Microsoft Surface Pro

#8

Ahh out of the box the pressure sensitivity is fine what I was referring to is 3rd party software like your regular windows programs not reading the sensitivity yet. Apps like FreshPaint and Sketchbook work beautifully already with no issues. Here is a quick video I tossed together this afternoon showing me running Zbrush since enough people have asked me how it handles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZj-0IlhpuM

The response and feedback is smooth, it can be an immensely powerful tool if they get multi touch functions or other input working with it. Same issue for now though with Zbrush not reading the pressure, decent enough that I will use it to sculpt rough ideas or base meshes.

#9

Andrew, are you looking for a windows store app (with the modern UI feel), to do story boards with?

Something that could utilize Charms for sharing, cloud storage (like skydrive), and the ability to do quick markups with say… PNG files or with video files… (perhaps being able to scrub them)?

… just curious.

#10

it is a very pricey device compared to all other competitors

It’s not actually… 1920x1080 laptops start at around 1100$ too. If you consider the small size factor, the Surface Pro is actually a pretty good deal.

The 13inch base macbook pro with only 1280x800 resolution is already 1200$. With the surface, you get 1920x1080, touchscreen, SSD drive + Pen digitizer for 100$ less.

A very fair price to improve your workflow I think.

#11

Exactly, I don’t think anything exists yet though it would be great to draw up a storyboard in a app that could have layers like Photoshop while it saves to a directory on my cloud syncing all content across the board so everyone in a production can see progress. It would be even more useful because on set I can take a pic with the tablet, draw ideas over it and instantly upload to the cloud my idea or progress.

#12

The Surface Pro looks really interesting, but I am waiting to buy untill this summer, since Wacom announced their own tablet will be coming out by then.

#13

If you have a Windows8 tablet then you definitely want to install the FOSS app MyPaint:

http://mypaint.intilinux.com/?page_id=6

It has been smooth as butter on my old Asus ep-121 and has been really the only app I keep coming back to use the tablet for. Unfortunately, the latest 1.1 version is still Linux only, but will arrive eventually. It will really help the workflow with onscreen panning/rotation, which is the biggest hindrance on a tablet with the 1.0 version.

Pressure sensitivity is fine with Mypaint, as I had installed the Wacom driver, but unfortunately the Wacom calibration tool is only 4 point and is slightly off compared to the inbuilt Windows one. I would rather have the calibration slightly off (mainly as you get towards the edges) than have no pressure sensitivity. Krita is the other FOSS app that is growing in leaps and bounds and has the Mypaint brush engine builtin. Can see it eventually being a full Photoshop replacement for studios with its Linux support and OpenColorIO capabilities.

Hopefully with Wacom working on their own tablet, they will get their driver/calibration act together and this will have a nice ripple on effect to all the other Win tablet makers!

#14

Hmm I might try a wacom driver on mine to see if that can at least be a temp fix, any link or reference for what you used that worked?

#15

I just downloaded the generic Windows driver from the Wacom site. Checkout this forum first, before you descend into driver hell, as I don’t know the specifics of the Surface:

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/microsoft/

#16

just to confirm with the Surface Pro… out-of-the-box, i installed AD Sketchbook Pro and pressure sensitivity was working fine with the included pen… much better than what I was expecting actually.

However, the stylus is no where near as nice as the Wacom and they are not compatible.

There’s a few annoying aspects of this device (besides that price point)… I was considering making a short review video of it (depends if I have time) or just list the issues i have with it.

I plan to check out mudbox and maya on it just for giggles… it only has 4GB of RAM… which again, at this price point is lacking… seriously lacking. I’m not expecting any miracles here on those.

I will be returning this one though… there’s a lovely “bubble” in the center of the LCD about the size of a penny that over saturates colors… (hey QC… WTF!)

#17

well scratch the mudbox idea… “must be amd or nvidia hardware”… lol. that’s a bummer.

#18

I lost interest quickly because it uses an ARM processor and there’s virtually no software available for Windows RT. I haven’t used a Windows RT device yet but I don’t think they can use Windows software that people are used to (like Photoshop for example, compiled for x86). It might run software compiled for x86 but it would have to be emulated which would dramatically affect performance.

It’s a good thing that Microsoft is taking ARM seriously but it’s going to be huge mess for a while as developers figure out how to manage multiple architectures (distribution, support, etc.). Either that or they just ignore Windows RT completely like the Itanium builds of Windows.

Open source software can handle multiple architectures much more effectively than closed source software because the source can usually just be compiled on another architecture (maybe some small tweaks). So anyone can package and maintain whatever they want on a new architecture, but products from Adobe, Autodesk, and the like have a more complex journey from the developers to the end users which is probably what has hindered Windows and it’s software ecosystem on other architectures in the past.

#19

MS Pro is not ARM- it’s full powered Intel i5 processor. That’s wherein lies the confusion with consumers.

Granted I used the Pro at BB with a pen and ended up getting a Fujitsu t901 for $455 off ebay and sold my Dell m6600 (we ironically started carrying them at work so now I get them for free).

The t901 is great but takes some know how to get it going. best part is swappable battery, HDD and added RAM up to 16GB- there is a t902 with higher res screen but it’s 16:9 whereas the t901 is still 16:10.

I think Lenovo has some really good hardware coming out from wireless monitors with pen inputs to the Helix- that’s the route I’d go if I was looking to spend more; although the monitors are said to be close to the price I paid for the t901.

#20

I was waiting for the Surface Pro but ended up springing for the Ativ700t which I love. I actually designed a case for the 700t on the 700t. :slight_smile: I love the portability and I’m getting better at doing without the keyboard. ArtDock helps… I’m thinking I’ll get a helix next. Ill design a case for that as well. Check out my work on the 700t.

http://youtu.be/-QlsQIz71KU

Great for drawing artists!

Isaiah

#21

This is marvelous news!

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/10/4317986/surface-pro-pressure-sensitive-wacom-driver-download

#22

anybody know a way i can do this with the surface pro, preferrably over a wireless network?

http://www.schrein06.abk-stuttgart.de/aaa.jpg

#23

I’m glad to know that, didn’t try it myself but I want this kind of tablet, and it seems amazing you get wacom for free. Maybe not for professional use, but for some quick sketches it’s a cool idea. Even if it wouldn’t be wacom I’d buy it, but wacom… wow.

#24

About time!
Given how Wacom priced the cintiq13 the much hyped soon-to-come full tablet has become a lot less appealing, largely on account of how expensive it will probably be.

The Surface pro has just become interesting again. Pretty damn interesting in fact.
Will need to find out if the OS/installs can be creamed and replaced with no issues and with all drivers still working properly for the stupid storage hogging issues, it might end up being a backup plan that doesn’t suck if Wacom puts their tablet out for 2k or something stupid like that.

#25

I don’t think an official microsoft-wacom joint update has happened yet though I put the tablet pc driver here :http://www.wacom.com/en/support/drivers on and saw my sensitivity and even some multi touch working. I am already ecstatic about this and if they actual Microsoft ones add multi touch pan/zoom/etc (gestures) in stuff like photoshop/zbrush the purchase will be extremely justified in my book hah. I originally bought it to have a smaller portable productivity device (had a large gaming laptop before) now I can draw up frames for animation or concepts while on the train like its my wacom at home. The office cloud helps too because I keep project files in there so I instantly have any progress I do while traveling at home (free phone wifi hotspot for sync).

#26

(from clone thread my post)

Photoshop CS6 is working splendidly now, full pen support, no gesture yet though from what I roamed that is just on mac side and cintiq. I guess Wacom doesn’t want to push out drivers with full gesture support to all platforms in order to keep customers drawn to the cintiq? Who knows though maybe that will be the cherry on top if I can move my canvas with flicks of my fingers while I draw :slight_smile:

Also regarding the post about using it as a drawing tablet to another screen, I don’t think you can do it wireless really. I bought the adapter to push my feed to HDMI, it uses a mini DP port on the tablet if I remember correctly so I am sure there are other adapters from Microsoft and 3rd parties. Same thing as pushing out your computer display to a 2nd monitor since it is just a computer.

#27

I ended up giving it two thumbs down unfortunately… just didn’t suite my needs. I think for the right purpose, it could be really beneficial.