Wacom Has An Inkling

VANCOUVER, Wash., Aug. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Wacom® introduces Inkling, a new digital sketch pen that captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with its ballpoint tip on any sketchbook or standard piece of paper.  Designed for rough concepting and creative brainstorming, Inkling bridges the gap between paper sketching and digital drawing by giving users at the front end of the creative process a way to rough-out ideas with real ink on paper and capture their concepts digitally so that they can be later refined on their computer. Inkling even allows users to create layers in the digital file while sketching on paper in the following creative software applications: Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe® Illustrator® and Autodesk® Sketchbook® Pro.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110830/SF59478)

Spontaneous and Liberating

Virtually anyone who uses sketching to capture their creative ideas and wants to have their drawings in a digital format to e-mail, archive or further refine on their computer can benefit from Inkling. For example, artists, illustrators, or storyboarders who appreciate the convenience, speed and spontaneity of loosely sketching their ideas on paper could profit from the capabilities of Wacom's Inkling digital sketch pen. In everyday use, a graphic designer could use Inkling to create rough concepts on paper for a new advertising campaign and then review and share these concepts on the computer with colleagues during a brainstorming meeting later that day.  The pen and receiver store and recharge in a compact case making it easy to transport inkling between home, office, hotel or any typical workspace.

"Inkling's inspiration comes from a desire to give artistic people the freedom to draw on paper and to provide an easy way to transition the drawings to digital media," said Don Varga, Director of Professional Products at Wacom Technology Services Corp.

Inkling Specifics

The Inkling digital sketch pen is comprised of both hardware and software components.  Hardware includes both the pen and a wireless receiver that captures a likeness of the sketch and stores it digitally. The ballpoint pen uses Wacom's pressure sensing technology (1024 levels of sensitivity) to detect how hard the pen is being pressed to the paper while sketching. These pressure variations will appear in the digital version of your drawing. "Through its pressure sensitivity, Inkling captures the varied line weights created by the ink pen," adds Varga.

The receiver can be clipped to the edge of standard paper or sketchbooks and the position can be adjusted for left or right handed users to provide the receiver with an uninterrupted line of sight with the pen tip.  When sketching is complete, the receiver is connected to the user's computer via USB to transfer the digital files.   Files can be opened with the included Inkling Sketch Manager software to edit, delete or add layers as well as to change formats and transfer the files for adjustment and editing in creative software applications.

Inkling can store thousands of sketches and export layered files directly to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator (CS3 or newer), as well as Autodesk Sketchbook Pro (2011).  Alternatively, files can be saved in JPG, BMP, TIFF, PNG, SVG and PDF formats for use with other applications.  According to Varga, "Inkling's support of raster based applications such as Adobe Photoshop, as well as vector based applications such as Adobe Illustrator, will provide users with options for incorporating their preliminary sketches into further developed work."

The Ideal Companion for Intuos® and Cintiq®

Users of Wacom Intuos pen tablets and Cintiq interactive pen displays gain extra firepower by adding an Inkling to their creative arsenal.  "For those working with our professional products, the pen is already their input tool of choice," continued Varga.  "Inkling can deliver an immediate ROI to these users by delivering an accelerated and more mobile workflow resulting in digital files that can easily and quickly be transferred to their home or office computer and redrawn using the Intuos or Cintiq pen."

Availability and Pricing

Inkling ($199.00 USD) will be available online at Amazon (www.amazon.com) and the Wacom Store (www.wacom.com/store) beginning in the latter half of September.

About Wacom

Wacom's vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world's leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashions and designs around the world and provides business and home users with the ability to explore digital content creation in a comfortable, natural way. Today, millions of customers use Wacom's cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology to express their creativity.

For more information, please contact:

Douglas A. Little
Sr. Public Relations Manager
Wacom Technology Services Corp.
360-896-9833 x174
[email protected]

SOURCE Wacom Technology Services, Corp.