Xtream path
cvalley, inc MAC and Windows $139.00 www.cvalley.com
Cyberpad
adesso, inc pc only $199.00 www.adesso.com
The CyberPad is a relatively low cost stand-alone device with internal storage capability that digitally captures and stores everything you write or draw with ink on ordinary 8.5 x 11 inch paper. The digital notepad works with an electronic inking pen that feels and works as well as any other normal pen. You can write or draw naturally on any sheet of paper, and the pad captures and stores your every line at 1024 LPI resolution. Even if the thickness of papers laid on the pad are 3/4” thick, your handwritten notes can still be captured and stored in the built-in memory (32MB, about 150 digital pages), or on an optional SD memory card. And by connecting the pad to your PC or notebook via the USB port, you can use it to draw on the computer screen as you would with any other tablet. What I like about this device is the fusion of the real and the virtual. Rather than drawing on a brightly lit monitor surface, you are instead drawing directly onto real paper. Not only do you have a real sketch that you can file away, you instantly have a digital version that you can email, or bring into another image editor for further work. Eliminating the cost of a large LCD screen brings this device down to a very reasonable price, ideal for toting along on a subway ride or plane trip. (And if you forget it somewhere or leave it on a park bench, it won’t be the end of the world.) The fact that this is not a full blown laptop also means that battery life is much longer. You get 20 hours of writing time out of four AAA batteries, and 68 hours of standby time. The pen battery will last around 15 months, and there’s an LED indicator to let you know when you’re running low on power. One of the greatest things about a digital sketch pad like this is handwriting recognition. It’s so much easier to search through pages of notes by keyword. (Try doing that with your paper sketchbook!) Given the convenience and size of this pad, plus the low price and the wow factor, it’s hard to find a reason NOT to own one!
Xtream Path is an exciting new plug-in for Adobe Illustrator that adds 36 useful new tools and filters for manipulating paths and segments. Unlike a lot of plug-ins out there, these filters and tools aren’t goofy, nonsensical bells and whistles that you would never use. These are truly great tools that I could see implementing into my own work immediately (always a good selling point!) Some of the new functionality Xtreme Path brings to Illustrator is so “nuts-and-bolts” and makes so much sense, it’s hard to believe that Adobe hasn’t added this stuff into the program years ago. For anyone who works with Illustrator on a daily basis, you will see what I’m talking about as soon as you visit the CValley website. (www.CValley.com. A number of videos are available showing the tools in action. See below.) Many of these functions will be incredibly useful for any serious user. I don’t have a lot of space to get into the nitty gritty details, but I would like to mention a few of the more interesting functions here. My favorite tools are related to path modification. Traditionally, you would edit paths using control points and direction lines. Xtream Path enables you to click anywhere on a path and drag to make adjustments to the segment. You can edit paths intuitively by pointing directly to the place you want to edit rather than fiddling around with direction lines and control points. Cool! My favorite function is copying and pasting path information. In the past, if you wanted to match two curves to one another, the best you could do is eyeball it, comparing them side by side. Now you can obtain the numerical information of a line’s length and direction by simply clicking on the segment. Using the Numeric Edit tool, you can easily repeat the same Bezier curve on a different segment by copying and pasting the curve data. Amazing, and long overdue. (I wanted to see this in Illustration 7, for crying out loud!) I love this plug-in! ’05
System Requirements: Windows XP / 2000; Pentium III or equivalent or higher 128MB of RAM or higher; 32MB of Hard Disk Space Available USB port
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