 2. Hold your phone over your paper, or pin the drawing to the page with AR. 3. Trace the lines you see through the screen. 400 DRAWINGS, 104 OF THEM FREE Animals, Anime, Architecture, Cartoon, Fantasy, Food, Nature, Objects, People, Tattoo and Vehicles, at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Real line art drawn for tracing, not photos run through a filter. 348 STEP-BY-STEP LESSONS Every lesson is built out of the drawing itself: big shapes first, then structure, then detail. You watch a face or a dragon assemble one stage at a time instead of copying a finished picture and hoping. AR ANCHORING Pin the drawing to your paper and it stays there. Move your phone, tilt it, set it down and pick it up, and the drawing is still exactly where you left it. No more propping your phone against a coffee cup. EVERY TOOL - Opacity, zoom, rotate, pan - Canvas lock, so your palm cannot knock the drawing out of line - Hands-free mode - Grid overlay, flip and mirror - Contrast, brightness and color filters for difficult light - Torch for tracing in the dark - Line art: turn a photo of your own into clean traceable outlines - Layer breakdown: a drawing split into its build-up stages - Strobe: the reference blinks off so you can see your own lines - Practice timer and daily streaks - Time-lapse: record a session and share it - Kid Mode: the whole library, none of the clutter - Works offline. No account, no sign-up. PERFECT FOR Artists learning proportion and perspective. Anime and manga. Tattoo artists transferring flash. Embroidery, quilting and cross-stitch patterns. Calligraphy and hand lettering. Woodworking and pyrography templates. Classroom and homeschool. Kids learning to draw. Anyone who was ever told they cannot draw. Tracing is not cheating. Artists have traced for centuries to study proportion and build the hand-eye coordination freehand drawing needs, which is why the lessons here take a drawing apart instead of just showing you the answer. FREE - The light box: opacity, zoom, rotate, pan, grid, filters, torch - Your own photos, unlimited - 104 drawings - 3 saved projects, 3 guided lessons, 3 strobe sessions - Canvas lock, hands-free, AR anchoring, practice timer - Supported by ads PREMIUM - All 400 drawings and all 348 lessons - Unlimited saved projects - Unlimited line art, layer breakdown and strobe - Time-lapse export with no watermark - No ads Already bought the Premium Library? You keep it, and you will never be asked to pay again. PREMIUM PLANS Premium Weekly - $6.99 per week Premium Yearly - $39.99 per year, after a 3-day free trial Premium Lifetime - $69.99, one payment, does not renew Prices are shown in your own currency before you confirm. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is switched off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of that period. Manage your subscription or switch off auto-renew in your device Settings after purchase. Any unused part of a free trial is forfeited when you buy a subscription. Terms of Use (EULA): https://aylan-apps.com/privacy/translucent-tracing/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://aylan-apps.com/privacy/translucent-tracing/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Translucent at 3.7 against Camera Lucida's 1.8. Translucent also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and review sentiment (20% vs 4%). Camera Lucida's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Camera Lucida sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Translucent sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Translucent holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Translucent has 26 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 4% of Camera Lucida's written reviews are positive against 20% of Translucent's.
Camera Lucida ships an update every 6 weeks, Translucent every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.
| Parameter | Camera Lucida | Translucent |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.8 (4 ratings) | 3.7 (26 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 4.4% of reviews | 20.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 26 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.4 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 207 MB | 101 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ilya Koryakin | mounir tajaouart |
Customer experience
Camera Lucida
Translucent
In-app purchases
Camera Lucida
- Lucida Premium$4.991 Month
- Yearly subscription$6.991 Year
- Lucida Premium$9.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Lucida Premium3 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lucida Premium$19.99
Translucent
- Premium Library$2.99








