Sketch Pad: Wacom's Inkling Makes Instant Digitization of Your Drawings a Reality

If you like to draw, as well as work in Photoshop and Illustrator, you’re going to be in luck here. Manufacturer of the industry-standard Intuos and Bamboo tablets, Wacom announced another tool that has plenty of merit for designers and creatives. Called the Inkling, this device allows you to use a ball-point stylus with ink (similar to a pen) to digitize any drawings sketched with it to your computer. 

This is a pretty cool concept. I know, I know, it isn’t revolutionary. The Wacom tablets do just about the same thing. However, many professional designers or artists perfer to break away from the computer when concepting new ideas. They often obtain a fresh prespective on what to create when not tethered to that giant glaring screen (with constant distractions, such as “urgent” emails that really aren’t all that urgent). The Inkling allows them to sketch their ideas on any paper stock they want with the stylus, then bring back to the computer where they affix a small receiver to the substrate. The receiver attaches to the computer via USB, and the Sketch Manager software imports the drawing. Walla. Old school concepting with a new school twist.

Inkling lets you import your drawings as separate layers for Photoshop. I’m not sure if the Sketch Manager takes the drawing and breaks down the drawing into pieces to determine the layers, or if the person drawing hits the “import” button on the receiver each time they want a piece of the drawing to become a layer. Either way, you can further refine your layers in the Sketch Manager program, as the second video illustrates. You can also import the sketch into Illustrator, where it can be converted to vector art. Being familiar with this program’s Live Trace tool, who knows how accurate the vector re-creation is actually going to work. At least you’re dealing with a single dark color ink on a white background; tracing always tends to be more accurate when the contrast is higher. 

Be aware that the Inkling requires batteries, plus the pen uses actual ink that is proprietary to Wacom. These are a few hidden costs to think about. Overall, the $200 price tag is not bad at all for what the Inkling can do however. If you have a flatbed scanner that you use ONLY to scan new drawings, the Inkling will save you a ton of desk space right off the bat.

It’s going to be interesting to see whether or not the Inkling catches on. Wacom has a pretty good track record with their design gear (but their Nextbeat DJ controller I blogged about a couple years ago, not so much.)

Sketch Pad: A Sound Designer's Work on an Academy-Award Winning Film

“The Lost Thing” is a 15-minute Academy Award-Winning short animated film released earlier this year. The video above (forwarded to me by AbletonTutor on Twitter) is an inspiring look on how John Kassab, the Supervising Sound Editor and Designer, crafted the sound effects in the film from scratch. He speaks more of the concept itself rather than the technical side of it, making it a straightforward and interesting video even for someone without sound design experience. 

A lot of things go into crafting the audio effects in films, and in the case like “The Lost Thing”, which included over 72 different characters and very heavily developed, industrial backdrops, Kassab was certainly presented with a challenge here. As the project came together, he was often layering different sounds on top of eachother, thus creating more complex (yet transparent) sounds that mirrored the complex world of a boy trying to interact with a creature he discovers that the rest of the world could care less about. Definitely check out the last two minutes if anything, because Kassab discusses the importance of tight execution and sacrificing some work at the benefit of using only content that fits the overall theme of the movie.

SoundWorks, the company Kassab works for, is responsible for generating the sound and effects on a variety of motion pictures and TV shows.

Sketch Pad: Rare 1-Hour Documentary of Ansel Adams From 1980

While digging around youtube last night I came across an excellent 1-hour documentary from 1980 on legendary landscape photographer Ansel Adams. Although he is quite an obvious name to most creative people, very little footage of him actually exists as he died in 1984. 

Adams is best known for his work in the Yosemite valley area near where he lived in the 1930s-40s. One would think he traveled all over the world to take the pictures his portfolio included, but quite the contrary. In the documentary he discusses the zone metering system he developed, where he would take the time to correctly make multiple exposure measurements across the entire photograph (instead of just one) before taking the picture. This system he pioneered is a feature we take for granted nowadays as it is included in pretty much every standard camera on the market. Adams wasn’t just good behind the lens either; part of his talent resided in the dark room. In the second and third part of the documentary, he discusses how an endless supply of patience resulted in the ability to produce a perfectly exposed print; a very valuable (and rare) skill back in his time.

What struck me the most about this documentary is how humble Adams was about his work. In an industry saturated with people who tote rock-star level egos, Adams only seemed concerned about one thing, ever: an image that is perfect in every technical sense of the world. And speaking of rock star, there is some good footage here of Adams talking with a mate of his about his formal schooling in music, which happened to be his original career path. Despite this failing, he can still play the piano pretty damn well!

Adams studied under Alfred Stieglitz in the early 1900s. Stiglitz was married to famed painter Georgia O’Keeffe, who is also featured in this documentary towards the end. She passed away in 1986, so not much footage exists of her either.

Watch parts 4-7, and other historical documentaries, on mplayer98’s youtube page

Sketch Pad: UK 3D & Video Artist Ben Craig's Short Science Fiction Film

This is a fantastic video I recently came across on Vimeo. It was conceptualized and generated by UK artist Ben Craig as simply a fun project he worked on in his free time. Paradoxically titled “Modern Times”, it takes place well into the future, but draws an even more ironic connection with some familiar characters our grandparents might remember in their distant past. Combine the two periods together, average them out, and we’re back to the present day. 

Armed with a tightened script and a definitive gameplan, Craig shot all the footage he needed for this video against green screen backdrops in a single weekend. He then spent the next several months using 3D modeling software (Carrera Pro) along with After Effects to build the highly detailed scenery around the real life characters. Richard Mountney scored the soundtrack and the rest is history.

Second video is a behind-the-scenes look at how “Modern Times” was put together. Hopefully this nice “free” project he put together landed him a couple of freelance or full-time gigs. 

Sketch Pad: Stunning Timelapse Videos From California by Tom Lowe

What do you get when you gather a professional videographer, a Canon 5D Mark II, some of the best wide angle glass money can buy, a cinematic soundtrack, and drop it all in one of the most scenic locations in America? The two videos above provide the answer.

Tome Lowe has been making timelapse videos for several years now, and is currently in the process of working on a full-length movie entitled “Southwest Light”. Some of the footage here may be incorporated into this flick, but either way if you are interested in any of his future projects (I know I sure as hell am), be sure to check out his Twitter. You can also download these videos at full 1080p HD at timescapes.org.

This video shows a behind-the-scenes demo of what Tom is using to create these videos. He’s got a full blown, electronic dolly which keeps the camera steady, yet pans it across a short distance over a long period of time. This creates the movement you see in the videos up top.