539 Drawing with a tablet has always been a struggle. Typically, drawing programs (like most software) are designed to be used with a mouse. Tablet support is usually thrown in as an afterthought, under the theory that any pointing device will obey the same principles as a mouse. The result: an experience which only superficially captures the "feel" of a pen, while ignoring the subtle nuances.

Enter TabletDraw.

Abandoning the traditional mouse-oriented paradigm, TabletDraw is designed from the ground up for use with a drawing tablet - specifically focusing on the realism of the drawing experience. Instead of setting brush thickness based solely on pen pressure, TabletDraw uses a combination of factors including speed and pen pressure to create a realistic pen-and-paper feel.

The bottom line:

Curves done right.

One of the biggest differences between drawing with a mouse vs. a tablet is that a mouse is best suited for slow, deliberate curves while a pen lends itself to fast strokes. Unfortunately, your USB port can't always keep up with these fast strokes, leaving the computer to "connect the dots". Most programs do this with straight lines, leaving the user with a jagged approximation instead of a smooth curve. Other programs use smoothing algorithms which ignore fine detail and degrade performance. TabletDraw uses SwiftCurve technology to accurately and efficiently represent the curves you draw without bringing your hardware to its knees.

Kick the bucket.

The standard coloring method for drawing software has become the paint bucket, a tool which fills any enclosed monotone area with a solid color. And for many applications, the paint bucket does a great job. But when it comes hand-drawn artwork, the paint bucket is simply too inflexible. Art drawn by hand often lacks specific color boundaries, and even when these boundaries exist, they may not be enclosed by an outline. Worse yet, the paint bucket never seems to get quite close enough to the outline, leaving a white halo between color and line. TabletDraw makes coloring easy and natural by tossing out the paint bucket in favor of "Ink" mode (toggled with the "I" key). In this mode, colors are blend much as they do with markers, allowing you to color over your outlines without obscuring them.

Seal Canvas.

In addition to Undo, TabletDraw allows you to "seal" your drawing so that you can erase back to it later. Use it for correcting mistakes, gradients, and more.

System requirements:
Runs on both Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs
Requires Mac OS X version 10.4 or later

Recommended hardware:
Any Intel or G5 based Mac
Any PowerPC based Mac with
Core Image capable graphics card

TabletDraw is $35 shareware. The unregistered version gives you full access to all features but undo is limited to 5 levels.

The registered version allows unlimited undo levels.

For more information, visit:
http://www.moosoftware.com/tabletdraw.html

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