Design Sojourn
Friday, May 19, 2006
Updated: I have moved!
At the fork junction, I decided to turn left and leave the beaten track and into the unknown.
After some advice from websites and fellow bloggers. I have decided to move! As it is i've already purchased this http://designsojourn.com domain name for use, but never did anything about it.
So now I have! See you all over at http://designsojourn.com or just remove the .blogspot in the url!
Note: Domain forwarding in process, so if you keep getting a server failure please try again later!
Note: Its been 1 server reset, 2 domain re-configurations, and 5 software re-installations...it hope this time its for real...sigh. Going off the beaten track is tough, really tough.
After some advice from websites and fellow bloggers. I have decided to move! As it is i've already purchased this http://designsojourn.com domain name for use, but never did anything about it.
So now I have! See you all over at http://designsojourn.com or just remove the .blogspot in the url!
Note: Domain forwarding in process, so if you keep getting a server failure please try again later!
Note: Its been 1 server reset, 2 domain re-configurations, and 5 software re-installations...it hope this time its for real...sigh. Going off the beaten track is tough, really tough.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
My Birthyday Present.
Check out my wonderful surprise birthday gift from my lovely wife. This cool laptop bag from Acme Made. Its pretty slim and perfect for that designer look, or wanting to look like a designer! The key takeaway in the design is the wonderful material. Unlike other laptop bags, its finished in a very nice cloth material with various patterns. The dotted patterns of my design makes the bag a wonderful tactile and haptic holding experience. I highly reccomend it. Oh one more thing I use it to carry a sketch book!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Concept Design Equipment Shoot-out: Part 2
The Usual Suspects!
Ok here are my tools and a short description about it and how I intent to use them.
Sketchbook + Drafting Pen
Ok here are my tools and a short description about it and how I intent to use them.
Sketchbook + Drafting Pen
I'll start off with the classic. I 'm currently using a brand new Paperchase Paperbound sketch book. Paperbound because I cant stand the spiral wire spine. This is especially after some time the wire ends come undone and basically start to rip your bag apart! The paper is pretty good. Its a bond type paper they always advice you to use in rendering class. Its smooth with good tooth, and bleed resistant.
For my drawing tool, I'll use my trusty Staedtler Mars Professional Drafting Pen 0.3. That I picked up in, of all places, Korea's Incheon International Airport.
Its has a pretty smooth ink flow and pretty comfortable to hold in the hand based on the ergonomic designed grip.
Wacom Intuos 3 Drawing Tablet
Wow is all I can say. Ignoring everything else, the Industrial Design of this product is just beautiful. The large one piece clear plastic top is a manufacturing marvel.
I bought the 9"X12" size or A4 sized version as I tend to sketch from my shoulder. Though in thumbnail sketches I also use a lot of wrist movement. In this situation, I actually reduce the active area on the tablet to an 6"X8" or A5 size equalivant.
The other thing is that I use the 9"X12" both at home and in my office. At work I have a 19" LCD monitor and the full 9"X12" sizing actually works pretty well as the mapping is almost 1:1. Athome on my 14" laptop, the 9"x12" is just too big as the active area is bigger than my actual laptop screen. Thus at home I use the reduced 6"X8" size mapping to get a closer match to my 14" laptop screen size.
In both cases, work or home, there is no lag between stylus and drawn line with the fast USB 2.0 connection the tablet uses. Software wise, I use Photoshop 9 at work, and at home I use either Artrage 2 Trial or Sketchbook Pro Trial.
Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet PC
I wont go too much into the review of this Tablet PC as a Latop PC as there are tons of reviews on it on the internet. Here are some if the better ones if you are interested:
Notebook Reviews
Tablet PC Buzz Review
In this blog I'll focus on the more important aspects to designers, the act of sketching and painting.
The specs of my loaned machine are a Pentium M 1.5 Ghz, 1GB RAM, and a 32MB NVidia Video Card. The system runs pretty smooth in most aspects.
I have also installed the latest Wacom Tablet PC drivers. This gives a lot better sensitivity control, than the standard Microsoft ones, making the Tablet PC a lot more of a drawing tool. The pressure sensitivity, however, is not as good as the Intuos 3, but its fairly decent.
Another thing to note is that when you drawing on the M200 Tablet PC the drawn line appears on the screen to lag about 5mm behind the stylus. Its not that noticeable during drawing as the line forms up behind the stylus smoothly and is not jagged. I not sure why this happens, but my guess is that its a hardware digitizer problem.
For sketching and illustration on the Tablet PC, I am using Paint shop pro, Painter and a trial version of Sketchbook pro. All the programs run and load fairly quick, but will as part of this blog go thru some intensive graphic exercises at a later time. It is important to use Painter or Sketchbook pro as this programs allow you to use the pressure sensitive drivers. Took me awhile to set every thing up the way I like it, but its finally good to go.
As an side note, I ran my copy of Rhino3D on the M200 with a large 50" TV 3D file and it operated the Nurbs modeling aspects pretty well. Shading and possibly rendering, however, is as expected a little slow.
What's Next
In the following days, I will be splitting this analysis into a few more parts and they are:
For my drawing tool, I'll use my trusty Staedtler Mars Professional Drafting Pen 0.3. That I picked up in, of all places, Korea's Incheon International Airport.
Its has a pretty smooth ink flow and pretty comfortable to hold in the hand based on the ergonomic designed grip.Wacom Intuos 3 Drawing Tablet
Wow is all I can say. Ignoring everything else, the Industrial Design of this product is just beautiful. The large one piece clear plastic top is a manufacturing marvel.I bought the 9"X12" size or A4 sized version as I tend to sketch from my shoulder. Though in thumbnail sketches I also use a lot of wrist movement. In this situation, I actually reduce the active area on the tablet to an 6"X8" or A5 size equalivant.
The other thing is that I use the 9"X12" both at home and in my office. At work I have a 19" LCD monitor and the full 9"X12" sizing actually works pretty well as the mapping is almost 1:1. Athome on my 14" laptop, the 9"x12" is just too big as the active area is bigger than my actual laptop screen. Thus at home I use the reduced 6"X8" size mapping to get a closer match to my 14" laptop screen size.
In both cases, work or home, there is no lag between stylus and drawn line with the fast USB 2.0 connection the tablet uses. Software wise, I use Photoshop 9 at work, and at home I use either Artrage 2 Trial or Sketchbook Pro Trial.
Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet PC
I wont go too much into the review of this Tablet PC as a Latop PC as there are tons of reviews on it on the internet. Here are some if the better ones if you are interested:
Notebook Reviews
Tablet PC Buzz Review
In this blog I'll focus on the more important aspects to designers, the act of sketching and painting.
The specs of my loaned machine are a Pentium M 1.5 Ghz, 1GB RAM, and a 32MB NVidia Video Card. The system runs pretty smooth in most aspects.
I have also installed the latest Wacom Tablet PC drivers. This gives a lot better sensitivity control, than the standard Microsoft ones, making the Tablet PC a lot more of a drawing tool. The pressure sensitivity, however, is not as good as the Intuos 3, but its fairly decent.
Another thing to note is that when you drawing on the M200 Tablet PC the drawn line appears on the screen to lag about 5mm behind the stylus. Its not that noticeable during drawing as the line forms up behind the stylus smoothly and is not jagged. I not sure why this happens, but my guess is that its a hardware digitizer problem.
For sketching and illustration on the Tablet PC, I am using Paint shop pro, Painter and a trial version of Sketchbook pro. All the programs run and load fairly quick, but will as part of this blog go thru some intensive graphic exercises at a later time. It is important to use Painter or Sketchbook pro as this programs allow you to use the pressure sensitive drivers. Took me awhile to set every thing up the way I like it, but its finally good to go.
As an side note, I ran my copy of Rhino3D on the M200 with a large 50" TV 3D file and it operated the Nurbs modeling aspects pretty well. Shading and possibly rendering, however, is as expected a little slow.
What's Next
In the following days, I will be splitting this analysis into a few more parts and they are:
- Portability: I will be accessing all the 3 tools in a pick up and go situation.
- Ease of use: Actually navigating the system and using the tools to do sketching or painting work.
- Design workflow: Incorporating the tools into the design process and in the work environment.
- Final considerations: Last parting thoughts.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
To comment or not to comment?
Ugh! Doh! Stupid me, I realized that I had turned on comment moderation but turned off comment notification! Imagine, here I was bemoaning why no one was leaving comments on my blog?
I was pleasantly surprised today on all the comments left on my blog from the past and immediately approved them all. I have also since modified the settings to get notifications for future comments!
So I like to apologize for not replying to all your comments, and will do so from now on, so please leave more!
Concept Design Equipment Shoot-out: Part 1
I have been reading a lot about the new new in computing technology for designers. This technology has had a strong foot hold in 2D (visualisation) and 3D (detailed design) parts of the design process over the years. However the computing technology has now moved into the holy grail of design. The concept design stage. This has lead designers to learn new ways of designing or applying their trade. But does this new technology actually help designers do better work, or hinder them? It has been said that poor designers often hide behind technology.
Thus I have decided to write a review as well as its practical application in the design field as I have actually manage to get myself into a position to try them all out!
I have with me the 3 different types of concept design and sketching equipment. A traditional sketchbook, a Wacom Tablet, and a Tablet PC. I plan to talk a little about each as well as do a comparison of each as a design tool over time.
First a little background. First came CAD or computer aided drafting. Lead by AutoCAD it basically was a 2D drafting tool for architects and designers. Then about 10-15 years ago, with new more powerful computing technology, the design world was introduced to 3D CAD. Also called 3D modeling, it herald a new way of doing design, and boasts a much faster time to market.
With today's fast computing technology and miniaturization, we now have Tablet PCs and Laptops for fast 3D modeling and design sketching on the fly. When the first generation Tablet PCs had a lot of pen lag due to poorer processing power, the Tablet PC computer can now keep up with humans. The lines drawn on the Tablet PC touch screen are now almost able to move as quickly as the pen!
Stay tuned in the next couple of days as I will talk about each different tool in detail as well as my experiences in the following days.
Thus I have decided to write a review as well as its practical application in the design field as I have actually manage to get myself into a position to try them all out!
I have with me the 3 different types of concept design and sketching equipment. A traditional sketchbook, a Wacom Tablet, and a Tablet PC. I plan to talk a little about each as well as do a comparison of each as a design tool over time.
First a little background. First came CAD or computer aided drafting. Lead by AutoCAD it basically was a 2D drafting tool for architects and designers. Then about 10-15 years ago, with new more powerful computing technology, the design world was introduced to 3D CAD. Also called 3D modeling, it herald a new way of doing design, and boasts a much faster time to market.
With today's fast computing technology and miniaturization, we now have Tablet PCs and Laptops for fast 3D modeling and design sketching on the fly. When the first generation Tablet PCs had a lot of pen lag due to poorer processing power, the Tablet PC computer can now keep up with humans. The lines drawn on the Tablet PC touch screen are now almost able to move as quickly as the pen!
Stay tuned in the next couple of days as I will talk about each different tool in detail as well as my experiences in the following days.
