E-Pens Take Over Graphics

Move over, mice. Pressure-sensitive E-pens and digitising tablets make serious graphics easy and fun to create.

A at demo of Adobe Photoshop, the presenter was trying hard to paste the image of a fish among another of weeds underwater. After a while with the mouse, he remarked in frustration, This is like sketching with a bar of soap!

No wonder serious graphic artists stay away from the mouse like plague. The electronic pen or the E-pen as it is called has arrived. And a number of IT majors are planning to push this pressure-sensitive gadget in a big way. These include from relatively small-time players like A G Walia of DataSystems to large corporations like Tata Elixis (India) Ltd (TEIL) and Hinditron Informatics who have tied up with foreign majors to distribute a range of E-pens.

 

Though it has been around for quite sometime now abroad, the E-pen has never been pushed aggressively in India. One of the reasons for this seems to be a reluctance on the part of studio owners to buy something that is new and rarely heard of unlike the mouse, says S Daniel, a former employee of Delhi-based Paul Studios and currently a freelancer.

Walia puts it differently, In the last couple of years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the use of graphics and animation with the increase in satellite channels, says Walia. Thus the Indian market is now mature enough to graduate from the mouse to the E-pen.''

Tata Elexi which has tied up with the Japanese giant Wacom to distribute its range of Ultra-pens is projecting a sales of about 20,000 units in its first year of operation. Similarly, Hinditron sources are quoting a growth of about 150 per cent in the E-pen market from its current market share of less than about 1.5 per cent. The company has tied up with US-based Calcuom, aka Lockheed Martin and will be marketing the E-pens with its range of Drawing Board III line of digitisers.

The E-pen is extremely user friendly as it makes best use of the old-fashioned skill of using a regular pen or paint-brush, in a digitised drawing board. On the same lines of using a pencil the user can run the hand over the board to get a line. And again to get a thicker line he has to merely increase the pressure on the board by pressing the pen harder. Available in cordless as well as with a cord attachment, the computer graphic artist will thus have to merely draw on a pad-table or digital paper and use the other end of the E-pen to rub anything off (again, like you did at school!).

The gadget is aimed at not just the computer graphic artist but also the CAD / CAM and CAE and to a certain extent, even the DTP operator. One of the reason the e-pen is likely to catch on fast is that the mouse, in spite of great care, conks off regularly, says Ritu Sinha, proprietor, of Delhi-based Sehgal DTPs. After checking out the cordless variety of the E-pen, she is thrilled by the greater flexibility and easier maneuverability offered.

The players are planning to couple this contraption with special hand writing and language translation technology software to be able to market it to other areas like the medical professions, lawyers and architects as well.

So, if this gadget is that good then why is it taking so long to take off? The mouse market is well-entrenched with players like Logitech, Genius and Magic Mouse, says Daniel. And compared to them, the E-pen is a late entrant into the graphic arena. Thus it is making a slow start.

The other factor is that of cost. The E-pen alone is priced around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 depending upon the model you wish to buy. The digital drawing board developed especially for this gadget has a price range of about Rs 7,500 to well over Rs 20,000, depending upon factors like touch or pressure sensitivity, memory specifications and to a certain limit animation capability as well.

Compared to this, a mouse priced around Rs 2,000 may seem a more inexpensive investment. But a mouse has to be frequently replaced in most editing and graphic studios. This is because the mouse works on sensitive mechanical parts which are seldom able to withstand the wear and tear that an artist subjects it to.

I have to replace a minimum of 50 per cent of my mice every year, says Parveen Mehta, Partner, Audio and Video Tech (A & V Tech), who owns an editing facility as well. An investment of about Rs 12,000 will be worthwhile as it will be a one-time buy.''

But there is good news in the horizon. According to a Hinditron spokesman, though the price is currently high, it will definitely see a fall. There could even be a 50 per cent price cut once the sales pick up.