Pucks and guides offer much granular control, make it easy for you to know what exactly you’re doing and are fun to work with.Īlmost everything about SketchBook Pro can be customised.
There are other control ‘pucks’ as well, like the pucks that appear when you create selections and then move them or distort their shape. For example, there are two “pucks”, one to control the brush, the other to control your colours. While the lagoon is still tucked in its corner, the extra panels haven’t cluttered the screen any bit.īesides the lagoon, the interface also has its fair share of innovative elements. As a consequence, the interface looks more mainstream again, with toolbars, layer panels, etc. The lagoon has survived, but it now is only one of the several ways you can control brushes, colour and everything else.
When it was first released, SketchBook Pro offered a new experience with its clean white paper window and its “lagoon”, an innovative control panel tucked in a bottom corner of your screen. Currently in its eight reincarnation and available under the terms of a yearly subscription fee of some 20 Euros, SketchBook Pro 8 is a dream for designers, artists and people who like to make their inspiration flow by doodling. I've written before about my skepticism about the usefulness of Windows mini tablets, but if the release of the Surface Mini prompts more developers to create art-centric Windows Store apps, that can only be a good thing for all users.Autodesk is synonym with AutoCAD and the Maya 3D animation software, but the company also has one of the best sketching and painting applications money can buy. The Windows RT operating system means that the only desktop program that will be available for pen users is OneNote 2013, available as part of Office 2013.Īny art applications hoping to run on the Surface Mini will have to be Windows Store apps like Fresh Paint, Sketchbook Express or Sketchable. The traditional advantage that Wacom has held over other digitizer technogies is compatibility with legacy software. The author of the post speculates that the 7- or 8-inch tablet's support for pen input will come from a Wacom digitizer, but I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft chose N-Trig or another manufacturer for this device, which will be powered by Windows RT. Neowin is reporting that Microsoft's long-rumored Surface Mini will include what the website calls "a proper pen." I've sent a bug report to Autodesk, but I haven't seen the issue reported elsewhere.
Microsoft published a graphics driver update that fixes hardware acceleration for other apps, but now Sketchbook for Windows Tablet won't start on my device.
ONE IMPORTANT CAVEAT: With Windows 10 preview running on the Surface Pro 3, the app runs very poorly because of a bug in build 9926 that crippled hardware acceleration. If you use Sketchbook, this update is a no-brainer and you may find yourself needing to use the desktop program less often.
The app features a very minimal interface that is easy to hide, leaving a full screen blank canvas.
Playing with the app briefly on the Surface Pro 3 and my desktop pc with a Monoprice 22" Smarttouch pen display, the experience is very nice.