Technology is changing and growing faster than your mangy hair. And like the hair, it’s time to think about a little trim and a wee bit o’ style.
Not so long ago, many ‘CAD technicians’ used a tablet menu to pick and click their way to 2-dimensional, layer switchin’ bliss. We’ve seen a transition, moving away from menu tablets to on-screen menus, on through marking menus and mouse gestures, and then back picking commands via touch-screen. Product development is heading for a change as are the devices we use. So, in the future…
Loading ...The Dawn of Tablet Computing
I’m guessing most will probably choose the tablet option, and for good reason. In the very near future, we will most likely design on something completely different. Apple has been teasing about an Apple Tablet. Microsoft says the Microsoft Courier Tablet is in the “late prototype” phase. Wacom Tablets are already used by many graphic design professionals.
And this is just the first phase of what we can recognize for where design is heading. I’m sure, in the future, we’ll have another poll asking if you would prefer to model using ‘HoloTabs’ or ‘Direct Material Deposition Virtualizers (DMDV’ers)’… or something. Yes, I made that up.
Right now, I’m thinking there is a small minority that already use a Wacom tablet for 3D modeling. Who are you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Image via Gizmodo
SolidSmack is a very small behemoth of an online community about 3D CAD, technology, design, robots, and ninjas… Ok, maybe not ninjas so much, but those guys are COOL so there just might be something about some dang ninjas.
{ 5 comments }
Your questionnaire is a bit ambiguous to me. Is this hypothetical “in the future”, or based on currently available technology?
Currently, desktops are the only ones with 24″ widescreen high-contrast high-brightness monitors for any realistic price, so it wins.
Five years from now I'd love to have a 32×24″ sheet of touchscreen goodness, with a stylus in my hand. Hopefully we get there soon. We still have our old drafting desks here, I want to mount my “monitor” on one of these bad boys and go oldschool/newschool on it.
Noted Charles. it's hypothetical, and almost kind of obvious what I think people will pick. (I'm guessing tablet) It's really asking what people expect to be modeling on in the future, based on the cutting-edge tech that is coming out now.
I like the drafting board idea and I'm positive we'll have some sort of stylus or virtual multi-tipped command wheel of sorts.
I saw some AT&T ads from 1993 recently and it was amazing how close they were to future ideas of how we would communicate. Interesting that they also put it in the early 90's frame of reference.
We have a kind of cross between Engineering Design and Industrial Design in our office. I am more on the Engineering side of things by education, but the 3 other product designers I work with are ID by education. The other 3 guys all of Wacom Cintiq monitors. They use them with the stylus when they are sketching, but use them with a mouse when they are in CAD. That just seems to be what works best for them. I have a 24″ widescreen because I do most of my stuff in CAD and I suck at sketching.
Call me old fashioned….but for me it'll still be a desktop, reasonable size screen front-and-centre at the correct height and a full sized keyboard with some sort of mouse/ball/stylus whatever. A proper chair and foot rest too. Comfortable working is all about 'evolution man, not revolution'.
Kind regards,
Jonathan
What A great design and features.. I really love the design and the modern technology itself.
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 2 trackbacks }