From the experts of tablet technology, this line of interactive pen displays isn't completely new, but seems to be slow in the uptake from architectural designers. Its the new drawing board, ditch the mouse!
I had a quick play on a similar model at the
DesignBuild Expo last week, where
Productspec was fortunate enough to have the use of a Wacom interactive display unit, and I loved it.
It's inevitable that the computer screens we use should become physically activated, bridging a physiological and mental distance we've become accustomed to by using the mouse. Advances in tablets were particularly useful, where designers could ambidextrously hold the pen (once again), and (most likely) rest the other hand on a set of quick-keys familiar on the keyboard.
The integration of the drawn-hand back on to the drawing plane is a logical evolution of the architect and designer.
It also allows a more seemless evolution for new digital users, who may have a dexterity (and sensitivities) for the pen-in-hand, but have trouble negotiating the 'blindness' of using the mouse, which visually dislocates the hand from the drawing process -a factor not to be scoffed at.
Australian academic Gevork Hartoonian has already written about the significance of the body's (and mind's) shift from drawing on the drawing board to the screen -the horizontal (or angular) to the vertical.
Access that here (Hartoonian, Gevork(2009) 'The Drawing Position',
Architectural Theory Review, 14: 3, 248 — 259).
The other benefit the Wacom Cintiq series offers is pen pressure-sensitivity. Users of tablets will be familiar with this, but it is a revelation to start sketching (in Sketchbook Pro for example) digitally with a pressure-sensitive brush in hand, you must really hunt one down to have a go.
Wacom products should be available and Harvey Norman or any decent digital technology provider, and to be honest, you'll pay only a bit more than what you might've, or do, spend on a high-end CPU and screen. The 21-inch model is going for about $3,500 and is compatible across Windows and Mac software.
Wacom have also provided a few Case Studies which give some idea of the their application, although nothing there specifically touches on architectural drawing. The closest combo worth checking out is the
Industrial Design applications, and
Medical Imaging and Analysis (a pretty good analogy to architecture I think...), and
this is a good video demo from Marcel De Jong, Solutions Engineer at Autodesk, demonstrating how Wacom's Cintiq 21UX improves a Maya to Mudbox workflow -again, not ideal software, but you'll recognise the generaly layout and interactivity.
The Wacom Cintiq 21UX.
Check out the
Cintiq series here.