A New Class of Computer
Summary: Tablet PC is an excellent tool for creating animation and graphics
Target Users: Artists and
animators
Platforms: Windows XP
Upon first seeing a Tablet PC about a year ago, I thought, “Hey, that’s a great tool. Perfect for sketching right into Photoshop, or creating traditional cartoon style animation, or any freehand graphics task.” Then I discovered that the manufacturers of these 21st century devices were aiming these machines at the executive on the go, the man in the meeting, the VP driven by a to-do-list. “How far off-base,” I thought, “is their target audience research?”
Well, they weren’t that far off after all. Tablet PCs are selling well, but not to what I thought was the obvious crowd. Still, there is an important and influential market that may not be aware of this potent tool.
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In case you’ve missed the Tablet PC media blitz, it is a Windows-based notebook computer ($2,300 for base model) with a touch-sensitive screen that runs Windows XP Tablet Edition. Tablet XP is pretty much the same as regular XP, but it includes a handful of special applications and an always-available on-screen virtual keyboard on which you can tap or scribble if you find yourself using a Tablet PC without a physical keyboard. The screen of the unit, however, is not just touch-sensitive, but (on most models) also pressure-sensitive. This means you can use the supplied stylus to draw right on the screen and even apply varying levels of pressure to achieve light or dark or thick or thin lines. Sounds pretty good for drawing, but for taking notes?
The model I tested is from Gateway, made by Motion Computing. It has a 933 MHz Pentium III processor, 768 MB of RAM, and a 40 GB hard drive. Although the processor is not state-of-the-art—there are newer models shipping now with faster CPUs—processor speed isn’t the issue for bitmap graphics work; however, for digital video or 3D rendering, it is.
There are two basic types of tablets: slate and convertible. Slate Tablet PCs have detachable keyboards and no internal CD or floppy drives, while convertibles are much like contemporary notebooks but have a double-hinge on the screen that allows the screen to flip around and fold back down, completely covering the keyboard. Most models of either kind have built-in WiFi (802.11b) and all the usual ports you’d expect to find on a PC. Certainly, the convertible models can replace your notebook, but they are quite a bit heavier and larger than the slate kind. The slate models aren’t much bigger than an 81/2-by-11-inch pad, and less than one-inch thick; they are great for carrying around and doodling and, well, taking notes in meetings. However, if you use one as a notebook replacement for everyday work, you’ll often wish you had a real keyboard.
That being said, every digital artist who draws or paints in Photoshop or Painter with a Wacom tablet should take a serious look at this genre of computer, but do not look at it like a notebook computer. Instead, view it like a digital sketchpad.
Necessary Software
A computer like this without the right software is a waste of hardware. Bundled as part of Windows XP Tablet Edition is an unassuming app called Windows Journal. It looks like a digital legal pad, and you can use the stylus to draw, scribble or jot notes anywhere on the page. The interface lends itself to scribbling, doodling, quick jots, and thumbnail sketches for storyboards. Words, either printed neatly or scrawled in a form of chicken-scratch cursive, can be instantly converted to text and copied to the clipboard, or used to replace the handwritten notes. The degree of success with which this works is astonishing, and it is this app alone that makes a Tablet PC so appealing. Almost.
Tablets start to really shine when using dedicated graphics apps. Sketching right into Photoshop or Painter with a stylus on a screen is an experience not to be missed. Instantly changing color or brushes or filling in large areas while working on “digital paper” takes a bit of getting used to, but, all the while, you just know it’s worth it. Storyboard or animatic artists will relish the ability to sketch and paint and make client changes without having to re-draw or re-scan artwork. After achieving some level of comfort with drawing on screen, a storyboard or animatic artist could deliver everything to a client and stick around to make the inevitable changes on-the-spot.
The surface is pressure-sensitive, allowing for variations in width or opacity of strokes. This works very well, but the screen is limited to 256 levels of pressure, not the 1,000 or so that are available in a Wacom Intuos tablet. Will you miss it? It depends on the kind of work you do. I noticed a difference, but not enough to make me turn back. Drawing on screen is certainly different from drawing on paper. The stylus is plastic, not wood, and it has a different feel both in the hand and sliding across the surface of the tablet.
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