The place where Surface Pro artists most fear to tread!
Trending in the right direction!
And they said we were too niche. SurfaceProArtist.com is four months young, but interest has been skyrocketing.
The just concluded month saw unique visits and page views triple over March.
Thanks to all of you who have visited and particularly to those who've taken the time to leave comments on posts here and on our various social media accounts. It is hugely gratifying to know that real people are out there and learning or sharing knowledge about the Surface Pro and their favorite art programs.
For July, I'm still debating whether to risk installing the Windows 8.1 preview. I don't want to risk losing the hard-won functionality I've achieved since I purchased my tablet. But that's what this blog is for, right? What do you think? Please leave a comment below.
Later this month, my daughter and I will be attending Siggraph 2013 in Anaheim, CA. The premier computer graphics conference in the world, Siggraph is a tiny fraction of what it once was, but it's still a lot of fun and a great source for inspiration.
Lastly, the gallery section of this site is very sad. We'd be happy to feature your work if you've got Surface Pro-made creations you'd like to share with our readers.
Does the game box look familiar?
Penny Arcade web comic artist Mike Krahulik (Gabe, @CWGabriel) has already done some great pr for the Surface Pro, but this morning he was at it again--while dissing Microsoft's latest toy, the XBox One.
The bulk of his blog post is about his favorite Windows 8 games, but he goes into a lengthy list of why the Surface Pro is a great addition to an artist's toolkit:
(The Surface Pro is) also my mobile drawing studio. It runs Manga Studio beautifully, and with the latest Wacom drivers Photoshop finally supports the pressure sensitivity although i still prefer drawing in Manga Studio or Sketchbook Pro. I’ve drawn comic strips on it while on airplanes, sitting on my deck, on stage at PAX and on the couch watching TV. No question, it is the perfect mobile digital drawing hardware.
Couldn't agree more. Check out the full post here.
3DS Max on the Surface Pro: look, don't touch
OPINION Like their 2013 counterparts, the newly released Autodesk 3DS Max and Maya 2014 install and run properly on the Surface Pro.
But these two powerhouse programs point up a lot of what's wrong with Microsoft's "no compromises" device.
It's frankly amazing that so much computing power has been packed into the tablet form factor. And so long as scenes fit within the tablet's limited RAM, rendering times are relatively quick.
But the Surface Pro's 10.6-inch screen size and 1920 x 1080 resolution make both programs' crowded UIs next to impossible to use. The standard 150% magnification of the system text only affects the menu bar and dropdown items. All of the tiny icons in the interfaces are left unchanged and are so small and tightly spaced together that it is a chore to perform the simplest of tasks.
So the final conclusion we've drawn is that 3d modeling on the Surface Pro will have to wait, at least for this generation of software tools.
Hopefully Autodesk will soon port over the 123d suite of apps that have appeared over the years for the iPad. Although those applications are rather simplistic, they are at least designed for touch interfaces with their much larger touch targets and uncluttered interfaces. And when run on a muscular system like the Surface Pro, these tools might actually be useful.
Silo's simple UI is a good candidate for a tablet makeover
This also has to be a huge opportunity for independent developers who can build something fresh from the ground up. For example,Nevercenter's Silo 2 is a robust low-cost app that should be easy to skin for a touch interface. Adding multi-touch capability would be less trivial, but first things first.
Windows 8 store development seems to be picking up, with Microsoft recently announcing that they've hit the 60,000 app milestone some six months after the store's opening. But quality creative apps are still very rare. For the Surface Pro and other Windows tablets to achieve their full potential, this has to change...and soon.