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Hector Ruiz
Dr. Nadin
3 Examples of Innovation
The Wacom TabletWacom Co., Ltd. is a world-wide company started in July 12, 1983 that produces graphic
tablets and related products for artists, graphic designers, architects, and cartoonists, who
commonly cite it as an industry standard. The company is headquartered in Saitama, Japan even
though its U.S. headquarters is located in Vancouver, WA.. Wacom is a loose translation of
Japanese where the first word "Wa" stands for harmony or circle and the second word "Com"
stands for Computer. Wacom's patented cordless, battery free, and pressure-sensitive stylus or
writing pen is what makes the company notable. Its pen technology is used is various tablet
computers with the ability to use human intuition and natural movement. Wacom produces a line
of tablets which usually comes along with a bundled CD containing software such as Corel
Painter Essentials and Photoshop Elements. Each tablet comes with a compatible pen with two
ends. One end is used as the pointer and the other end can be used as an eraser. Depending on the
product, some Wacom tablets even come with a mouse integrated with the Wacom technology.
Wacom technology is compatible with Apple computers as well as PC computers and is
connected through a USB port or even Bluetooth on the recent tablets.
Wacom's product line include tablets designed for specific consumers. The line has
shifted from its original WT460M to the most recent Cintiq tablet. The Bamboo, Bamboo One
and Bamboo Fun are designed for general use with simple tasks unlike more complex tablets
designed for artists. The price is relatively low compared to the other tablets. The Bamboo's
active size is about 3.7x5.8-inch, which is different from its sibling, The Bamboo Fun, that
comes with either 3.7x5.8 inch active area or a 5.3×8.5 inch active area. The Bamboo One has no
buttons on the table and its pen one has the pointer end. It's active size is around 3.7x5.8 inches.
The Graphire is another tablet that compares to the Bamboo tablets where it is targeted for
general use. Photo editing can be done with this table. The on difference from the Bamboo
tablets is its Bluetooth technology and its active area of 5.94" x 8.22 inches. For the professional
photographer, artist, or designer, the Intuos3 professional tablet is made to edit photos as well as
creating digital art. It comes in different sizes from the 4x6, 6x8, 6x11, 9x12, 12x12, and 12x19
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inches for its active areas. The Intuos3 tablet is also designed to work within Windows Vista for
personal note taking, handwritten and email signing, handwriting recognition, and pen flick
navigation.
Wacom Pen Tablets and Displays
Marketing Trailer
Adobe PhotoshopThe idea of translating text and images beautifully and accurately into print took founders
John Warnock and Chuck Geschke into a twenty five year success of Adobe Systems
Incorporated. Since 1982 this company has revolutionized the way people are able to interact in a
creative spectrum. The engagement of communicating ideas and information anytime, anywhere,
and through any medium has been seen in financial services, government, manufacturing,
education, publishing and media, telecommunication, sciences, and other major industries. Their
vision for graphic arts and publishing started with the introduction of Adobe PostScript which
gave a new technological approach to printing on paper enabling prints to show exactly what was
on a computer screen. From that success, Adobe Photoshop became a new expansion to the
Adobe company. Photoshop was originally created by Thomas Knoll who was getting display
grayscale images on a monochrome display. Even though the program was not fully made, it was
a start of a new graphic editing program that would later become one of the industry standards
for graphic professionals.
Thomas's collaboration with his brother John Knoll help sell the program to Adobe
Systems Incorporated and in 1990 Photoshop 1.0 was released for the Macintosh computer.
There have been different versions of Photoshop that run for both Macintosh and PC computers,
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and currently Photoshop has released the CS4 version in October of 2008 which features include
capabilities for scientific imaging, the ability to paint directly on 3D models, and the first 64-bit
Photoshop. Photoshop can also be tied to other software in the Adobe family like Illustrator,
ImageReady, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Encore. The plugin's capability of Adobe
Photoshop also lets the user enhance some of the images. The most common form of plugin is
the filter plugin that enables different image effects like the John Knoll Light Factory which
simulate light reflections as seen through a camera's lens. Photoshop has been able to inspire
many artists to create things that would not be as easy creating in traditional media. Photoshop
gives the user complete control on anything that is being done to an image. With the help of a
tablet, Adobe Photoshop can be taken to a new level of interaction where the user can freely
move a digital pen to simulate actual drawing. Since the creation of Photoshop many different
books and videos to teach the art of Photoshop and all the different things that can be done with
the program have been made and utilized by student and professional artists for the development
of new animations, movies, books, and interactive media. Photoshop is also used with programs
like Corel PainterX in order to create stunning works of art that sometimes cannot be
differentiated from traditional media when view in a digital monitor.
Adobe Photoshop Demo with Whit Brachna
Autodesk MayaWith program like Adobe Photoshop and Wacom tablets used to create numerous works of art in
the entertainment industry, there is another program that is widely known to 3D artists. Autodesk
Maya is a integrated 3D modeling, animation, visual effects, and rendering program. Maya is
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used by professionals in the architecture, engineering, construction, automotive, education,
government, entertainment, and telecommunication industries. Since the ability to communicate
is extremely important, Maya is able to help users model, texture, and render an object in order
to explain complex procedures. Before it was bought by Autodesk, Maya was a product of
several companies being merged. Wavefront, Thomson Digital Image, and Alias started
everything before Wavefront merged with Thomson Digital Image. It was not until Silicon
Graphics Incorporated merged both Wavefront and Alias in the mid nineties that the company
started to work on a program that would later become one of the standards in the entertainment
industry after Alias's architecture capabilities was complemented with Wavefront's coding.
Autodesk has a line of products used for 3D modeling. These include 3ds Max, Auto
CAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Inventor, and Revit Architecture. Since 1999 Maya users in the
entertainment industry have received and won Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, and
three-quarters of the gaming industry prefer Maya as a 3D program of choice. The use of Maya
models makes the program stable and easier to function. Maya also uses NURBS and
subdivision surfaces for modeling. With versions like Maya 2009 Unlimited particle systems are
used for masses like steam or water flow, dynamic fields are able to portray gravity or wind, and
there are tools that even make use of hair and fur. Users are even able to use some effects like the
nCloth to simulate actual clothing that bends and folds. The most current version of Maya is
Maya 2009 and within the version there are two options that can be chosen depending on the
need of the user. Maya 2009 Complete and Maya 2009 Unlimited are able to provide with
enough tools to help in the creative development of anything imaginable.