The iPad’s multitouch screen is a revelation (we’ll dodge the word ‘magical’ here, thanks), but a new concept video from Ten One design just showed us how much better Apple could make it, with just a hint of software trickery. If you have an iPad, you owe yourself a look at the video after the break.
Ten One design makes a stylus for the iPad or iPhone. We’ve used it plenty of times to sketch on the iPad, and even recommend it as part of our iPad artists’ toolkit, but this software add on transforms the iPad into a true tablet, with pressure sensitivity and even the ability to sense palms touching the screen.
Until now, artists have had to keep their wrists and hands off the iPad’s screen, which doesn’t make for a natural sketching experience. We recommended using a Tablet Glove from Wacom to lean on the screen without triggering its multi-touch interface, but Ten One’s software is much smarter.
It intelligently analyses body parts touching the iPad’s screen to filter out palm presses and wrists. What’s more, it analyses the tip of the stylus touching the screen, making the iPad pressure sensitive. Press harder to make a thicker line. See the video below to see it in action. It’s simply astounding.
But there’s a downside. Ten One’s iPad software uses unofficial APIs, so can’t yet be put onto the App Store for download. As soon as Apple updates the APIs to make Ten One’s software ‘legal’, the company has pledged to make it available to other developers for free. That day can’t come soon enough, if you ask us.
TBC | £free | Ten One Design
