Tablet PC 101 #3 Draw On your Computer

May
16
2008

In the course of your day to day business, there are many things that you might need to sketch or draw.

Here are some reasons that you might want to draw something on your Tablet PC:

Artists – create digital art on screen with a pen
Graphic designers – create a sketch concept and share it quickly with your client
Construction contractors – Create a sketch for your quote and pass it on to your team
Engineers – Mark up plans on site in AutoCAD
Insurance assessors – Annotate images and notes of damage
Bored travellers – Doodle on the train or plane.

Of course drawing preceded writing as the earliest means of visual communication, and they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words.

There are just so many things that you can’t put in words. But at least with a Tablet PC you can draw them without paper!

101 Things You Could Do With A Tablet PC Tags: Art, Drawing, Sketching |

11 Comments

RSS 2.0 | Leave a response, or trackback from your own site. |

11 Responses to “Tablet PC 101 #3 Draw On your Computer”

Doug says:

May
22
2008

I’ve found passing the tablet around in meetings with one note and mirroring the screen on the projector is a fantastic collaborative tool.

For general doodling I’d recommend http://www.artrage.com/ it’s fantastic on my tablet, kids love it too. Although paint.net is also great for quick and less artistic sketches

Tablet PC says:

May
22
2008

Thanks Doug, I will add this to the 101 list!

Fabien Ric says:

May
23
2008

If you need to draw sketches on field, you can have a look at the products of the french software company EVODIA.

EVODIA has developed a range of software and services for capturing and recognising handwritten drawings.

Script&Go “Electrical Sketches” does exactly what it says : it is a range of specialist software enabling users to draw electrical sketches freehand.

EVODIA, based in Rennes, France has spent over a decade in refining this technology to offer products that are simple, quick and effective and ideal for all staff that need to make technical drawings “on the go” and transmit them to colleagues and clients.

The benefits are clear:

- ideal for technicians with mobile oriented solutions
- saves sketching time, with no need to re-input data or drag and paste
- the software can recognise handwriting and complex contents, both on-line (mobile devices) and off-line (imaged documents).
- the technology automates the analysis, recognition, and indexation of old, damaged, manuscript or graphic documents
- compatible with AutoCAD, which can directly make use of the diagrams with no need to rework them

The integration with pen-based interaction systems delivers innovative solutions to create, search, annotate, view document contents in mobile environments.

Have a look at the web pages :
http://www.evodia.fr/accueil.php?lang=en (Home page)
http://www.evodia.fr/scriptandgo.php?lang=en (Script&Go)

So, if you need a “scribble to screen” solution, Script&Go is the product for you.

Best regards,
Fabien Ric, Script&Go Product Manager.

Tablet PC says:

May
29
2008

Thanks Fabien.

I have noticed this solution, and I have it queued up in my 101 list for a separate entry too!

Very interesting.

- Brett

Fabien Ric says:

May
30
2008

Thanks Brett !
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you want more information about our products and company.
Fabien.

Amkay says:

Nov
19
2008

Hi,

I’m sort of a dedicated graphic artist and I was wondering if you have any tablet PC recommendations for me.

So far I’ve tested some tablet PCs recently and I noticed:
1) there has been a lag between the tablet pen and the actual movements. (i.e. when I draw a line a bit faster, the cursor is chasing my pen nib from behind).

2)Or sometimes i when i draw a quick one-line circle, it fails to detect the whole path and one side of the circle becomes a straight line (i.e the circle looks like a “D” instead of an “O” )

This never happens when I use a Graphic tablet (Wacom Bamboo Fun).
I’ve been spoiled with the super fast respond rate of the Wacom Graphic tablets.

My question is: Is this a limitation of a tablet PC (slow pen-sensor respond rate) ? Can a tablet PC compare to a fully dedicated Graphics tablet? and if there is, could you recommend me one?

Many thanks in advance

-Amkay

Tablet PC says:

Nov
19
2008

Hi Amkay,

Most, but not all Tablet PCs actually use a Wacom digitiser.

We don’t generally find lag to be a problem with Wacom tablets. I also tested the scenario that you mentioned on my Motion Computing LE1700 (Wacom) and found no such effects.

What Tablet PCs were you using?

Some Tablet PCs use a touch screen instead of a Wacom digitiser, and that would certainly account for the experience that you mentioned. Touch screen tablets are not pressure sensitive and are nowhere near as fast or accurate.

It could also be that it was an older model that was just slow or over loaded in general.

Amkay says:

Nov
21
2008

I tested a Fujitsu (not sure what was the model name) but the store owner says it uses Wacom digitizer and it doesn’t have a touchscreen feature..although I’m still not convinced since he said “yes” to everything else

But disregarding that, I want to know if that’s an issue with the new HP Pavillion TX2500 and TX2Z models? I live in Australia and there isn’t a proper dealer for HP here and I plan to get it from UK thru a relative.

I’m a speed artist so I generally draw at this speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib1gu7BtGZ4
(theres a little loss of speed cuz of the low framerate video but u get the idea – the spiral I drew at the end was flawless)
The wacom Graphic tablet I use senses every stroke

I’ve searched high and low for forums where digital artists give comments about tablet PCs but I could never find one.
So I was wondering if its a good idea to just stick with my graphic tablet as a peripheral or get a tablet PC

Thanks a lot again

-Amkay

Tablet PC says:

Nov
21
2008

Hi Amkay,

Have you seen this video?
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=61V801WV7Dw

It is done on a Tablet PC, which was a Fujitsu T3010. There is a series of these demos.

If you are in Melbourne, you can contact us to try out a Tablet PC. We are visiting Sydney in December too. So feel free to contact us to try one out.

Amkay says:

Nov
21
2008

Oh, I didn’t notice that this website is based in Melbourne.
Would I need to make appointments to try out ?

Thanks again for answering my questions

-Amkay

Tablet PC says:

Nov
24
2008

Hi Amkay, Yes… Contact us through the website http://www.tabletpc.com.au to make an appointment.