El Ridgeway

Description

A graphics tablet associates an active plane surface low thickness and a tool intended for the hand of the user.

The active plane surface, which is commonly called “the shelf” arises, in general, under various surfaces which correspond to the standards of size of sheet of paper: A6, A5, A4, A3. The object also has more or less broad edges for an ergonomic need (possibility of holding the shelf without touching active surface, site of arrangement for the associated tool) and a functional need (skeletal keys corresponding to those of the keyboard of the computer). The associated tool is in general a Stylet. Other tools can be added sometimes like other specific stylets, a Aérographe or a mouse. This Stylet is connected with a pen or a traditional pencil. It is him even often equipped with skeletal buttons.

Type of graphics tablet

There exist two types of graphics tablets: those known as “traditional”, i.e. opaque; and those with a flagstone, in reference to screen LCD.

Traditional shelf

The graphics tablet known as “traditional” is thus oldest and is presented with an opaque active surface. The surface on which the user uses the stylet manages the pressure and the movement. But this visualization is done only on the screen of the monitor. It is thus the cursor which posts the site where the stylet is in contact with the shelf. That forces the user to look at the monitor without looking at its hand on the shelf. This way of working disconcerts with the whole beginning because the training of the writing and the drawing is done on a total vision of the hand, support and pencil. I.e., to write or draw, it is also to see its hand writing and drawing. In the case of the shelf, the way of working approaches more of the draftsman of after-nature bus this one must always look at its model, and not its sheet. Certainly, the use of the traditional graphics tablet is between the two.

Another characteristic of this shelf is the recognition of the gesture of the stylet which is different from the mouse. The latter proposes a relative movement of the cursor on the screen of the monitor, it is to say the cursor starts of the site where the hand stopped the mouse previously. For a graphics tablet, this movement is by absolute defect, i.e. the size of active surface corresponds to the size of the screen. The edges of the one corresponds at the edge of the other.

What causes a constraint when a report/ratio of size is too high between the surface of the shelf and the surface of the screen. The natural gesture carried out with the movement of the hand or the arm on the shelf and its realization of the layout posted by the movement of the cursor on the screen is likely to disconcert the user. For example, a small feature carried out on a shelf of A6 small size posts a very broad and fast feature on a broad monitor of 20 inches. Conversely, a long feature on a surface activates large A4 gives a smaller and slow feature on a small screen of 15 inches. It is this obvious absence of agreement between the gesture carried out by the body even and its interpretation in a infographic application which disturbs the draftsman. This constraint is thus to take into account at the time of the choice of the size of a graphics tablet, because it imposes an adequacy in work with the monitor. The choice of the size of active surface also depends on the natural gestuality of the user. According to the person, a feature with the stylet is carried out by the movement of the wrist or the whole front armlever. Somebody with a full gesture will be more at ease with a broad surface, and conversely, although adjustments (Zoom) are available to cure it.

The use of an opaque graphics tablet thus requires a practice facilitated by a wise choice of the peripheral according to the nature even of the Infographiste.

Shelf with screen with liquid crystals

The second type of more recent graphics tablet and currently less spread, because of its price, is the shelf with screen LCD (French ACL, posting with liquid crystals). The screen even is to him thus active surface, which makes it possible to find the natural coordination of the glance, the hand and the support. This is, of course, the future of the graphics tablet because it makes it possible the user to be again in the image.

The sizes of the shelves with screen LCD propose formats raised to allow a comfort of use, to which the possibility is added of working by positioning the shelf with the vertical or horizontal according to the desire. Indeed, the rather heavy shelf is pressed on a foot solid and swivelling which makes it possible to regulate its orientation. The only preoccupation with this style of shelf is the question about the longevity of active surface since it must undergo the pressures of the stylet but also the weight of the arm of the user when he works with the horizontal one.

It should be specified that the operation of a graphics tablet with screen LCD requires a power supply, an adapter DVI/VGA and a catch USB, the shelf acting as Moniteur also.

To note, that it is often used wrongly the word surfaces tactile to indicate the surface on which the stylet functions It acts of an active surface since only the stylet or the other tools using the same radio frequency are detected, and not an external pressure like that of a finger.

Let us note that the computers of the type Tablette PC can be regarded as graphics tablets, since they integrate all the components of them.

Function

A graphics tablet, like the adjective specifies it, is a peripheral used in priority by the Infographiste in partnership with a software of computer graphics, i.e. a graphic editor, a software of final improvements of images, a software of vectorization, a software of illustration, a software of 3D or a technical design software. A system of computer can also propose in its center of the functions using the properties of the graphics tablet like the character recognition.

The association of the shelf and the stylet is connected with the traditional figure of that of the sheet of paper and the pencil in its use.

This apparatus thus allows Dessin er on a Ordinateur with a precision and an ergonomics close to that of the traditional tools of drawing. It mitigates the lack of precision and handiness of the mice (drift, taken in hand, etc). According to the quality of the model, the shelf makes it possible to measure the pressure on the point of the pencil, the slope, rotation, hangs it, or other essential parameters in traditional drawing. The management of its parameters (pressure, slope) differs according to the software from Infographie, but the purpose of it is initially to adapt the tool to the proper sensitivity of the user.

Indeed, the graphics tablet proposes, not only, to manage the feelings of the touch but also to personalize them. The same shelf can thus be parameterized differently according to the software and its user.

It is to be specified that a certain number of functions and options present in the most used software of computer graphics relate to only the graphics tablet and is intended for a more specific work and more precis. It is possible also to obtain varied effects of which some are impossible with a simple mouse. The mimetic side of the stylet with a traditional pencil is reinforced by the fact that the majority of the software manage the reversal of the stylet like a gum.

The digital processing of the layout is about the instantaneous one. It is extremely possible to have sometimes a shift in time between the feature made by a show of hands and the realization of its layout. This problem of agreement is often explained by a bad management of the image processing by the software of Infographie or by the Ordinateur.

It is advisable to distinguish the graphics tablet which is a peripheral of seizure and the Computer graphics , which is the transposition of the pallet of the painter on the computer and which includes the computer and the design software.

History

The ancestors of the graphics tablets are known under the name of Spark or of sound shelves because they used the sound to locate the site of the Stylet, which was connected with a kind of candle which produced a click with each contact with the shelf. The object was very complex because the shelf consisted of a multitude of microphones and the sensors were very sensitive to the least interference. In 1964, the first graphics tablet being able to be connected with those current was the Rand Tablet , known also under the name of the Grafacon (coming from the English word Graphic Converter). Surface punt of the shelf consisted of a grid which offered a perfect squaring with a location of the horizontal and vertical coordinates. Each coordinate produced a magnetic signal that the Stylet located as a receiver and returned to announce its position.

The first graphics tablet intended for the public, is the KoalaPad in 1984. Intended for the base for the Apple 2, it could be adapted to all the microcomputers of the time which supported graphical interfaces like TRS-80 Color Computer, the Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit family. Other shelves appeared then; some as that of Atari were considered of very good quality although their use is very at the time restricted.

The recent graphics tablets are connected in operation with the first Rand Tablet . The system of squaring is present but more pointed; it thus allows a perfect recognition of the position of the stylet but also of its navigation on surface known as active. The magnetic signal does not stop with the shelf itself, but extends to 1 centimetre with the top approximately. That allows the recognition of the Stylet without there being a pressure. The recognition also of the latter changes according to the manufacturers. But in general, the shelf emits a signal, the Stylet is located and it is itself which modulates the signal according to the pressure and returns it to the shelf. Thus the shelf recovers information of positioning, pressure, speed, but also of slope and rotation according to the models of Stylet. After, this information is coded to be interpreted by optimized software of computer graphics.

Use

The recognition of the Stylet like tool for navigation of the cursor, following the example mouse is allowed on any computing system (Mac, PC, Unix) with the installation or the preliminary realization of a driver. Thus the Stylet can a fortiori replace the traditional tool for the simple handling of the windows, of the menus unrolling and contextual. But of course the use of the Stylet is fully total in the software of Infographie. The list of the applications which use all the functions of the graphics tablet differs according to the models and the marks, but also according to the type even of the application.

Among the recognized applications which manage the pressure of the Stylet:

3D Paint, 3D Studio max Painter Vertex, 4D Paint, 5D Cyborg
Acrylic/Expression, After FX, Amazon Paint, Amorphium, Animation Stand, Art Dabbler, ArtRage, Artstream, Will have
Cinema 4D/Bodypaint, Combustion, Commotion, Corel Draw, Corel Photo-Paint, Creator, CTP, Cult Effects
Deep Paint, Deep Paint 3D, Deneba Canvas
Eclipse, Eddie
Fireworks, Flash, Fontographer, Freehand, Full Color
iChat, iGrafx Designer, Illustrator, inkBook, Inkscape, Inkwell
Kai' S Power Tools /KPT Effects
Liberty
MagicArtist, Matador, Matrix, Maya, Media Studio Pro, Manga Studio (Comic Studio)
Painter, Painter Classic, Painter Essentials 2, PencilMan (Retas! Pro), penPalette, Photo Deluxe, Photo Impact, Photo Magic, Photonyx, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop/IT, Plastic Paper Animation, Picture Publisher, Photoimpact
Revelation Natural Art, Rita
Satori PhotoXL, Satori FilmFX64, Satori WebFX, Shake, SketchBook Pro, Softimage DS, Studio, Artist Studio, Stufio Tool
The Gimp, The, Toon Boom Studio, Toonz
TVPaint Animation Pro
WebPainter, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Xara
Zbrush

See too

Computer graphics
Digitizing tablet
Light pen

External bonds

; Manufacturers of graphics tablets

Wacom
Aiptek
Trust
Hitachi France Corporate Distribution

; Sites devoted to the graphics tablets

www.wacometmapomme.com

Random links: