Comparison

Lucinate vs Shademix

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Lucinate

Create algorithmic art, generative visuals, and video synthesis with a modular graphics studio. Explore the intersection of math and graphics for intricate stills, evolving patterns, and interactive shader art. Turn abstract ideas into visual form for creation, play, and performance.

Highlights
  • Algorithmic art creation
  • Generative visuals
  • Video synthesis
  • Modular flexibility
  • Parametric shaders
  • Custom shader coding
  • MIDI and audio modulation
  • Beat-synced visuals
Features
Read full description

A creative environment for generative art, live visuals, and video synthesis. Blend layers, modulate any parameter with audio, MIDI, and LFOs, sync to the beat, and code your own shaders in the built-in MSL editor. Perform live or record to video. One purchase, no subscription. Use it for shader art, beat-synced visuals, audio/MIDI-reactive VJ sets, image processing, or exploring the aesthetics of algorithms. METAL SHADER ENGINE • Universal app built on Metal for Mac, iPad and iPhone • 16-bit color HDR rendering pipeline • MSL shader editor to learn, tweak, or code your own shaders using the bundled Metal Shading Language library • Includes parametric shaders for image adjustments, effects, patterns, gradients, texture utilities, coordinate space transforms, shader art examples, and more MODULAR ARCHITECTURE • Any number of Tracks, Layers, and Modulators • Advanced layer blending and masking • Deep modulation with MIDI, CV, LFOs, audio reactivity, and more • Route modulation and image signals between Tracks • Use live camera, imported video clips, and image assets as visual input CONNECTIVITY & OUTPUT • Syphon and NDI® real-time video output (Mac only) • Beat-synchronization via Ableton Link or MIDI clock • Receive audio from other apps via Ableton Link Audio • Record your results to video or export still images • Supports external displays and projectors BUY ONCE, OWN FOREVER • No subscriptions, in-app purchases, or ads • One purchase covers Mac, iPad and iPhone NOTE: On Mac, this app requires Apple Silicon or Intel with integrated GPU. NDI® is a registered trademark of Vizrt NDI AB.

About

Shademix

This app is a comprehensive color toolkit for designers, decorators, and brand teams. It allows users to sample colors from photos, live camera feeds, or screen captures and see them within various global color systems. It offers advanced features like harmony generation, contrast checking, and color blindness simulation.

Highlights
  • Color sampling from photos, camera, and screen
  • Support for 10 global color systems
  • Perceptual color matching and harmony generation
  • Multiple color format conversions
  • WCAG contrast checker
  • Color blindness simulation
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Shademix is the color toolkit professional designers, decorators and brand teams keep on their phone. Sample any color from a photo, the live camera or the screen - then instantly see how it sits inside ten of the world's color systems: RAL Classic, NCS, Pantone (approximate visual equivalents), HKS and Munsell. Get the closest matches with a perceptual ΔE distance, copy the code with one tap, jump to the same hue family, or build a palette from harmonies that are perceptually tuned in OKLCH so they look as balanced as they read. KEY FEATURES • Eyedropper that works on photos, the live camera and any screen capture • 10 cross-system matches per color, with a one-tap copy on every swatch • 8 color formats - HEX, RGB, HSL, CMYK, HSV, LAB, LCH and OKLCH • 7 perceptually-tuned harmonies - complementary, analogous, monochromatic, triadic, tetradic, split-complementary and square • 30 curated mood palettes - Tokyo Neon, Studio Ghibli, Bauhaus, Cyber Mint, Velvet Plum and 25 more • WCAG contrast checker with full pairwise table for the active palette (AA, AAA, large-text) • Color blindness simulation (Brettel) for protan, deutan and tritan deficiencies • Lighting / metamerism preview under D65, D50, F2 and incandescent illuminants • OKLCH gradient generator with copy-ready CSS • Print gamut warning that flags out-of-CMYK saturation and proposes an in-gamut substitute • Save unlimited palettes - compare up to four side-by-side, share via signed link • Export to JSON, CSS, PDF, Tailwind, Adobe .ase, GIMP .gpl, Photoshop .aco, SVG, Figma, Sketch and Procreate OFFLINE FIRST Shademix runs entirely on your device. Nothing you sample, save or share leaves your phone unless you explicitly hit Share. No accounts. No tracking. No ads. EVERYTHING UNLOCKED Every color system, every format, every harmony, every export — all available to every user. No paywalls, no upgrade prompts, no nag screens. WHY DESIGNERS CHOOSE SHADEMIX Most color apps stop at HEX/RGB. Shademix bridges screen and material - the OKLCH value your CSS needs and the RAL or Pantone code the printer or paint shop wants. The same toolkit for designers, architects, decorators, illustrators, photographers, brand strategists and anyone who has ever stood in front of a wall trying to match a swatch. Pantone equivalents notice. Shademix includes a curated set of approximate visual equivalents labelled with the prefix PE-. They are for design exploration only and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or licensed from Pantone LLC. PANTONE® is a trademark of Pantone LLC. RAL®, NCS® and HKS® are trademarks of their respective owners; codes are listed for reference only.

Screenshots

Lucinate4 screens
Shademix4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Shademix at Free against Lucinate's $29.99. Shademix also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). Lucinate's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.0) and chart position (#48 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Shademix is free to download; Lucinate costs $29.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lucinate holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lucinate has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lucinate ships an update monthly, Shademix every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Lucinate versus Shademix: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLucinateShademix
Price$29.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better3.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#48 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKymatica ABRosen Ganev

In-app purchases

None

Lucinate

No in-app purchases

None

Shademix

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lucinate free?
Lucinate costs $29.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shademix free?
Shademix is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lucinate or Shademix?
Lucinate is rated higher. Lucinate averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Shademix averages 3.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Lucinate or Shademix have ads?
Neither Lucinate nor Shademix shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lucinate or Shademix?
Lucinate ships an update monthly, and Shademix every 4 days. Most recently, Lucinate was updated on November 4, 2026 and Shademix on October 31, 2026.

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