Had a couple of glitches, but everything turned out ok. I really rushed out a super rough demo of drawing. I'm a really loose and lazy artist, but even this was a bit too loose for my taste.... But got it out quickly an idea of a character, which was the point of the demo :)
MAKE also posted a 3D color print of Jet Vac compared to production toy:
Disclaimer: I'm a Wacom fanboy. I'm an also a SketchBook Pro fanatic. Neither one asked me to do this review.... no matter how many times I've begged. So now that's out of the way, let's get to this Inkling business.
Wacom Inkling took the digital art world by storm when it was announced in August. I pre ordered it as soon as I saw it.. After months of delays, I finally got my hands on one. Here is my video review:
I preordered the Inkling as soon as I saw it. If it was another hardware company, I don't think I would have pull the trigger so eagerly. Wacom understand artists, and the inkling's hardware is what I had expected, but the software is a real poop on a stick. Most of my complaints about the Inkling is in the software, so hopefully Wacom will address these buggy issues soon with updates.
Hardware Pros:
-Great design package.
-Can use standard pen refills
-Pen is very good, I've never used this type of ballpoint pen to sketch, I love it!
-Can be used as an input device for your computer
Hardware Cons:
-The pen took forever to charge, and after a few uses, it seems to be staying in the red longer and longer.
-It's not completely accurate, hope that this can be improved in the future.
-Inkling clip is very small. When touching the new layer button, it can shift the device a bit, and offset the layer. Even just drawing in the sketchbook, your pen seems to bounce the device around a bit.
Sketch Manager problems:
-Missing SketchBook Pro icon, when SketchBook Pro is purchased through the Mac app store.
-When exporting to SketchBook Pro, the lines are completely jittery.
-Within Sketch Manager, the lines have verying width based on pressure, but no opacity levels.
-Can not render a Speed Drawing video.
-UI is not very intuitive, just feel buggy overall.
SketchBook Pro bonuses:
-Can open WPI files directly!!!Thanks Chris Cheung at Autodesk for telling me about this!
-Uses default canvas size, so can generate a huge images from inkling data.
-Uses last used brush and color, can generate your drawing with SketchBook's beautiful lines, and reproduce something very similar to the original pen sketch on paper.
Here are some examples:
Problem: export from Wacom Sketch Manager, super wiggly lines
Solution: Open the same WPI file from SketchBook Pro shows much better results
Digital files examples:
Sketch of Arbo from Skylanders
Test Sketch generated by Inkling
Sketch from above, colored in SketchBook Pro
Photos for comparison:
Bottom line, Wacom Inkling + Autodesk Sketchbook Pro = killer combination. It allows pure digital artists like myself to fall in love with real pen and paper again. I love having a piece of paper that I call an "original", yet flexible enough for me to work digitally. Inkling by itself with the current Sketch Manager software, is a fun little toy. At $200 a pop for the Inkling, you really want much more than a gimmicky toy.... But InklingBook Pro is a real artist tool, I'm looking forward to using more of it.
