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Inklet turns your trackpad into a Wacom-style tablet

by Mike Schramm Jan 12th 2010 at 5:30PM


Now here's a fascinating app -- Inklet is a new Mac app by Ten One Design that purports to turn your Macbook's trackpad into a tablet-style input. The program uses the multitouch trackpad interface to sense where and when you're touching the pad, and then translates that into "drawing" marks just like a Wacom pen tablet. Unfortunately, the trackpad doesn't have sensitivity built-in (it can only tell when you're touching, not how hard you're pushing), but with Ten One's Pogo Sketch stylus, which I presume sends pressure information back to your Macbook somehow, you can get that "line thickness" functionality -- press harder for a thicker line, or less for a thinner line. Pretty awesome. It's not as big or probably as sensitive as a commercial Wacom tablet, but just for doodling and messing around, it's a much cheaper solution.

Inklet requires Snow Leopard to work, so if you're running anything pre-10.6, you're out of luck. The software is $24.95, and their website has been brought to its knees by recent press, so you can download it from Apple's site if you can't reach it the official way. The Pogo Sketch stylus is only required for pressure sensitivity, but it's a very reasonable $15. Like I said, if you're like me and want a Wacom but haven't had the cash or inclination to spend on it, Inklet could be the stepping stone you're looking for.

We'll have a full TUAW review of Inkjet within the next few days.

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Now here's a fascinating app -- Inklet is a new Mac app by Ten One Design that purports to turn your Macbook's trackpad into a...
 

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Jeff Harris

I'll stick with my Wacom tablet and pressure sensitivity. It's also a great traveling input device. The new Bamboo Pen & Touch looks pretty good for $99.

January 13 2010 at 8:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ned

" but with Ten One's Pogo Sketch stylus, which I presume sends pressure information back to your Macbook somehow, you can get that "line thickness" functionality "

Holy freaking crap. Could you not be bothered to do ANY freaking research about this at all? Did you even watch the video?

A good article would have told us how this differs from just using a stylus on the trackpad with tap-to-click. Thankfully the video does a pretty good job, telling us about the thickness being sensed (by a larger touch area of the stylus making contact when pressed down, etc), the on-the-fly work area resizing and moving, etc.

tl;dr - are you 12?

January 13 2010 at 3:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DMD

FYI the Wacom Bamboo starts at $99 and you get 512 levels of pressure sensitivity, Photoshop Elements and Nik® Color Efex Pro. I'm not any way affiliated with Wacom…..just a happy customer and I've purchased three tablets from them at different times and they're all still working great.

January 13 2010 at 1:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robwariii

i would love to see this work with the magic mouse. maybe with a little help from the BetterTouchTool app

January 12 2010 at 11:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
artist

The UI seems pretty unintuitive - weird hotkeys that need two hands, and holding down the tilde key while selecting something from the menu bar! I've often wished the trackpad acted like a mini Wacom but until that's natively built in (or close), I'll stick to drawing on a real tablet.

January 12 2010 at 9:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to artist's comment
Eddie

That's probably why I haven't gotten it to work. Plus the stupid demo only lets me try for like 30 seconds before it reverts to a nag screen. Definitely going to keep using my Wacom Bluetooth tablet.....

January 19 2010 at 1:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Martin

I wish it was compatible with my white polycarbonate MacBook. It just says there's not a compatible multitouch device (I can do two finger scrolling, but not swipe-back-forward or pinch).

Definitely makes upgrading a bit more appealing.

January 12 2010 at 8:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Justin

Mine actually arrived yesterday evening, and I have to say it really does its job pretty well. It takes a bit of getting used to, and it's a bit finicky at times, but for quick stuff and doing rough sketches without an expensive and bulky tablet, it's just the thing.

January 12 2010 at 6:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tuaw,com

This makes me wish even more for Apple to offer a USB keyboard with built-in trackpad.

January 12 2010 at 6:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

Impressive and affordable.

Worth a look in my opinion.

January 12 2010 at 6:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sunnycyclist

No, the Pogo stylus does not have any pressure sensitivity. The only thing it does is provide a smaller point of contact with the trackpad.

January 12 2010 at 5:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to sunnycyclist's comment
Jonathan Neil

...and when you push down on it, the tip flattens out and more of it makes contact with the glass. And that is how the pressure sensitivity does its thing.

January 12 2010 at 6:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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