August 22, 2008

An open letter to my tablet PC

Dear Tablet PC,

I was wrong about you. You are the most perfect, perfect digital art tool I have ever imagined. I was too quick to judge, and I didn't give you a chance to show me what you were truly capable of. I didn't even ask you if you had a sensitivity setting, and for that I apologize. I'm glad I came back and gave you the attention you deserve. I am loath to imagine how close I came to being with you every day and never knowing your full potential.

Please accept my heartfelt apology.

Written by a contrite Kristina Friday, August 22, 2008 at 03:42

August 05, 2008

Painting on the tablet PC... well, mostly not

I'm looking forward to a time in the not-so-distant future when I can feel good about pulling out paints and supplies and make a big mess and spend time painting something lovely. In the meantime, though, I've purchased a little tablet PC in hopes that it might be a nice interim solution... a sort of couch-meets-paints stopgap for me. I'm not so sure yet about using it for art, but it turns out that I now have a really cool take-anywhere laptop. A tablet PC (or at least this tablet PC, which, before you ask, is Penabled) is really not the ultimate hybrid of screen and tablet that I imagined it to be, although it is 50 times cooler than a regular laptop. In fact, since my regular tablet is not a Wacom and I prefer its pressure response immeasurably, I find myself wondering if my "lower quality" tablet isn't actually precisely the right quality for me.

It wasn't easy to figure out which tablet PC might be good for an artist. Most of my research suggested that no tablet PC was truly intended for the purpose except a few models from Motion Computing. A combination of the expense and my unfamiliarity with the brand (Motion who?) put me off, so I decided the best thing to do would be to get a used-to-be-top-of-the-line secondhand machine, spend some time getting comfortable with it, and use the experience to judge whether it'd be worth eventually looking into the newer expensive models. So I got myself a TC1100 from HP Compaq. It's about three years old, and was one of the first tablets to earn itself a great reputation.

Nobody out there on Internet was saying, "If you're an artist, get the TC1100!" which is what I was hoping to find. But nobody was saying, "If you're an artist, stay away from this computer!" and that gave me hope. Forum archives did lead me to a few sneering snobs, warning against buying anything but a printer from HP. But I've seen HP laptops survive dutifully for years without any unusual problems, so such blanket criticism was easy to dismiss. The only caveat I read about the TC1100 that sounded like a realistic danger was the occasional cryptic mention of a "flaw" in the digitizer... but nobody would say what it was! I made sure the outlet where I purchased it allowed returns (30 days), and when the computer arrived, I set about looking for the "flaw."

It turns out the reason I couldn't find anyone talking about it was because it's fairly hard to describe. And it's important to note that, while I did discover the flaw within a couple of weeks, I've decided it's not a problem. But I understand why it's a problem for architects and AutoCAD artists. It has to do with drawing straight lines slowly. Which I don't do.

I'm not at all sure why it only affects lines drawn slowly, or exactly how it works. But wave patterns from something inside the computer interfere slightly with the digitizer in the tablet (please don't ask me to explain it more technically than that), so that when you draw a diagonal line very slowly, you'll see tiny little cricks in the line at regular intervals where your diagonal line gives way to one-pixel corners, then gets back on track. Draw the line a little faster and you won't see a single imperfection, but if you're holding a ruler over your screen, trying to get the perfect diagonal line down to the pixel... well, my best advice is to use the vector tool, but I guess I don't have all the details.

Long story short, I adore the whole computer, and if I knew anyone else who was even vaguely considering buying a cheap laptop I'd recommend it until I turned blue. But that doesn't necessarily make it ideal for painting.

This might be a problem that could be fixed with the right drivers. I don't know for sure that it isn't. But the screen lacks the sensitivity I've come to appreciate with my $60 USB tablet, and lines that I draw with it lack any natural grace. Plus, damn it, laptops are hot. I'm sure that's why we started calling them "notebooks." Nobody likes laptops on their lap. Nobody.

I'm going to keep trying, but I'm not super confident that it'll ever become something that's great for art.

So for now, I'm still not painting. But at least I'm thinking about it.

Written by a knowledgable Kristina Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at 02:01