There are more online libraries offering a possibility to download the sources for creating a tactile images using different technologies. Those can include simple but very powerful braille graphics, dots graphics, tactile relief images for thermofoil, ZY Fuser, databases of 3D models source files and more.
(this article is going to be updated and more libraries and information can be added. Last udate on 6. 1. 2023).
- Tactile View Database: after purchasing the program Tactile View, users can enter to the database of thousands of tactile images ready for print within Tactile View.
- Tactile Graphics Image Library of American Printing House (TGIL);
- BTactile;
- Just for Fun” Braille Designs of Paths to Literacy;
- Tactile graphics library of Perkins School for the Blind
- Six Dots Art by Lena;
- Braille ASCII Generator;
- Imageshare – Accessible Graphics Library: STEM library of of Bookshare;
Very precise description of different libraries with many details can be found on the blog of Veronica Lewis/Veronica With Four Eyes: FREE BRAILLE ART AND TACTILE IMAGE LIBRARIES: WORLD BRAILLE DAY 2024.
TactileView: Software to create tactile graphics
Here some details about the software TactileView offered by the Dutsh company Thinkable:
With TactileView black and white graphics can be created to print them with a braille emposser or to print them in inc and take tactile copies on swell paper.
Labels in brqaille or normal letters can be included. It is possible to import graphic files and you can also design own graphics.
You can draw images with tools used by sighted persons, but there are also tools which blind people can use to create their own graphis, as follows:
– You can insert and combine geometrical shapes as triangles, squares, circles and more and position them on the paper.
– You can fill areas with different designs like dots, stripes or wafes.
– You can insert straight or other lines by defining points through which the line pass.
– You can import maps of countries or cities and edit them.
– You can insert mathematical grphs.
– you can inport ready tactile images from a library, e.g. artworks, buildings or graphics of biological topics.
TactileView is not cheap, but it allows even blind people to create a wide range of different graphics.
You can test the software for free without the possibility to safe files and printing only with a water-mark.
You can use any graphic-able braille embosser to print dot grphics with TactileView.