Why technology will make you draw by hand.

Yes, it true. Technology will make you draw by hand very soon. As newer programs come out and are faster and more user friendly, the messy middle ground of learning all the components of Sketchup, Rhino, 3D whatever and all other programs will be a thing of the past.

Now there is a three tier affair to graphics. One is the draw by hand on paper and scan it in, another the vast complicated crap of every program like Sketchup and the others, and the final is the nerdy pinnacle of graphics done by office toadies to get a "colorforms" look using whatever program they can.

One is going away, and another will be made incredibly user friendly. Can you guess which one will go the way of keystroke commands in AutoCad? New tablets, drawing right on them with a stylus BY HAND will have the capability soon of being transformed into wonderfull looking graphics that look like they were done in China by drafting slaves.

So a note to the firms. Tablets that can have people draw perspectives on them right there in front of you and the client will be the new wave, not hauling it back to the office to agonize over it for nine hours.The ability to make a design notebook in OneNote, complete with plant pictures, sketches, design components all available in the cloud for all to see is here now. The tablet that will unify this all is very near.

They key to this new bright shiny future? The ability to draw in front of a client. Right there. The next level available will be the fantastically rendered perspective. That can be done in the office. The tablet can and will do anything anywhere.

Strange how the basics come around again.

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Permalink Reply by landplanner on June 16, 2012 at 7:21pm

Thank you for such a cogent capsule editorial on the future of the drawing tablet. I have always appreciated your commentary, even when directed toward me. You balance the subtle with the sarcastic very well. Always have in anything I have read or personally received from you myself.

I have threatened myself many times with getting a drawing tablet, but have always held off because mostly a matter of cost coupled with the basic comfort with the routine you mention above of hand drawing and then the "tradigital" conversion through Sketchup or Photoshop. Pretty conventional and mainstream now.

I think your right on the money as far where the "bright shining future is" and it may be here now, and shortly following "now".

I have had a Lynda tutorial on the use of the Wacom drawing tablet with Photoshop for a good while and have never given it a spin. Thanks to what you put down here, I will now go get that tablet and see what I get from those tutorials.

I am just curious, are you using a drawing tablet now ? If so what kind ? If your not and you were to get one, which one would you buy ?

I did a google search with the tag line "drawing tablets for landscape architects" and actually came across a research paper on it. It is only eight pages and reinforces a little of what you wrote with this posting. Here is the link.

http://www.iasdr2009.org/ap/Papers/Orally%20Presented%20Papers/Desi...

Good to see you back here !!

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Permalink Reply by Russell MacDonald on June 20, 2012 at 8:18am

Yes, I am using a tablet now. I have a Wacom tablet connected to a laptop, but now have a tablet computer that I work on.

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Permalink Reply by Justin R. Bell on June 21, 2012 at 10:12pm

Just curious, what tablet do you use and/or which would you recommend?

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Permalink Reply by Justin R. Bell on June 25, 2012 at 8:54pm

i suppose is should clarify my question for you Russ. What Wacom tablet and tablet pc are you using? I am looking at this as the future and a possible niche for myself as i finish my final year in grad school. Also, perhaps you all could provide some advice as this is my final year, as to what i should truly be preparing for.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Stubbs on June 19, 2012 at 1:50pm

Do you feel that the Surface Tablet that Windows annouced yesterday will be a Tablet better suited for this since they are planning a version that runs windows 8 on it? Also what are you thoughts on Ultrabooks?

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Permalink Reply by mauiBob on June 19, 2012 at 5:30pm

The windows tablet makes no sense to me. Its basically a smaller version of a laptop. The whole point of having a tablet is user friendly operating device without the "Start" menu and all things windows. Who wants a virus on their tablet? Apple doesn't run their OS in iPads. Why have MSWord or MSExcel in a tablet? Perhaps, why not just buy s smaller laptop or netbook?

Its Microdump trying to create a market because its brand is slowing becoming irrelevant. 15 years ago, it was Apple who struggled, wow how times changed.

And get a load of the new AutoCad 2013. Ridiculous!! What's wrong with version 2012? PC and the Windows environment is nothing but continuous upgrades and computer viruses.

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Permalink Reply by Russell MacDonald on June 20, 2012 at 8:00am

Attention deficit disorders aside, the point of the tablet is simplicity and the ability to draw on the tablet as a sheet of paper.Why have Word or Excel on a tablet? Seriously, you are asking that question?

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Permalink Reply by Russell MacDonald on June 20, 2012 at 4:49pm

Yes Bob, I did. The topic of discussion would be technology and new things that can be done on tablets, not your idiotic software issues or Apple fan boy rants.

Big picture Bob. Stay with us on this.

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Permalink Reply by Russell MacDonald on June 20, 2012 at 5:50pm

Again Bob, I hope I have your attention between doses, but the point of your little rant was the uselessness of a Windows based tablet. I will alert Microsoft to make sure they know of your displeasure.

Yes, yes we know about the i thing and your fetish over it. My point, and again here it is...there will be new things, new friendlier programs and yes new tablets made by others. Like Microsoft.

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Permalink Reply by Russell MacDonald on June 21, 2012 at 10:03am

Bob, as adept as you are in recreational thread shitting, it must be one of the many talents you have as a government employee. I cringe at the thought of the poor person that must deal with you to do whatever it is you do in the government landscapy thingy. One must go to the government to find people of your caliber, so precise, so all knowing, so right on the pulse of our big landscape architecture world and we are fortunate to have you as the sage of all this AND day trading.

Permalink Reply by Craig Anthony on June 21, 2012 at 10:35am

Ouch! That had to hurt mauiB. You get an A for effort though.

You just ran into a buzz frigin’ saw. Why would you F with Russell of all people on Land8. It appears that you’ve grown tired of being crushed by amateur thread posters like me and have foolishly decided to move up the pros.

Sorry I had to get in between you two, but I could stand to see this go on any longer. In three sentences he… Here’s a towel bro.

Permalink Reply by Russell MacDonald on June 22, 2012 at 7:31am

"My entire time at HNTB, WRT and first year at PBS&J, I never once spoke to a client."

Gee, what a surprise.

People like you in the field are why we can't have nice things, but actually you are the moron that seems to inhabit every office, design review office or bad party that someone dragged you to and are trapping someone in the corner telling them some insipid story.

As reading challenged as you are, you must of at least understood the points of my post. You have not. I use a tablet and a wacom tablet now. I am very computer literate.

The fact that you preside over meetings is a tragedy.