Wacom Inkling

Graphic designers, you’ll understand this – a sketch on paper always looks better than when you’ve scanned it in and drawn around it on the computer. Why? Well for one, it’s difficult to reproduce your sweeping, natural, freehand style with a mouse. And secondly, the lineweights in your sketch can vary dramatically. Getting them to match in your graphics application can be a nightmare.

Still with us, non-graphics types? Excellent. Because we’ve found a high-tech pen that’ll render the whole of that last paragraph irrelevant! With the Wacom Inkling you can sketch, draw or make notes on any kind of paper; then upload an exact match to your computer.

The Wacom Inkling may look like an ordinary ballpoint pen, but inside this high tech tool, all manner of advanced gadgetry logs each time it touches the paper – tracking not just where each line has been drawn, but the pressure you’ve applied as well. Draw on any kind of paper you like – lined, plain, graph, sand – as long as it’s within A4 size the Inkling Receiver will clip onto it and log your pen strokes. It’ll even let you separate your sketch into layers. So at the push of a button you can lay out construction lines, then sketch lines, then finished lines, then shading, then notes all on one piece of paper. Once they’re uploaded to your computer you can split them up again.

When you’re ready to upload your data to the computer, just plug in the receiver via USB. You can upload the files as bitmap or vector versions and save them as your application’s standard file type or as JPEGs, PNGs, PDFs or SVGs.

The whole kit comes in a handy travel case. How handy, you say? Well, when the pen or receiver is running low on battery power, slot them into the case and connect it to your computer’s USB port. Safe in their case, you can charge both bits of kit at the same time. Magic!