Unboxing the Monoprice Interactive Pen Display

"If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."

Never has that memorable quote from Bambi's pal Thumper felt so appropriate.

Like most of you, I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Monoprice Interactive Pen Display since it was released last month. Though I just got the Yiynova MVP22U, I couldn't pass up the offer of an under $400 tablet monitor with similar capabilities, especially coming from a trusted name like Monoprice from whom I've purchased many cables and thingamajigs over the years.

To add to that excitement, expert artist and trusted tablet guru Ray Frenden posted his own very positive review of the device this weekend. 

So when it arrived this morning, I quickly trumpeted the fact on Twitter and set out to do my usual quick unboxing and first impressions post.

But here it is eight hours after its arrival and I'm regretting my words. I love technology. I know this stuff is almost magical. And when it doesn't work as expected or as others have led me to believe it would, I feel a deep sense of disappointment. And this tablet monitor may be the most disappointing device I've ever used.

Why? Because I know UC Logic digitizers deliver (see my Yiynova posts). Because Ray Frenden has written very highly of Huion, the Chinese manufacturer who builds the other tablets sold by Monoprice. Because it looked so good out of the box: nothing cheap or homemade about this device.

But then I had to go and power it on.

Frenden's review mentions that viewing angles are bad and even recommends using the display on a monitor arm. But in my estimation, the Interactive Pen Display only seems to have one acceptable viewing angle: head on. The slightest tilt immediately results in color and brightness shifts that are readily apparent and reproducible (see photos below).

The rest of the issues I've had are software related and I've reached out to Monoprice to see if I can access development drivers that work better than the ones shipped in the box or that are available for download on the Huion website. Suffice it to say that the Windows 8.1 experience so far has been pretty painful. I won't elaborate until I hear back and will update this post as soon as I do.

Stay tuned for hopefully more positive news...

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The Monoprice Interactive Display ships in an attractive box that promises a professional experience.

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The 19-inch pen display includes Mac and Windows manual, a driver installation CD, the pen and holder, a power supply, power cord, USB pen charging cable, VGA cable and USB cable.

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Out of the box, the tablet monitor is as attractive and well-made as any higher end display.  The VESA stand provides a wide variety of support angles. Unfortunately, color representation is not accurate at this angle.

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This is the monitor stand's most upright position, just shy of 90-degrees. I don't like to work with the monitor at this angle, but it is the only that delivers an accurate color display.

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The pen and holder are wonderful, much better than the stylus that ships with the Yiynova.  The entire pen is rubberized and the buttons are firm. No extra nibs or nib extractor is included. The pen is battery powered and rechargeable.

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The connectors (USB, power, VGA and DVI) are a little hard to reach. You'll want to set the monitor on its face to plug everything in.

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Unlike the Yiynova, all the buttons are easily accessible and located on the front lower right corner.

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Connected to the Surface Pro without a docking station, the USB and VGA cables can be unsightly. I am using a miniDisplay to VGA adapter. The resolution of the Surface Pro has to be lowered to 1440x900, the pen display's maximum resolution. Mac users do not have to mirror their displays. This is a Windows only limitation. You can see some of the color banding in the darker colors on the upper right of the Monoprice screen. 

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On the Surface Pro screen above, note how the color is uniform from top of the display to the bottom.

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At approximately the same angle, note how the colors shift on the Monoprice.

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This is a typical screen shot head-on. Colors are saturated and even.

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But looking down from above or from any other angle, that same screen fades to white. 

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I'm hoping that Monoprice will point me (and you) to development drivers. The default click sensitivity is set so light that any tap results in 100% pressure. The pen display is supposed to work with Windows 8 automatically, but the pressure setting makes it impossible to double click on any items. The pen only becomes usable as a navigation device with the drivers installed. Unfortunately, this conflicts with the Surface Pro's Wacom drivers, so the two cannot be used at once. For the rest of my driver tests, I was using a non-touch Windows 8.1 laptop.

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The drivers also allow 4-, 9- and 25-point calibration. But the calibration didn't work on my system. Before I could click the upper left calibration point, it would click itself. The results were unusable. Fortunately, you can turn the calibration off by unticking the box.

Unboxing the Acer Aspire R7 convertible; UPDATE: New Ezel mode pics & video

Competition in the 15+ inch Windows 8 convertible space is beginning to heat up with the release of Acer's Aspire R7 refresh.

The Core i5-equipped model R7-572-6423 is sold exclusively at Best Buy for $900. This includes 8 GB of RAM, 1 TB of storage and a 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 display with N-Trig active digitizer support.

The closest size competitor is Sony's VAIO Flip 15A which retails for $1250 at Best Buy. That extra $350 nets you an i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M graphics vs. the Acer's Intel 4400.

You can get a comparably priced Sony at Best Buy by going with the Flip 14A.

Below are unboxing shots with first impressions.

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On the box sleeve, the Aspire resembles the Starship Enterprise. This is a little deceptive because the screen is not meant to work at this angle.

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The box itself is an elegant black carrying case very reminiscent of Apple packaging.

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Inside the box is the Acer with prominent silver Ezel hinge, a keyboard palm rest, power supply and cord, cleaning cloth and manual.

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I was surprised by the included palm rest until I inspected the keyboard. For some odd reason, the touchpad sits above the keys and bottom row of keys sits very close to the bottom edge of the device. You will definitely need that palm rest in order to type comfortably on the R7.

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UPDATE: In my rush to post the unboxing pics with my first impressions, I totally blew my assessment of the Aspire R7's Ezel mode. The trackpad placement allows you to position the touchscreen closer to you, theoretically replacing the need for a touchpad. Although there's a little bit of flex, the screen remains surprisingly stable at this position. I wouldn't draw at this angle, but perhaps traditional painters may find this orientation useful. Swiping and tapping while browsing is definitely easier than standard laptop mode, but desktop touch targets will force you to reach for your stylus or a bluetooth mouse.

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UPDATE: Less chance of needing Gorilla arms to reach out and touch the display in Ezel mode. In this browsing, consumption mode, the lack of room to rest your palms at the bottom of the keyboard may be less of a problem. Or you can just use the padded palm rest that's included in the box.

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UPDATE: Kiosk mode is also surprisingly stable, though I don't see myself ever using the device like this.

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Another surprise is that the screen doesn't lie entirely flat in tablet mode. The angle is a nice pitch for drawing but it's not as thin as you would like for a drawing slate. UPDATE: This angle also results in a significant amount of screen flex. See the video below.

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In this shot, the wedge shaped VAIO Flip 15A is in the foreground. You can see how much taller the R7's screen is in the tablet position.

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The Acer Aspire R7 side by side with the Sony VAIO Flip 15A. The Acer screen is 1/10 of an inch larger, but it's very difficult to tell. Image quality on both devices is very good, but I'd give a slight nod to the Sony. I much prefer the fit and finish of the VAIO.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

If you can live with the N-Trig digitizer (no Photoshop, Painter or other Wintab program pressure sensitivity), the Acer is a decent option.

It's a pleasure to draw on a 15+ inch display though it comes at the cost of extra weight. The R7 weighs 5.3 lbs so you'll definitely want to keep this on your desk or lap as you work. Don't think about holding it in one hand.

The keyboard keys have a bit more travel than the Sony's and feel a little squishier. A lot of users have complained about keyboard flex in the Sonys, but it doesn't bother me too much. I also prefer the Flip's brushed aluminum finish, although I like the rubberized bottom of the Acer vs. the plastic bottom of the VAIO.

The keyboard and trackpad placement is terrible for standard laptop use, but it's secondary if you want to use this primarily as a drawing tool or in Ezel mode.  The omission of a pen is odd, but it doesn't ship standard with the Sony either. The pen costs $50 direct from Acer vs. $30 for the Sony pen.

Opening, closing and transitioning between laptop, easel,  tablet and display modes is very easy compared to the Sony. However, it's not possible to lock the screen in place, which could be an issue for some.

UPDATE: I've run into an issue with the R7 that may force me to take it back before I'm able to do much more testing. The screen is intermittently shutting itself off in tablet mode. This unit may have a defective or loose connection.

Acer ships with a lot of custom apps that seem redundant with Skydrive and other Microsoft standards.

In my brief tests of the pen, accuracy seems very good and perfectly in line with what I've seen on the Sony. If you're a Manga Studio artist, be assured that you can work very comfortably with 256 levels of pressure.

UPDATE: In tablet mode, the R7 has quite a bit of flex on the screen which some may find distracting. See the video below for a demonstration.

Despite the superiority of Wacom tech, these lower cost N-Trig entrants will surely put downward price pressure on the Surface Pro and others.

UPDATE: The $350 price difference (Best Buy configurations only) is not insignificant, and either convertible will work for Manga Studio, ArtRage or Sketchbook Pro artists. But in my estimation, the Flip is the better way to go for those wanting the largest possible Windows 8 portable art solution.

Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga active digitizer caught on video

MobileTechReview's Lisa Gade is back with a second Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga video review. Here's a link to her earlier look at the device.

This time, she specifically covers the performance of the pen and active digitizer, which looks very good. Are you sold?

I've seen a lot of mention of Wacom edge tracking issues recently and Lisa addresses the issue by drawing an edge all the way around the screen.  But except in those cases where the tracking is so bad that you can't access the file menu or other items in the interface, I believe the importance is somewhat overblown. Since the canvas is not fixed in any graphics application, it's a simple matter to slide a problem corner or other hard to reach spot into the center of the screen if necessary to paint into it.

I also rarely draw or work in a 1:1, menu-free set-up like she appears to be doing with Fresh Paint below. Do you?

Let me know if I'm out to lunch in the comments section below.

Exclusive: Surface Pro Artist ArtDock makes Photoshop a touch friendlier

UPDATE 12/13: We've already published a new version with improved icons. Check out the details here.

ORIGINAL POST

When I published my review of 3d apps on the Surface Pro last week, many of you wrote to suggest I check out ArtDock. This fascinating utility creates a touch toolbar with common commands that can be used in conjunction with a pen. While we're waiting for developers to embrace touch and tablet oriented interfaces for their programs, this useful tool is the next best thing. 

I first encountered a sibling of ArtDock shortly after I launched this blog. The ArtRage Pen-Only Toolbar seemed pretty geeky at the time and not very necessary, given the relatively simple UI of ArtRage.

But the continued frustration with Photoshop forced me to take a closer look. It turns out that using and modifying ArtDock isn't as difficult as it first appears. The biggest challenge is to cobble together the various files needed to make it work on the Surface Pro.

To make sure credit is given where it's due, below are the sources I referenced when researching this topic. These links are not essential to getting the Surface Pro Artist ArtDock up and running, so you may want to skip ahead to the installation instructions links below.

These customized toolboxes, or docks, are made possible by an ingenious program called AutoHotkey, which enables users to assign common keyboard, mouse and touch commands to onscreen icons.

The AutoHotkey script  RawInputControlTest.ahk was first written for the Asus Eee Slate EP121. 

The script was then adapted for the Samsung Series 7 Slate here by tbaldree and dubbed Paintdock.

Konartist3D further modified the scripts at his DeviantArt page, creating GUIs for Photoshop, ZBrush, Maya and others and dubbing the program as ArtDock.

Over at TabletPCReview, DoctorBunsonHoneydew adapted the Konartist3D ArtDock for the Surface Pro.

Enter The Surface Pro Artist ArtDock

Although Dr. Honeydew's script is minimalist and very Surface-y, I found it to be a little inscrutable and not really aimed at artists. Therefore, I decided to go back to Konartist3D's work.

Because it was developed for a larger screen tablet, I decided to scale all his icons up 150%. The buttons are now a nice size that is difficult to miss. I also made all the toolbars 100% opaque because I wanted to make sure that the small type on some of the icons was readable.

Konartist3D also included a lot of desktop controls on his ArtDock that I couldn't make work on the Surface Pro, so I removed those. I also deleted Topogun and MyPaint controls because I didn't have those programs to test. Lastly, the original ArtDock includes a program called TGuard that toggles touch on and off. This is supposed to guard against stray marks, but I find it's very dangerous to use on the Surface Pro because it disabled both touch and pen control while I was experimenting with it. Needless to say, I deleted that as well.

Here is the resulting launcher.

The ArtDock will open in the top left corner of your display. To move it, just drag the top left icon with your finger. The middle top icon minimizes the dock and the X closes the dock.

This first pass includes toolbars for Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, Paint Tool SAI, Maya, Silo, ZBrush and 3DS Max.

The deleted icons for Topogun and MyPaint are included in the archive if you'd like to restore them.

Tapping any program icon loads the appropriate dock.

Photoshop

To drag any of the program-specific toolbars, just tap and hold the program icon. Tap the Left Arrow to return to the launcher.

Several icons have multiple commands. Tapping the Tab button will clear menus, but tapping and dragging left or right will bring up the Save As or Load file requesters.

The Undo button becomes a Redo if you tap and drag left.

Holding down the move button will allow you to drag a selection with your mouse. Holding down the shift button will allow you to add to a selection.

Dragging up and down on the magnifying glass will zoom in and out. You can scroll through various transparency amounts with the Opacity button.

The icon on the left changes the size of the brush nozzle and the one on the right toggles between brush and eraser.

Hold down the eyedropper to sample a color and hold down the hand icon to pan around your image with the pen.

The remaining buttons are cut/copy, Esc/Enter/Delete, Lasso/Wand and Select All/Deselect.

Below are the other toolbars included in the Surface Pro Artist ArtDock.

Sketchbook Pro

Not all programs benefit from having a custom dock. I've included Sketchbook Pro because it was part of Konartist3D's original archive, but I don't think it make much of an improvement to an already well designed program.

Paint Tool SAI

Paint Tool SAI's crowded UI really benefits from the custom dock, but I'm not certain these are the most appropriate functions to include. Your suggestions are welcomed.

The Maya buttons dwarf the standard icons.

The precise selection and placement of commands is very flexible. Please send along suggestions if you think other tools should be added to the dock.

ZBrush is a little less intimidating with its custom dock.

Installation instructions

First off, you need to install AutoHotkey, located here. 

Then download and unzip the Surface Pro Artist ArtDock here.

Copy the artdock folder to your C:\ drive.

Create a shortcut of the file ArtDock.bat and pin it to your desktop or taskbar.

Start the ArtDock and then your desired program (Photoshop, etc.). Tap the corresponding ArtDock program button.

Move the launcher by holding and dragging the top left icon. Move program toolbars by holding and dragging the program icon.

Next Steps

I've only tested the Photoshop toolbar thoroughly. If you encounter problems with any of the other toolbars, please let me know so that I can make corrections. I'm also not certain that Konartist3D has chosen the most appropriate commands for each of the programs. If you think there are more important shortcuts to include in the docks, please let me know. The toolbars can be shortened or expanded as necessary.

I'd like to add controls for additional software like Softimage and Mudbox, but I can't commit to doing so right away. If you care to contribute icons or program controls to your favorite software, please do so and share your work with the community.

If you're interested in learning more about AutoHotKey, RawInputControl, Paintdock, ArtDock and the rest, please visit this great thread over at TabletPCReviews: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/artists/58400-artdock-guide-compatibility-links.html

To learn more about how to edit RawInputControl, download this pdf created by lblb: http://www.mediafire.com/download/hb2x1oj644jy33o/Instructions_RawInputControl_v3.pdf

Frenden unboxes $400 Monoprice tablet monitor

UPDATE: We've got our own unboxing and (disappointed) first impressions here.

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I expect to get my Monoprice Interactive Pen Display to review next week, but tablet guru Ray Frenden got his a few days early. 

This should be an excellent option for you Mac owners out there. Windows users beware that the device can only run in mirror mode, so you will have to run your pc in 1440 x 900 mode to use it. Apple users will not have that limitation.

But for only $400, perhaps this isn't a dealbreaker...

I unbox the new Monoprice 19" Tablet Monitor Cintiq alternative a few days before they officially go on sale. Check out my digital art tool reviews here: http://frenden.com/reviews

Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga video review (sans digitizer)

Our favorite tech video reviewer Lisa Gade of MobileTechReview is back with an exhaustive look at the long-awaited Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga. Unfortunately, the version supplied by Lenovo did not include the Wacom digitizer and pen we're all waiting to test.

Perhaps this is due to the digitizer black hole error we reported last week?

Lisa Gade reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga. This is Lenovo's business oriented Yoga with a 360 degree hinge and a 12.5" IPS display with 400 nits brightness. It's available with 10 point multi-touch or with both touch and a Wacom active digitizer and pen.

iPad fingerpaint portrait guaranteed to make you feel inferior

Definitive proof that it's not the tools, it's the talent...

Painted by Kyle Lambert www.kylelambert.co.uk The world's most realistic finger painting. Using only a finger, an iPad Air and the app Procreate, artist Kyle Lambert has painted a photorealistic portrait of actor Morgan Freeman. Music by Richard Woolgar

Early buyers sucked into Thinkpad Yoga's 'black hole'

I was contacted yesterday by Peter DeBiase, a new reader of this blog and a member of the Notebook Review forums.

Peter linked me to this thread where European purchasers of the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga are complaining about a defect in the digitizer that they've come to call "the Black Hole."

The problem was first reported by simon_at_mso, who documented the issue with the image below. (It's never occurred to me to use a straight edge on top of a tablet, but I may adopt this technique for future testing). 

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The pinching visible toward the upper right corner has been verified by several other users. 

Most readers have speculated that this is a hardware issue caused by interference with other pc components, But as Pete wrote:

"The funny thing is, if you check out the online ThinkPad Yoga Service Manual and head to FRU Videos > FRU Service: LCD Panel, you can see that there don't appear to be any components behind the affected area in the upper right quadrant of the screen. This indicates to me that the problem must be internal to the LCD panel - either an unshielded component within it causing an errant EM field, or perhaps a defective digitizer layer."

The concern about hardware defects may be misplaced, as this morning, the following official response from Lenovo was published:

All,

We have been investigating this and so far it looks like this is an issue related to the firmware level on some of the digitizers in systems built prior to mid November. Manufacturing has already been updated and new production units are not be affected.

I think we will have more information shortly.

I am hopeful that we will be able to provide a downloadable firmware update as we have with some other systems like helix, twist, and carbon touch to provide fixes and improvements to the digitizer. 

I appreciate your patience.

Best regards, 
Mark

So hopefully this software fix will correct this otherwise major flaw. The machine I had been counting on reviewing next week has now been delayed until December 8, which means I won't have it before mid-December. You can rest assured that the Black Hole will be the first thing I investigate.