Catégorie: Hardware

Upgrading with sub-$90 graphics card to use Expresii

14/10/2019

Today many digital artists don't have a discrete graphics card in their computers , as they only use traditional paint programs that don't use GPU. Did you know that you can upgrade your PC with a sub $90 graphics card to use Expresii smoothly?

Budget upgrade

We recommend a GT 1030, currently the fastest low-profile single-slot card, because it fits most PC chassis that provide at least one half-height card slot and that it doesn't require much extra power (most cases you don't need to upgrade your power supply). There are many brands that make graphics cards with GT 1030 and they usually come with 2GB of video RAM. You can get one from Gigabyte for US$85 that is also Amazon's Choice . Those who can use Taobao can buy this GT 1030 card from Maxsun at only RMB439 = US$62 . We bought one when there's a discount at US60.

Left: GT 730 with 1G RAM; Right: GT 1030 with 2 GB RAM. Both are low-profile, single-slot cards.

Upgrade Process

We use a PC enclosed by a REALAN e-mini E-I7 mini-ITX chassis to show you how the installation of the graphics card is like. The CPU in this PC is a modest Intel i3-6100. Yes, Expresii doesn't require a very fast CPU for smooth painting as most of the work is done on the GPU.

Here's a video showing the graphics card installation process:

Result: smooth painting in Expresii

The GT 1030 gives very good performance: 200+ FPS on Full-HD screen resolution. For comparison, an older GT 730 only gives ~120 FPS. 120 FPS is already rather good for casual painting. If you're on a really low budget, you can buy a used GT 730 for much less (~US$30).

The resolution of your monitor does affect the speed at which Expresii runs. At 4K screen resolution, the GT 1030 still runs at a usable ~70 FPS, while the GT 730 can only do 30 FPS, which is too slow. Notice, here the FPS is our simulation frame-rate instead of display frame-rate.

For comparison, another older low-profile single-slot card AMD Radeon 7730 (with 2GB video RAM) only gives 60 and 20 FPS for FHD and 4K respectively. We highly recommend you get the 1030 so that it is still fine if you use a 4K monitor to paint.

Conclusion: Truly amazing watercolor doesn't need super computer

Pixalation in an artwork done by Kyle Webster in Adobe Fresco due to their limited resolution

If you don't want to be limited to 8k x 8k output size as in many of the iPad paint apps, you should consider painting on a 'real' computer. Expresii is capably of outputting to 32k x 32k (in the production version) if you use a good graphics card and 12k x 12k in the current public version.

The rendering in Expresii is unique - you won't see pixelated results like in most other painting apps (like shown on the right). Together with our organic paint simulation, this is truly amazing! Don't be fooled by Adobe calling their Live Brushes (oil & watercolor) in their new Adobe Fresco app ground-breaking . The fact is, we achieved much better results in Expresii years ahead (for oil, see this video for what our Dr. Nelson Chu did previously for Microsoft).

Let us know if you have more question about hardware requirement.

2019-10-22 Update: Slim desktop Dell Inspiron 660s

The slim Desktop Dell Inspiron 660s is from 2012. The Intel integrated GPU HD Graphics 2500 that came with the Inspiron 660s is not suitable for Expresii. We tried to upgrade another PC with GT 1030 too and see what performance we get.

6th-gen i3 vs 3rd-gen i5 - which is faster?

The Passmark CPU scores for i3-6100 and i5-3330S are 5483 & 5678 respectively, so looks like they would gives similar performance if paired with the same GT 1030. Experiment shows the newer 6th-gen i3 GPU gives much better performance than the now 7-year-old 3rd-gen i5 GPU. Specifically its 200+ vs 110+ FPS.

Current Expresii is single-threaded. So, we should really be looking at the single-thread performance. The passmark site says 2105 and 1652 for 6100 and 3330S respectively - this probably the main factor why we get lower performance in Expresii on the 3330S.

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Review: Cheap Surface Pen Alternatives with tilt support

25/9/2019

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Where to buy?

There are tons of cheap Surface Pen alternatives out there available for purchase online. The cheapest usually marked as 1024 pressure-levels are around US$20. Newer models supporting tilt sensing are a bit pricier.

We acquired two Surface Pen alternatives from Taobao, namely the IQS Surface Pen 4096 and the WiWU P503 'Picasso' Active Stylus for testing. Both claim to support 4096 levels of pressure and tilt sensing. Tilt sensing seriously?! Normally a 2017 Surface Pen, which supports tilt, costs US$99, but these alternatives are only a fraction of this at around US$40. We bought them when there's discount so the final prices were around US$30 each.

If you can't use Taobao, there're online stores like Amazon that sell e.g. this VORCSBINE (looks exactly like the WiWU reviewed), this from Lengh (looks exactly like the IQS reviewed) , this Penoval, or this NewPower, which all at around US$40 and claim to support tilt. Those pens look very similar to those two we tested so we won't be surprised if they were actually the same pens just with different labels. We didn't found any review of these pens with tilt support so we will review a few for you.

Pen Tip Feel

The rubbery tip feels very good, just like using the original Surface Pen - not making any scratchy sound or friction being too large impeding your flow nor too small that it feels like skating on ice. I actually like such a rubbery tip, typically found in the Surface Pen or its alternatives, over the tips provided by Wacom. Recent default Wacom tips are quite easily worn out when stroking against their own drawing tablets like the Intuos Pro, while their felt tips are also easy to catch dirt (and get worn out too).

No Bluetooth, no Magnet

These Surface Pen alternatives don't have any Bluetooth module in them, so they can't perform top button shortcut clicks like the original Surface Pen. They also don't have magnets in them so you can't adhere them on the sides of the Surface devices, at least not securely when it's only the battery (enclosure made of metal) inside that provides a weak adhesion.

Pressure & Tilt Sensitivity

Testing shows these cheap pens perform quite well. The IQS seems to have a smaller activation force - I can press very lightly to get a very thin line with ease. The WiWU pen on the other hand needs more force to get registered and I do get some strokes not recognized or broken due to very light pressure being used.

The 2017 'new' Surface Pen doesn't sense tilt when we use its Eraser end to stroke. These alternative pens don't have an eraser end - instead they have two barrel buttons, one being used as the Eraser button. From our test, the WiWU doesn't sense tilt when the eraser button is pressed, while the IQS does sense tilt but with jitters when the eraser button is pressed.

Like the 2017 Surface Pen, these pen sense tilt only when it touches the screen. BTW, the pleasant surprise of Surface Go giving tilt reading even when hovering is gone after some Windows Update. :(

To our surprise, our Line Tests show the IQS pen is even more sensitive than the original 2017 Surface Pen! See the following video for comparison:

1024 vs 4096 Levels

Guys, I want to stress that it's not the pressure level, but the activation force and the pressure response curve that matter here - that which make you feel how sensitive the pens are. 1024 levels are actually very enough. Due to the API used, the pressure reading is actually converted to 1024 internally if you use the 'Windows Ink' option in Expresii. If you are using Wacom, by default Wacom's driver also converts the reading to 1024, no matter you're using a 4k or 8k-level pen (you can disable the 1024-level cap in Wacom's driver and see if you can tell the difference :-). Truth be told, those 4k or 8k numbers are purely for marketing purposes. However, you may ask, then why does the 2017 Surface Pen with 4k levels feel more responsive than its previous model with just 1024 levels. The answer is that they also improved the activation force and maybe also the pressure response curve . With smaller activation force , you don't have to push so hard for the stroke be get registered.

Weight Balance

Center of gravity also affects how the pens feel in your hand. Both the IQS and WiWU have full-metal bodies, while the Surface Pen is metal except its top part being plastic. The Surface Pen has its center of gravity right at it's middle along its length (shifting balance is probably one reason why its not all metal). The IQS has its center of gravity quite shifted towards its top part, making it feel a little unbalanced when held in hand. The WiWU is only slightly shifted towards its top so it still feels fine. Our digital scale shows all three pens weight roughly the same at 18-19g.

Weight balance of (Top to bottom) 2017 Surface Pen, IQS Surface Pen, WiWU P503.

Conclusion

These cheap pens are really great alternatives to the original Surface Pen with excellent price-performance ratio. In particular, the IQS pen is great for artists because it can sense small pressure well, beating even the original 2017 Surface Pen. I'd say the IQS pen's pressure sensitivity is on par with Wacom's. The only thing missing is the ability to sense tilt even during hover like an EMR Wacom pen does.

For those wanting to buy Surface Pen now, note that the next version of Surface Pen probably will have wireless charging. You might want to wait till Microsoft’s fall event on October 2nd.

We, of course, would still like to see digital writing hardware technology further advances - currently they are only mimicking pens with hard nibs. It'd be great if hardware makers can provide tools that simulate brushes well. Leave your comment on what else you would like to see in future digital writing instruments.

Update: Compatibility

Since the WiWU pen claims to be an MMP (I believe it should it be MPP, standing for Microsoft Pen Protocol) Active Stylus supporting the devices listed below, we want to verify if it's really cross-device. We couldn't find the exact models today but we managed to try the pens on a Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 and a Lenovo IdeaPad C340. Unfortunately both the WiWU and the IQS don't work on either. FYI, the Lenovo active pen meant to go with the C340 does work on the Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1.

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Asrock Deskmini A300 with External GPU

2/7/2019

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Following our last blog entry, we continue to test Expresii on the Deskmini A300, this time with external graphics cards. We only bought two new items: 1. M.2 to PCI-E x4 Adapter Card (US$2; US$6 at Amazon), 2. PCI-E x1 to x16 ribbon cable (US$4; similar item $17 at Amazon) from taobao. This setup needs an external power supply and we simply use one from our other PC's.

We tried an nvidia GTX 1060 and two lower-end cards GT 640 and GTX 750 Ti. The M.2 adapter slot is not open-ended so in order to insert the graphics cards directly onto it, we need to first cut it open (reference).

1x versus 4x PCI-E

We get 180+ FPS on 4k with the 1060 connected at 4x PCI-E speed. When at 1x (via ribbon cable), we get only 80+ FPS. At Full-HD, we get 180+ FP with 4x; 150+ FPS, 1x. With lower-end cards, we basically only get around 30 FPS, which is even much lower then what we get with the integrated Radeon Vega 11 in the Ryzen 2400G (95+ FPS).

We ordered a 1x, instead of 4x, ribbon cable because we wanted to see how such low-cost setup performs. The 1x cable is actually thin enough to pass through the vents of the Deskmini case, meaning that we might be able to attach or detach the external graphics card from the Deskmini easily. However, after we ran the cable through the vent, we were unable to get the connection to work, probably due to the tiny space of the Deskmini enclosure forced the cable to bend causing e.g. the interface on the M.2 adapter to loosen a bit. FYI, even not physically restricted, the more interfaces you have, the more chance you get connection issues: we experienced e.g. a pink screen, or the card not being detected. We needed to resit the cards a few times before we get it to work.

Conclusion

With adapter and cable totaling a mere US$6, we are able to test out the external GPU setup with either 1x and 4x PCI-E speed. You probably want to use a US$89 riser (similar item US$43 at taobao) instead for easier setup with 4x speed for for proper performance. Or, at least this adapter+cable (US$17 at taobao) to minimize physical interfaces.

We're satisfied by the performance increase from Ryzen APU 2400G's Vega 11 GPU running at 95+ FPS on Full-HD to GTX 1060 running at 180+ FPS on 4k monitor.

See this youtube video for adapter & cable options.

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Mini PC for running Expresii

25/5/2019

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We're often asked what PC would be good to run Expresii. In this blog entry we show you a few mini PC options. Note that if you don't need a PC such small, there're cheaper solutions if you build regular ITX PC's, which are a bit bigger.

Smooth painting at Full-HD ($350-$620)

For your reference, we tested a mini PC using the Asrock Deskmini A300. Specifically, we built a system with a AMD Ryzen 5 2400G CPU, 16 GB of DDR4 2666MHz RAM, and a 2.5" 256GB SSD hard drive. The Ryzen 2400G has an integrated GPU Radeon RX Vega 11, which performs much better than those integrated GPU's from Intel, is fast enough for running Expresii smoothly. Note that you can still go by with 8GB of RAM and just 128GB of storage space if you have a tighter budget.

The DeskMini PC box is only 15 x 15 x 8 cm, with the power brick 1/6 of the box size. Total hardware cost the main unit (i.e. excluding monitor, mouse and keyboard) is USD380. Depending on how you get a license for Windows OS, the final cost could be sub-$400. There are also ready-to-use pre-built units available at e.g. Amazon at around $620 (OS included) for those of you who don't want to build a PC yourselves.

I once had a Mac Mini but it died in just a few years - since the CPU is soldered onto the main board, I can not simply replace the faulty component like I can with a regular PC. What is great about this Deskmini is that you can still upgrade the various components like CPU, RAM, storage like you do with a regular PC. So I think the a mini PC with Ryzen 2400G & Asrock Deskmini A300 is a sweet spot on price, compactness & ability to change components.

Thanks to AMD for making great performing APU at affordable price, and Asrock for making such a compact box!

On such a system with Ryzen 2400G, we get 95 FPS when using a FHD (1920 x 1080) monitor. The mainboard allows a little overclocking of the RAM, and we get 100+ FPS if we overclock the RAM from 2666 to 3000 MHz.

The Deskmini also has an Intel version, but the supported Intel GPU's (e.g. HD 630) are much slower so we don't recommend the Intel variant.

Smooth painting at 4K+, as an upgrade (+$116 + Graphics card of your choice)

Fullscreen painting using a 4k monitor with the above A300 system with Vega 11 is a bit slow. One thing I like about these mini PC's is that they are equipped with NVMe M.2 slots, which can be used to connect to an external GPU to improve the graphics performance. That means you can upgrade your system if you need to (the setup is a bit geeky though). If you're a tinkerer, you can check out this video with an actual A300 (left) and another (right) showing using an eGPU kit with a similar mini PC:

The m2 eGPU kit with power supply mentioned in the 2nd video costs $116 from Ali Express (get the same thing + power supply for $50 from taobao if you can read Chinese and get them ship to your region). A used GTX 1060 with 6GB RAM could be as low as $135 on eBay. So, with a few hundreds of dollars you can add a powerful graphics card with when you need it. For even cheaper solution, look at this guide and buy the NGFF version (i.e. for M.2) dock. More reference here.

Smooth Painting At 4K+, Compact, ready-to-use ($1150-$1300)

If you have some more money to spare, and don't want to mess around with PC building, we recommend the Intel Hades Canyon NUC:

The Chuwi HiGame mini PC

The Intel Hades Canyon NUC (Vega M GH, 16Gb RAM, 256 GB SSD at $1300) is even smaller than the Asrock DeskMini A300 yet much more powerful. Its Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU, which is much faster than the Vega 11 in the Deskmini, allows you to run Expresii on a 4k monitor smoothly. If the 1k+ price tag is a litte too high, thre's also a version with a slower GPU Vega M GL. Also, look at eBay and sometimes there're offers in the $500-600 range as a barebone (i.e. you add your own RAM and storage).

Other ready-to-use mini PC's with Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU (but not as tiny as the Intel NUC) include this Beelink Kaby G7 (with 16GB RAM + 256 GB SSD at $1150) and the HiGame from Chuwi at $1300.

Conclusion? You don't need a huge PC to run Expresii fast! ╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑

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Expresii on Microsoft Surface Book 2

30/6/2018

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We were excited ever since the first Surface Book came out in 2015, since it gave the option for a discrete GPU. Now we have a chance to test with a Surface Book 2, thanks to Microsoft for providing the hardware for testing.

We are provided with the 13.5" model. Coming from the 12" Surface Pro, I like the bigger screen size. The hardware feels really solid and clean. And of course, with an nvidia GTX 1050, we get very good performance, although it gets a bit hot and the fan would kick on.

Left: Surface Pro 2017. Right: 13.5" Surface Book 2.

You need the base

When you detach the base, the GPU performance drops significantly, so you would like to attach the base when you use Expresii. In fact, when I detached the base and held the tablet part only, I realized how convenient the kickstand of the Surface Pro is! Note that the tablet part doesn't have any USB port (or video port), so you can't really use it in place of, say, a Surface Pro. I believe they designed it for only brief detachment like for the case of quick presentations.

Calligraphy done in Expresii on the 13.5" Surface Book 2

See the calligraphy process video in Youtube:

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Teclast X16 Power 台電平板

21/2/2016

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We recently acquired a Teclast X16 Power, which uses the same Intel Atom CPU z8700 as the MS Surface 3 does. It can be paired with an 'active' stylus (it's not clear exactly what Teclast meant, but it looks like its AES - Active EletroStatic), which supports pressure but not tilt. The biggest difference from an traditional EMR stylus is that this Active pen doesn't support hovering meaning that you do not know exactly where you're hitting the surface until you actually hit it.

We tried doing calligraphy on it. The pen tip is so firm - we actually need to update Expresii's Pressure Adjustment range so that we can stroke without pressing too hard on the screen (the tip would scratch the protective film that came with the machine). We also encountered the broken paper texture bug that some of our users reported earlier on this new machine on Win 10. With this machine on our hands, we are able to do something to avoid this bug, at least on our X16 Power. In case you still get such a bug even with the latest update of Expresii, please let us know.

This X16 Power is priced similarly as the Cube i7 Stylus we tried earlier. It has a bigger screen but a slower processor (4o-sth FPS vs 60-sth FPS in Expresii Full mode). It consumes less power and thus has much better thermal (stays cool, fanless) than the Cube i7 . The speed is not ideal for Expresii Full, but it's a rather low-cost machine that you can also use with Android 5, in addition to Windows 10. You can also get a keyboard cover free (depending on the seller). It has 8GB of RAM - as if it's a top model of the MS Surface Pro line ^_^. Overall, it's a not-bad tablet if you don't feel like spending a whole bunch (for comparison the cheapest 2GB-RAM Surface 3 is ~$400 right now).

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Using Smart device as Stylus Tilt Controller 以智能裝置控制畫筆傾斜

25/1/2016

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We think stylus tilt is really important in using paint programs like Expresii. Unfortunately, today most Windows tablet, including Microsoft's latest Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, do not support stylus tilt (Apple's iPad Pro does!). To remedy this, we explore using a smart device as a stylus tilt controller .

Using smartwatch and smartphone (left) with Windows tablet to give stylus tilt control.

In doing so, we acquired the world's smallest android smart phone Melrose S9 (US$58 here), and an android 4.4 smartwatch HOPU EC720 (US$105) and here is the result:

The smart device is connected to the Windows tablet via WIFI (a little jerky in the video, but that's because we moved to a place a little far from the WIFI spot for filming). It's possible to attach a small smart device to the stylus itself (right) to make it a little more intuitive, but frankly it's still not an ideal solution. In conclusion, we really wish that more Windows tablet makers would add native stylus tilt support so that we don't need to find another solution. ^_^

To try our tilt solution, all you need is an android device that runs this app called Sensor stream IMU+GPS. In the app, leave port as 5555, select 'UDP Stream', and enter the IP address that you see when you select in Expresii's App Menu->Input->Brush Tilt->Smart Device (see right). The smart device and your Windows tablet must be on the same WIFI network. Your Expresii version must be at least since 2016-01-31. Let us know how you like it by leaving a comment below or say in our Facebook page!

BTW, the tabletPC used here is the Cube i7 stylus (~US$350), which you can buy from various online agents like GearBest or Banggood.

Expresii shows the IP address of your PC needed by the Android app.

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iPad Pro vs Windows Tablets

19/9/2015

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The recently announced Apple Pencil supports tilt sensing on the iPad Pro. On the Windows side, there have been more and more new tablet models supporting on-screen stylus too but none of these new comers does stylus tilt. It'd be great if they start to follow Apple's example in getting the tilt.

We want tilt Sensing

So far among all Windows tablet PC's, only the Wacom Cintiq Companion offers pen tilt sensing. In the following video that features a Cintiq companion hybrid, you'll see why tilt sensing is so important in controlling your brush:

As Linda Dong pointed out, the Cintiq has a number of drawbacks. The following video was done with a good old Intuos 3. The drawing is not 'on-screen', but your hand and the stylus won't block your view:

Again, you see how important it is to have both pressure and tilt support in getting expressive marks - at least with our Expresii, that is! And, yes, we think that Expresii's brush is currently the best in creation organic strokes without the use of pre-scanned images of some real brush marks. It's much closer to what you would do with real brush and paper. It's not only the look that matters, but also the interaction. Spontaneity is the soul of Eastern inkwork.

it's the Software

Like other artists have mentioned, it's now the software that either makes and breaks the deal. Many of the painting apps on the iPad (and Android, for that matter) has limitations (like memory/resolution/quality) that keeps them from being used for serious work (except Procreate I'd say, which does a great job with GPU-powered painting). Frankly, the MS Windows camp probably would want to use us to fight back against Apple (since now Expresii is Windows-only) - what you can do with Expresii's advanced brush and ink engine can't be done on an iPad - even the Pro! For comparison, let's take a look at Adobe's attempt to do watercolor on the ipad. It sounded good on the spec - you can zoom in a lot as it's vector-based, but what you get are some polygons which doesn't look nice when enlarged. (Update: Adobe's new Adobe Sketch has a better watercolor simulator now)

Adobe's attempt to do watercolor on the ipad (image from the 2013 paper 'Painting with polygons: a procedural watercolor engine').

Auryn Ink review by Tara Donocan.

Maybe Adobe also realized that it's not that great afterall so they withdrew the app (Adobe Eazel) from the app store ending the app's short life. Another ipad app that does watercolor is Auryn Ink. However, as reviewer Tara Donocan said, the biggest problem is the low resolution - you can never print it out.

All these apps' watercolor effects are local in that the ink only moves in your strokes' vicinity. You will miss the global effects (and fun!) you get when using real watercolor which can flow pretty much all over the whole paper.

Now, take a look at the two videos of Expresii below. The first one was done on an 8" Atom-Z3735-based windows tablet (a 2014 model), which is too slow for a nice painting experience. The second one was on a 10.6" CORE-M based windows tablet released in the first half of 2015, which I'd already consider faster enough. (Update 2016: now with the latest version of CORE-M processor Expresii runs really fast enough on a mobile device)

In conclusion, brush/ink/watercolor sim is not easy. With good hardware, we still need good software to run on them to unleash the full potential.

I hope you like what we are doing here in Expresii. Share your opinion and let us know what you think.

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Expresii on CUBE i7 Stylus 酷比魔方 i7 手寫版

1/8/2015

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Last winter, we got the PiPO W5, an 8" Atom-based windows tablet. It is fast enough to run Expresii Lite, but Expresii Full is too heavy for it. In first half of 2015, new Intel Core-m based tablets are coming out and we were eagerly anticipating models that come with stylus support. We recently acquired the CUBE i7 Stylus and we're impressed! Finally, we have mobile device that can run Expresii Full smoothly! And it's not expensive at all - US$360 ($325 if bought from within China). Stylus sold separately. (update 2015-10: Taobao shops now often include the stylus as a ' gift')

Top: 10.6" CUBE i7 Stylus. Bottom: 8" PiPO W5.

Just watch this quick demo of playing around with our virtual ink - it's a dream come true, really:

The compression in the video makes the screenshots fussy. Check out the following shots instead or head over to Flickr to see the shots at full HD.

The Core-m processor in the CUBE i7 is rated at 4.5W and is passively cooled i.e. the tablet is fanless so there's no noise coming out whatsoever. The only complain we have for the i7 is that when running heavy application the left side of the tablet is too hot to touch. You have to put it on a holder, and even want to use an external fan to cool it. We hope Intel's next generation processor would improve on that. Looking at the graph on the right we have faith on that.

The CUBE i7 Stylus uses WACOM technology for stylus support. You can install their driver to get better control like Pressure Sensitivity. Expresii has built-in Pressure Adjustment tool, and it should work in conjunction with WACOM's. On Win8+, the stylus works with Expresii with or without the WACOM driver.

If you want to buy a CUBE i7 Stylus and you're not within reach of these shops at taobao (they may ship to Hong Kong, Taiwan, or even Singapore) or can't use Chinese to communicate with them, you can check out this page for more information.

We'll have more demos coming using this nicely-built and affordable Chinese tablet. Stay tuned.

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Expresii on a US$150 Windows Tablet: Flow Demos (pt 4)

12/1/2015

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OMG! Wet Dream come true! 水墨淋漓如何？

Adobe's video ad

Ladies and Gentlemen, what you're about to see would amaze you. Since the introduction of the Apple iPad in 2010, people have been dreaming about using tablet devices with realistic paint simulation to paint, and in fact, even the recent Adobe video ad "the future of Adobe creative applications on Microsoft devices" suggests exactly that.
用平板配像真度超高的虛擬顏料畫畫，自從iPad 2010 年面世就有人夢想過。最近Adobe發了視頻，內容是，將來他們的軟件配合微軟的平板可能會怎樣怎樣。其實片裡只是廣告效果，現在Adobe的軟件沒那麼神呢！

How about having the future *now*? Would you like to paint with realistic watercolor that flows as you tilt the surface? The flow should not be predefined with some kind of bitmaps that you load into the app, but react to your interaction. Okay, I'd let the video do the talking:
不過其實逼真水彩/水墨，用我們的技術已可達成，且小平板一樣可用（雖然慢點）。多講沒用，看片：

This is done on a US$150 Windows tablet PiPO W5, with pen and touch support (palm rejection built in). Can you believe it!! Although it doesn't provide the silky smooth user experience you get from a desktop PC or a gaming laptop, its cost-to-performance ratio is extremely high. For comparison, if you're in the Apple camp, a pressure-sensitive pen like the Wacom Creative Stylus 2 would cost you $80, not to mention the ipad itself costs you at least $250 (for an old model). And, remember on the ipad (in fact any platform), you won't find painting app that does such a realistic watercolor like ours. By the way, the GPU inside the W5 is no match for the Tegra K1 found inside the Nvidia S hield Tablet ($299 lowest), and just imagine what we can do with such a powerful GPU.
雖然 Atom CPU 運行速度慢，但影片裡用的PiPO W5 的確性價比超高。8寸的大小，方便攜帶。你很喜歡 Wacom Cintiq Companion 但買不起？嫌它太重？那可以考慮PiPO W5 喲，才人民幣 888 (= 美金 142)，萬一丟了也不太心疼吧。比較下如果你是用ipad方案，價錢也不便宜，還有就算用了Wacom專業畫筆，也不是每個app 也支持palm rejection 呢。

In the above video you'll see that every time you put down the paint the outcome is so natural, thanks to our full-fledged fluid simulation. The following is another demo showing the use of the brush in "sprayer" mode.
上面影片可看到，每次下筆，出來效果也不一樣的，這也是水彩/水墨可貴之處。以下影片裡有用‘噴筆’模式來下墨的：

You may say it's just a cool demo - it's not practical for creating art. Well, if you're a watercolorist, you know the use of flow patterns. You can use those abstract forms for backgrounds, fills for your subjects, etc (see e.g. this video). The organic quality is really irreplaceable. Let me show you a piece we did:
你可能覺得這樣只是個玩具，實際上難用於繪畫？那下面給你看個示範圖吧：

This Gandalf in Chinese ink painting style was done on a desktop PC previously, with a "wash" layer that utilizes the paint dispersion and another layer used for line work. And, before you ask, yes, our simulation focuses on Chinese watercolor now. Our Software Architect Nelson Chu would come back to Western media again later (At Microsoft, Nelson worked on oil and pastel simulation, which you now find inside Fresh Paint).
這幅水墨 ‘甘道夫’就是之前用Expresii 在桌面機畫成的。用桌面機比較快，比較爽啊！片裡是用W5打開並展示給你看。圖分兩個圖層，一為‘線條’，另一為‘染色’，傳統上說‘有筆有墨為之畫’，在電子世界裡可以分圖層多好啊！

Conclusion: We are very excited by the recent development of Win 8 tablets. Finally software and hardware working together to make a dream come true! We're going to release the Lite version of Expresii first (preview available now), and the Full version later (no set date yet). 2015 looks like a good year for digital painters!
結論：沒想到 Intel 的CPU 進步那麼快！把我們 GPU-intensive 的水墨模擬放到小平板只是想試試而已，但出來效果絕不是Atom CPU一貫給我們的印象中那麼差喲！夢想，逐漸因軟件和硬件的配合而成真了。 ୧༼ ヘ ᗜ ヘ ༽୨
我們會先推出 Lite 版本（Preview 現已可下載），之後再推出 Full 版。大家，看來2015 是數位繪畫的一年好年！

Support us by liking our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Help us spread the word!
如果你喜歡我們所做的努力，請多多支持，好讓中國水墨也能在數位世界發揚光大，謝謝！請讚我們的FB粉絲團啊～

You can download a 9k x 12k output of the Gandalf artwork here.
‘甘道夫’超大圖output在這裡。

Comments

<<Previous

Upgrading with sub-$90 graphics card to use Expresii

Budget upgrade

Upgrade Process

Result: smooth painting in Expresii

Conclusion: Truly amazing watercolor doesn't need super computer

2019-10-22 Update: Slim desktop Dell Inspiron 660s

6th-gen i3 vs 3rd-gen i5 - which is faster?

Review: Cheap Surface Pen Alternatives with tilt support

Where to buy?

Pen Tip Feel

No Bluetooth, no Magnet

Pressure & Tilt Sensitivity

1024 vs 4096 Levels

Weight Balance

Conclusion

Update: Compatibility

Asrock Deskmini A300 with External GPU

1x versus 4x PCI-E

Conclusion

Mini PC for running Expresii

Smooth painting at Full-HD ($350-$620)

Smooth painting at 4K+, as an upgrade (+$116 + Graphics card of your choice)

Smooth Painting At 4K+, Compact, ready-to-use ($1150-$1300)

Expresii on Microsoft Surface Book 2

You need the base

Teclast X16 Power 台電平板

Using Smart device as Stylus Tilt Controller 以智能裝置控制畫筆傾斜

iPad Pro vs Windows Tablets

We want tilt Sensing

it's the Software

Expresii on CUBE i7 Stylus 酷比魔方 i7 手寫版

Expresii on a US$150 Windows Tablet: Flow Demos (pt 4)

OMG! Wet Dream come true! 水墨淋漓如何？

Expresii 寫意

Previous Posts
以前的文章

Categories 分類

Budget upgrade

Upgrade Process

Result: smooth painting in Expresii

Conclusion: Truly amazing watercolor doesn't need super computer

2019-10-22 Update: Slim desktop Dell ​Inspiron 660s

6th-gen i3 vs 3rd-gen i5 - which is faster?

Where to buy?

Pen Tip Feel

No Bluetooth, no Magnet

Pressure & Tilt ​Sensitivity

1024 vs 4096 Levels

Weight Balance

Conclusion

Update: Compatibility

1x versus 4x PCI-E

Conclusion

Smooth painting at Full-HD ($350-$620)

Smooth painting at 4K+, as an upgrade (+$116 + Graphics card of your choice)

Smooth Painting At 4K+, Compact, ready-to-use ($1150-$1300)

You need the base

We want tilt Sensing

it's the Software

OMG! Wet Dream come true! 水墨淋漓如何？

Expresii 寫意

Previous Posts 以前的文章

Categories 分類

2019-10-22 Update: Slim desktop Dell Inspiron 660s

Pressure & Tilt Sensitivity

Previous Posts
以前的文章