In addition to capturing your sketch, stroke by stroke, Inkling allows you to create layers in digital files while you sketch on paper. Later, refine your work on your computer using an Intuos5 tablet or Cintiq interactive pen display (sold seperately). Designed for rough concepting and creative brainstorming, Inkling is ideal for the front-end of the creative process. The Inkling sketch pen captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with its ballpoint tip on any sketchbook or standard piece of paper. While you sketch on paper with a ballpoint pen, Inkling captures your sketches digitally, stroke by stroke. I just wish it wasn't such a chore.Inkling bridges the gap between traditional sketching and digital development. You can also export sketches to other file formats (JPG, PNG, PDF, etc.). Layers can be toggled from within the Sketch Manager app, and are compiled together when you press the Photoshop button at the top. It will also export Inkling drawings directly to Photoshop, Illustrator, or Autodesk Sketchbook, preserving layers from the original file as you would expect. Similar to Livescribe’s software, you can replay an entire drawing, which is a cool feature in theory but probably not all that practical. To make matters worse, Sketch Manager is the only app that can read Inkling's proprietary WPI files, so you're forced to use it no matter what. Annoyingly, the app opens at login on OS X, and I couldn’t find an option to disable it either in the app’s preferences or in OS X’s Login Items window either. The app’s UI is unintuitive and backwards, with oddly placed buttons and a fickle toolbar that often hides important buttons in an unnecessary drop-down menu. Once you plug the receiver in, you can scan through all sketches and evaluate your output using Wacom's Sketch Manager software, which is basically horrible. The bottom line is that battery life shouldn’t be a major issue for this product so long as you have a computer nearby. I used the Inkling for three days without any explicit charging (aside from the initial one), and it still had juice when I plugged it in. I didn’t exhaustively test the battery, but any time you plug the unit into your PC it begins charging - where you can also view the current battery level. Upon unboxing, you’re instructed to charge the whole unit for at least three hours, at which point the battery is quoted to last 15 hours for the pen and eight for the receiver. The included cable and dedicated storage slot does make it a little easier to swallow. I found it annoying that the device uses a Mini USB cable rather than a more common Micro USB cord. A singular Mini USB port on the outside of the case charges the receiver and pen simultaneously. The pen itself is stored in a spring-loaded circular slot on the side and uses tiny gold contacts at the top for charging while the receiver connects via secondary Mini USB on the inside. The case houses the digital pen, spare ink cartridges, Mini USB cable, and Inkling receiver that all fit into special slots on the inside. When not in use, the compact carrying case houses the Inkling and all its components, while doing double duty as a charging system for the hardware within. The coolest part of the package is the included plastic case. The front of the unit houses the ultrasonic and infared sensors, which help capture drawings from the pen itself - but more on those in a bit. The top of the device has a power button as well as one to create a new layer, and LEDs to indicate power and transmission status. You may unintentionally create two separate documents if the receiver detaches from the sheet, but layers and drawings can be combined in Photoshop after the fact. Interestingly, every time you squeeze the clip, it recognizes a new page and begins a new sketch file for subsequent pen movement. It has a built-in clip for easy attachment to any piece of paper or sketchbook. The pen’s counterpart is a specialized receiver responsible for recording and storing sketches. The most well-designed part of the Inkling is its case It has a single status LED at the top that flashes green whenever transmitting and red when it’s powering down. Since it uses standard ballpoint ink cartridges, you won’t be able to get fancy with edges and lines, but does mean the color can be changed should you purchase a replacement. Personal preferences will dictate how users feel about the pen, but something about the way it rested in my hand made writing with it feel more like a chore than normal. I personally found it to be rather uncomfortable when gripped, and was longing for my gel pens still tucked away in my backpack. It’s heavier than your standard Bic pen, and like most digital pens, it has a larger circumference. The Inkling pen has a fairly minimalist design, with subtle curves and clean lines all around.
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