I try hard to time my workflow around any traveling I have to do so I do not need to do coloring or any computer work on projects while “on the road”. I much prefer the familiar settings and equipment of my studio and my Cintiq 21UX for that kind of thing, and can much more easily draw and ink in hotel rooms or in less accommodating environments than to do the coloring or painting on a job. Still, sometimes it’s unavoidable, and I bring my Macbook Pro and Wacom Intuos tablet along to work on the finishes for a project.

On my last road trip to Massachusetts I ended up having to do most of the color on a retail product job, which I did partly on the Intuos and partly on my friend Ed Steckley‘s new Cintiq 12 WX. I’ve examined both that device and the Axiotron Modbook, an Apple approved modified Macbook tablet that uses Wacom tablet technology to form a combo Cintiq and Macbook in one portable package, here on this blog… although I had not the occasion to actually use either until recently.

I’ve now used the 12 WX, and while I have yet to try the Modbook there have been several very comprehensive reviews of the unit by those who have including this very recent one from The Unofficial Apple Weblog, complete with the following video (read the review, it’s better):

The review was done primarily with the artist and designers, the Modbook’s main demographic, in mind.

I’ve considered getting either the Modbook or the Cintiq 12 WX to make coloring on the road more convenient and efficient. Most of the TUAW review substantiates my thoughts on the pluses and minuses of the Modbook. I was not surprised to read that there is some issue with the responsiveness of the pen on the Modbook, and that it is not up to par with the Cintiq. With only 512 levels of pressure sensitivity, no tilt sensitivity and both the lack of programmable side keys and a lack of a keyboard for shortcuts, the advantages of it being a self contained unit are essentially nullified. In order for me to use it in the way I’d want to, I’d need to use a Bluetooth or USB keyboard and the power brick for all but short bursts of use. That’s getting into the same level of “portability” as using the 12 WX in addition to my current Macbook Pro.

The 12 WX, on the other hand, is not truly portable in the way the Modbook is. You can’t take it out of your backpack on the plane or in the coffeeshop and start sketching away. At the very least you need a desk surface to place your laptop on and two power sockets… one for your laptop power and one for the Cintiq’s power brick. That brick also houses the guts for some of the Cintiq’s electronics, which is why the 12 WX itself is so much slimmer and lighter than the other models of Cintiq. Those units have a single thick cable running out of them that splits to USB and power, with the electronics in the tablet itself. The much thinner 12 WX cable plugs into the larger brick, which then has a power cable and the USB cable going from it to the respective sockets. All that said, set up is quick and with just a little room, like a typically small hotel room writing desk area, you have an instant portable digital studio.

The screen on the 12 WX is adequately big for my work. Not as big as the 21 UX of course but a surprising amount of work area. The widescreen aspect ratio helps when you place palettes on the sides of the screen. The response time and feel of the tablet features are as good as the larger Cintiq’s, and the programmable side buttons can be set up in any way you wish for whatever use you need. I have mine set to various functions and find them of immense time saving value. I also extensively use the keyboard for other shortcuts like quickly switching between tools, etc. Using both a laptop and the 12 WX gives me everything I have in the studio in a little more compact and flexible form. The important point is that I can do the work almost as quickly and efficiently using the Macbook Pro/Cintiq 12 WX as I can at home with the bruising Mac pro and Cintiq 21 UX.

The Modbook is a great idea that is not yet ready for prime time. If their goal is truly to cater to the artist they need to incorporate more Cintiq and less tablet PC into the device. You need programmable side buttons (at least a few) and 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity at least, and tilt sensitivity would be nice for painters (although to do that they must extend the edges of the tablet past the monitor edges, so that might be sacrificed for form issues). They also need to give users a Macbook Pro option, as opposed to the underpowered Macbook based units, for the kind of horsepower digital artists might need for big image files. maybe Modbook 2.0 will be a more complete product.

Looks like it’s the Cintiq 12 WX for me… someday. It might be a summer buy this year.

Some time ago I wrote about the long anticipated tablet Mac finally having become a reality thanks to Axiotron. They have created a modification package that turns an Apple MacBook into a tablet based computer… it’s like having a Cintiq monitor combined with a laptop in one contained unit. Here’s a video I ran across recently demoing this new unit with Axiotron’s leader and some artists doing work on it:

It’s great they have a comic book artist doing the demo, and a nice portrait of the reporter… too bad they didn’t say his last name. The show apparently is a local one from Hawaii.

This is something that is very enticing for me. Last week I hauled my 21 inch Cintiq all the way to St. Louis because I had to finish up a parody for MAD and I was on the color stage. It would have been nearly impossible to do that had I not been driving, as the Cintiq is big, heavy and delicate. Commercial transport is basically impossible. I would have needed to bring my Intous tablet with me and done it that way were I not driving with room in my back seat for the Cintiq. It certainly would have taken me far longer and been a lot harder to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish on the Intous, particularly since I am so used to working on the Cintiq these days.

Using the new 12 inch Cintiq for travel is an option, but it’s not truly portable either. It has a big brick of a transformer, needs AC power and has a thick, heavy dual cable coming from the back. You also need the laptop to make it work, so it’s a full suitcase of stuff and a full desktop of space needed. On the plus side it does have 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity and all the features of the big Cintiq including tilt sensitivity and the shortcut keys.

The “Modbook”, as it’s called, was very intriguing as it is truly portable. It’s a full MacBook computer with all the ports, drives etc…. just no keyboard. It can run on battery power alone (although doubtless not for long) and uses the simple apple power cord when running on AC. The cord, Modbook and pen is all you need. Easy to take out and start scribbling.

I was seriously considering getting one, but after asking some questions i decided it’s just not quite right yet. Here are my reasons for reservation:

1. Only 512 levels of pressure sensitivity- That might seem like plenty but after using a Cintiq with 1024 levels it is a step backward.
2. No tilt sensitivity- Axiotron told me in order to do tilt sensivity, they would have had to add to the size of the tablet (but not the screen) making it cumbersome. Tilt is not really needed for what I usually do but I do use it when doing more painted stuff, which this would not do.
3. Can’t use the Cintiq pen- I love the feel of the Cintiq’s pen, but you have to use the skinny, hard pen that comes with the Modbook… Axiotron cited “battery life” as the reason for this.
4. No side function keys- This isn’t a dealbreaker, but I love those things. I also use my keyboard a lot to switch tools, set opacity, etc, but a bluetooth keyboard would fix that part.
5. It’s a MacBook, not a MacBook Pro- If they can do it to a MacBook, they should be able to do it to a MacBook Pro. It was silly of them to base it on the smallest MacBook when they have ben quoted as saying they are pursuing the graphic artist market, 99% of which use a Pro for the better screen size and power.
6. Too new a technology- Sorry but I seldom buy the first model of anything, especially a complex and expensive thing like a computer. No doubt the second generation will have better features and technology… maybe solving all the issues listed above.

So the Modbook is not on my wish list. Maybe Modbook 2.0? We’ll see. Here are some other videos showing the Modbook in action: