Surface Pro 2 vs Pencil and Paper

Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 is drawing a lot of attention from creative professionals such as myself, wanting to consolidate their digital tools into a single convenient, neat little box. While Microsoft have certainly succeeded in giving us a far more versatile tool than we have had access to previously (at a consumer level price range... I'm looking at you Modbook), have they provided a whole new tier of creative tool? I'm not so sure...

A lot of artists these days are moving more and more from traditional media to digital. It simply offers a lot of convenience, and versatility, and most importantly... The ability to undo, and adjust your work as needed. For quite some time now 'graphic tablets' have been completely indispensable to creative types who work digitally... 

Some work from beginning to end digitally, and some still choose to sketch traditionally and 'finish' digitally. The reason for this, is that a lot of artists simply feel more at home, and even more creative drawing naturally in a sketchbook.

The reason I took to the idea of the Surface Pro, and several other machines with 'active digitizer' screens... Is that it brings the 2 media much closer together, you can indeed treat the Surface like a little sketchbook, grab it out of your back, rest of on your lap and start sketching, and it's amazing to finally be able to do that. I've never even considered taking my laptop, graphics tablet, and power cable out to a cafe to have an out of the house creative session, but now it's a real possibility. The Surface is my new sketchbook, and I love it.

However, there are some small things that need to be tweaked before I'd consider the Surface truly invaluable, and I'm sure they're coming... And I think could possibly already exist in Wacom's Companion (which was ever so slightly edged out by the Surface for me... I may have to test one out though).

• The experience of drawing on the glossy screen of the Surface feels very different to paper (of course), there's a lot of palm grip, though I am starting to get used to it...
• The glass, although thin, does mean that there's a tiny, tiny gap between your pen nib, and where you're drawing. Only noticeable from various angles, but makes connecting up sketched lines a little more awkward than on traditional media.
• Compared to the digital set up you're probably used to, there are drawbacks too. The lack of modifier keys for example, is a huge loss. No more alt to colour grab and duplicate, no more quick c&p, no more shift to resize and move accurately... You can still achieve all of those things, but it's just a little but more difficult on a tablet screen.

These are the main problems I'm encountering when working on this device, and while I still haven't even glanced back at my old laptop, I can't help but look towards devices which could potentially fix these issues...

The Wacom Companion range for example, fixes all of the above issues in some way... Matte display - less grip and glare similar to the Cintiq, more advanced digitizer (same as Cintiq again), larger display, and most importantly (at least to me) a row of modifiable function keys.

May well be worth a look. 

In conclusion though, the Surface is a great tool for digital artists, or traditional artists looking to move to digital media. It bridges the gap between the 2, and provides a completely portable and (almost) fully featured digital tool to artists and designers wherever they are, and it's important not to forget, it's a full spec laptop... You CAN just continue to use your graphics tablet and use it exactly like a standard digital set up. Something easy to forget.

Illustrator / Graphic Designer - My First Week with a Surface Pro 2

It's been a week now since I bought the Surface Pro 2, and it hasn't all been awesome, but I have decided to keep what has become my new workstation, portable office, and bedtime tablet.

Coming to the Surface from a 15.6" non-touch Windows 8 laptop, I always considered the idea of a touch screen a novelty that would wear off after a few days of use... But let me say that my previous hatred for Windows 8, went away at the same time I got my Surface, and that's no coincidence... Everything in Windows 8, particularly the start menu works better with a touch screen.

There have been some teething problems... Primarily software based, and I'm sure that in time, especially as more tablets like this are released (which I will most likely be upgrading to from now on) the software issues will be fixed. If not, they're just small problems, and I honestly had no shortage of those with my previous machine.

Positives:

• I'm  more creative and more productive than I have ever been, owed largely to the fact I have one device I can do everything on, including the ability to get out of the house and do some work from a coffee shop if I feel the urge.
• It's quick as all hell. I have no idea how I have lived without a solid state drive for so long... So so very long.
• Everything I previously used on my workstation works here. (Full Windows 8).
• I LOVE typing on this keyboard... The Type Cover 2 is exactly the kind of keyboard I like to type on.
• Drawing direct on to the screen is a great way to sketch, much more natural feel for drawing, once you have the calibration right, and if you REALLY must use a graphic tab, you can just plug one in anyway.
• Great wireless card. Never drops WiFi, unlike my old bucket of bolts laptop...
• Screen colours are very vibrant, nice and bright display.
• Battery life lasts ages compared to a standard laptop, far longer than I've required it to so far.
• Touchscreen + Windows 8 is actually an enjoyable experience. Never thought I'd say that about Windows 8.

Negatives:

A list as long as my...

• Driver issues have been somewhat of an issue. Read about them previously, but expected them to be fixed by the time I bought mine... This was not the case (lol).
• Slightly less pressure accuracy on the low-end of the pressure spectrum, but only so since WinTab update, so it IS fixable...
• TINY trackpad, truly, TRULY awful to left and right click with... Needing to use the pen to drag and resize windows is NOT acceptable Microsoft. TUT TUT TUT. So I bought a mouse... Clever Microsoft tactic? Hmmm, but yes the trackpad is practically unusable.
• A few compatibility issues with various Windows programs not expecting to be run on a laptop. Screen orientation changes crash BitDefender for example.
• NO PEN SLOT. I am going to lose this pen... FACT.
• Power cable is short as hell... (Told you these were small issues).
• Could use one extra very shallow stand setting, easily remedied by propping on various objects... But I appreciate efficient design.

There we go, pretty much everything I can think of. If you're looking for a mobile device as an artist. I do highly recommend the Surface Pro 2. I love mine, and will be keeping it. If I get any issues with it (and subsequently find the fixes) I will post them to my blog.

Kind regards,

Happy Surface Pro 2 user.

Artist's Surface Pro 2 Diary - Day 4 - Driver Issues...

As the title suggests, going into day 3 I've started to encounter a few issues with my lovely new little gadget... Pretty much still out of the box.

• Intel HD 4000 driver crash. Happens often when I open up Photoshop CC. Which is a bit of an issue, automatically disables the GPU enhanced features. Driver restarts automatically but Photoshop requires a restart to enable features... Resulting in 2-3 restarts of Photoshop being required.
• Also, the WinTab driver is still not quite right... Sensitivity feels off ever since the update to the driver.On another note, my anti-virus program crashes when the device orientation changes. Going to give another program a try, shame it's an issue though... A strange one at that! Not a huge issue as I can just re-launch it, but frustrating... Searching for a fix to this to no avail... Could always disable the orientation sensor... Maybe...
• Photoshop UI size... Is miniscule. All the menus are at least 50% smaller than the rest of the creative suite... Why is it this way by default? Difficult to change as well. Can't find a single option in the preferences, and I don't like the idea of changing code.
• Glossy screen is a tad grippy on the palm...
• 128gb model is struggling to run Photoshop CC.

Positives:

• Still absolutely love typing on this thing! (Type Cover 2).
• Display is very sharp, colours display very well on it, viewing angle is great too.
• Drawing direct onto screen is great for sketching out ideas quickly.
• Battery life is great. Word processing easily get 6+ hours. Drawing... 3-4. Which is plenty for me.

If it all worked exactly as it should, this would be a dream machine for me. But all in all, I'm starting to miss my standard laptop and tablet combination. Quite an expensive machine to use just for a mobile sketchbook... May be returning this thing after all... We will see...

Creative's Surface Pro 2 Diary - Day 2 and 3

Well off to an admittedly quite disappointing start to my experience with the Surface Pro 2 as my all-singing-all-dancing mobile studio I must say that the Surface is really growing on me.

I've condensed day 2 and 3 together, as I recently travelled back home (to the great north), and had quite a bit of socialising to do... Anyway, back to the Surface.

I've managed to find out ways to fix the niggling issues I was facing from the beginning, which I will list at the bottom of the post for anyone interested or facing similar issues, and since fixing those issues my experience has been honestly quite excellent.

My little office in my favourite tea house.

My trip up north was a great opportunity to test out the device, as I had a 2+ hour train journey from London to fill, with a very limited amount of space in standard class seats. Not to worry, the Surface works perfectly in this situation and neatly fit on my lap, and wasn't so biog that the screen was touching the seat in front, I got the full and comfortable viewing angle, with the Type Cover rested on my lap as well - Mobility - TICK!

My experience with previous mobile devices, so far included a Macbook Pro (way back in the day) and a Windows gaming laptop, is that the battery life would very quickly be dipping into the 'I really ought to find a plug socket' range by the end of the 2 hour train journey. Not so with the Surface Pro 2. Running in 'balanced' power mode, I had been doing a power writing session on Google Docs, and as my train pulled into Manchester Piccadilly my battery was still over 70%. Safe to say that the machine can last long enough to do anything I need to do on the move, without having to worry about finding an outlet. I'm currently writing this blog from my favourite tea house, and I didn't even bring the power cable. I've been using the device here now for just about an hour, and am still sat on 93%, still in balanced mode.

The Type Cover 2 is awesome to type on (my girlfriend also agrees). As a veteran user of the old 2009 model Macbook Pro - the one with the gel-type keys, not the solid black plastic ones. This keyboard makes me think a lot of that. The feedback on the keys is surprisingly deep, and they key taps register without having to press too hard. Most important of all, I don't find myself accidentally typing the wrong letter every few taps, it's very natural to type on. I'm afraid I can't really speak for the Touch Cover keyboard though... My friend tells me good things about that too though (he uses it for all of his uni work, including his essay writing, which has to count for something).

Now as you probably already know if you're reading this article, the Surface Pro 2 has an active digitizer, which is the main reason I bought it, and it fails to disappoint. The device registers very light strokes, and has a much wider range of sensitivity than my Wacom Bamboo used to. 1,024 compared to the previous 512, and you can really tell, particularly at the lighter end of the pressure spectrum, which dropped off quite sharply on the bamboo.

The device works perfectly with Sketchbook Pro 6, which was designed for tablet devices, moving onto Photoshop I had an issue with compatibility, which I had been dreading after reading other reviews. No Microsoft haven't fixed it yet, but you can download a driver update from Wacom and it's all go again. Now the UI in Photoshop is clearly not designed with tablets in mind, the buttons are tiny but useable, the main problem is a problem I did not consider... There no keyboard shortcuts on a tablet surface. So scrolling, zooming, colour picking become slightly more tedious... Which I intent to fix by purchasing a new Bamboo Feel pen, and map the Alt and Space modifier to the pen buttons (the Surface pen only has one button). But overall the software worked as I expected, and it's awesome to use full-featured productivity software from anywhere. Creating professional level, FULLY finished work, on a mobile device. The key reason I wanted a full Windows 8 device, and I am NOT disappointed at all.

And just to clarify, no, there is no pen lag at all in Sketchbook Pro, though there is noticable lag (and sometime downright awful lag) with some of the dynamic brushes in Photoshop, but none with the basic brushes, which I use. My Surface spec is the i5-4200U, 4gb RAM, 128gb model.

Now onto the issues I spoke about:
Trackpad 
Well, it's still to small, it's tiny. But after just a day of use I have got accustomed to using the trackpad for editting text, and my finger for pretty much everything else. Dragging movements are tricky, but then the pen is great for that.

On-screen keyboard
Issue was that it was popping up when I 'touched' inside any text box, even with keyboard attached. An annoying issue. I fixed this by hitting Win + S, searching 'services', choosing 'view local services', scroll to 'Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Services', double click to open the properties, and disable. Now it's worth noting that this FULLY disables the on-screen keyboard, even clicking the button wouldn't force a pop-up, and after attempting to browse the net in tablet mode I realised this wasn't an option for me. I have since re-enabled the service, and learned to edit text with the keyboard arrows and trackpad instead... Not an issue any more, but still deserving of a fix from lazy Microsoft.

No pen holster / slot.
Still an issue... I've had the Surface 3 days now and have almost lost it on at least 10 occasions. The magnet is strong but not that strong... A knock in your bag will dislodge it, and it's very easy to not realise you haven't fully engaged the pen in the slot. I'm aware that the Surface is pretty packed full, but I'd be able to live with an extra cm on the side for an internal pen slot... And a better pen while you're at it Microsoft! 2 buttons is all I ask for, just 2! Or some hot-keys along the edge of the display if you're really feeling on the ball.

Pen and driver issues.
The new WinTab update, did indeed bork my pen a little... I lost a lot of the low-level sensitivity levels. Googling the issue provided no problems, but re-calibrating the device a few times seemed to fix the issue. I fixed the problem by calibrating the pointer to be down and right of where my pen sits, which brought the sensitivity right back... I think the WinTab update throws off the default Microsoft calibration (which was FANTASTIC)... Don't install the WinTab update unless you really can't live without Photoshop sensitivity.

That's everything for now, I'll hopefully get more time to practice the productivity software soon, mostly I've been using it for word-processing and sketching, will do a full finished project in the next few days and see how that goes.

You can view my first day here: http://matfrench.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/surface-pro-diary-day-one.html 

Surface Pro Diary Day One - Nice But Buggy...

After several weeks of planning and researching on the internet I finally decided to pull the trigger on buying a Surface Pro 2, with plans to use it as a mobile productivity machine.

As a graphic designer and illustrator, I wanted to find a machine that struck the balance between portability and power. The key feature I was looking for was an 'active digitizer' display, which means the ability to write or draw directly onto the screen with pen pressure sensitivity. 

After considerable research (and my friends and girlfriend can attest to this) my options were narrowed down to the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga, and possibly the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (which is Android not Windows based).

For the sake of being able to fully finish all of my work directly on the device, I ruled out the Galaxy Note 10.1, despite the several hundred pound price gap. If you just wanted a portable device, to sketch on, take notes on, and email, this probably would be the perfect device.

Between the Thinkpad Yoga and the Surface Pro 2, was honestly a very close call, the trade off being portability vs a full form-factor laptop, with a larger display and (and I can't believe this was a point of consideration for me, but...) there is a slot to store the pen within the laptop body... 

Now then, I took the plunge and decided to go for the Surface Pro 2, the clincher being the 2 week delay on the Thinkpad Yoga. I'm pretty certain that I'm going to lose the pen at some point, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

First Sketch on the Surface Pro 2 in Sketchbook Pro 6. Blogger is changing white images to grey for some reason...

Fixed the issue by editting Google Plus settings turning off 'Auto-Enhance' on photos.

ONTO THE DIARY:
My first day has been good, I've managed to install most of the programs that I had on my main work laptop onto the Surface Pro 2, which is a full Windows 8.1 device. So far I've only had chance to test out Sketchbook Pro, in the process of downloading all of my Adobe programs now... 

After some testing of the drawing on Sketchbook Pro, I have to say I'm quite delighted. The pen pressure worked straight out of the box and drawing directly on the screen worked a treat! It's going to take some getting used to, especially the grippyness of the glossy screen on my palm, but drawing directly on the screen was exactly as intuitive as I expected, curves feel more accurate and much less awkward to draw, and the 10.5" screen size, although quite small... Is actually larger than the bamboo tablet I was using previously (student budget when I got that thing and never needed to upgrade).

So overall, off to a great start, I'm noticing a few unexpected niggles here and there... 

• The trackpad is annoyingly small, and there is clearly room on the Type Cover 2, for a larger tracking surface (oh well).
• When I touch the screen instead of using the mouse, the Windows screen keyboard pops up and blocks 50% of the screen... Often the part that I'm actually typing in. It goes away when you start to type on the Type Cover, but it's annoying non-the-less, and I'm looking for a fix. 

EDIT: Found a horrible fix to this here: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/HowToDisableTheOnScreenTouchKeyboardInWindows8.aspx but it means disabling the on-screen keyboard entirely, including when used as a stand-alone tablet... Seriously Microsioft? £109 for a Type Cover 2 and no ability to simply disable the auto pop-up keyboard with it attached? Get your shit together. 

• Scrolling on the trackpad doesn't work 99% of the time... It just slightly nudges the whole window open rather than scrolling the content within the window (eg this blog as I write it).
• Automatic screen brightness... Is more like disco screen mode. Randomly brightens and dims totally on a whim. Annoying, and the fix requires a few driver updates.

That's it for now, but I'm sure there will be more, largely though, I'm very happy with my new Surface, more on Day 2! Attached a tester sketch using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro on the Surface.

Look Into My Eyes - Guru Sketch

"Look into my eyes. Look into my eyes. Not around the eyes. Look into my eyes." - Little Britain

Decided to take my sketch from the other day through to completion, it's nice to give a little more time and colour in some of my more favourite sketches.

Tried to keep a fairly loose style for the colouring and shading on this one. Pretty much used the largest brush I could get away with, as quickly as possible.

Also squared off the canvas a little for Instagram compatibility. (FYI http://instagram.com/mjwfrench)

Doodle Request - Little Monster

A quick sketch request for my missus. Getting late so time to ht the hay. Nighty night!

Sketchbook Pro Doodle 2

Another few sketches today getting the hang of Sketchbook Pro. Really enjoing the natural feel of the program compared to Photoshop, the brush simply seems to behave much better.

I've had a few attempts at colouring in Sketchbook Pro as well, but find the layers, and blending to be a little fiddly, so I've taken to sketching in Sketchbook, saving as PSD (awesome feature) and colouring in Photoshop.

Here's a quick character sketch I did today for funsies.

Edit: For some reason the non-inked file shows as a black box in Blogger, if you want to see the work process check it out on my tumblr or www.matfrench.com

Sketchbook Pro Tester Sketch

It occurred to me after several years of drawing in Photoshop, that there could, just possibly, be a program out there a little better suited to sketching. 

I have tried other programs before, such as Painter but always ended up moving back to Photoshop (I do still prefer painting with the more digital feeling brushes), and to be honest, I'm just so comfortable with the Adobe UI now that I feel strange using other programs.

Anyhow, I decided to give Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro 6 a go when I had a few spare minutes last night, and I may well be making a purchase on this one...

I have to say it's great to sketch with a more natural feeling pencil / brush. A few features also are really tempting me over. Real-time symmetry (horizontal and vertical) are both awesome features that still haven't made their way over to Photoshop. As well as the very awesome 'smooth line' tool, which is basically dragging the 'stroke' about half a cm behind my pointer, resulting in very controllable, smooth, lines - fantastic for very neat line work.

One issue I have, is the interface, it's obviously designed to be minimalist and user friendly, large icons etc, make it feel a little patronising. It feels as if the program was designed for tablet PCs - the mobile version, and then just plonked on desktop with a significantly (although still cheap compared to Photoshop) hiked up price.

Overall, I've only done the one sketch so far, but think this may well be my go to sketching app from no on. Next up I may well have to check out Artrage, and the newest Painter, which I've been reading good things about.

Random drawing - 08.01.14

Because why the hell not...

Thought I'd throw some colour into the mix this evening.

Another quickie just for funsies, breaking up working on more serious stuff to keep my sanity intact.

Good night one and all!

Quick Sketch - 05.01.14

A quick sketch before I head to bed. I have no idea what he's running away from, but my bet is it's terrifying!

Every now and then my Windows 8 just decides to say "nope, no more pressure sensitivity for you until you restart your computer", which invariably means I have to do an hour long update... So yeah... Waiting for that was fun. Silly Windows 8!

In other news, I'm severely torn between buying a Thinkpad Yoga and a Surface Pro 2... And I can't bring myself to buy either, especially so close to CES 2014... 

Good night!