Digital Pen Tablet

[Dennis Degler]

[Gerald Clough]

It takes a LOT of practice use it smoothly. I never got comfortable or real happy with it. Maybe I just didn't want to bad enough to put in enough time. I finally concluded that what I would really want would be a touch screen and pen device, a much more expensive proposition. I used a touch screen tablet PC in the field for about a year using a stylus pen, and that experience leads me to believe it would be about right for this job.

[rbostrum]

Does anyone out there utilize a digital pen tablet to make markings, tracings, other notations on digital images to document your latent analysis?

We use tablets extensively for various reasons including to create comparison and annotation charts. This is for QD work in our section and not LPE, but I would imagine the benefits would be the same. If you want to 'draw' on any image the pen/tablet combo makes tremendous sense. It's very fast, easy and accurate -- much more precise than a high-res mouse or trackball, IMO.

It takes a LOT of practice use it smoothly. I never got comfortable or real happy with it. Maybe I just didn't want to bad enough to put in enough time. I finally concluded that what I would really want would be a touch screen and pen device, a much more expensive proposition. I used a touch screen tablet PC in the field for about a year using a stylus pen, and that experience leads me to believe it would be about right for this job.

Agreed. In our office every examiner has a dual-display system with the second display being a Wacom Cintiq 21UX (http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/cintiq-21ux.php). It is a high-res monitor and tablet combined - an "interactive pen display" according to Wacom. Absolutely fantastic to work with! And, no, I don't work for Wacom... Tracing of on-screen features is particularly easy to do.

There are two drawbacks, one minor and one quite significant. The latter is the cost. This unit is NOT cheap falling in the $2000+ range. There is a smaller 12 inch model that might be more reasonable. The minor issue is the size and weight of the display. It comes with an adjustable stand that allows the monitor to lie almost flat for drawing. But there are still times it would be nice to 'hold' the monitor in your lap. This is possible but it's not comfortable for very long. It also makes the unit relatively permanent (much moreso than a regular tablet which you can easily use with a regular laptop). These are, however, minor issues.

At home I use a Wacom Intuous3 tablet and it's also very good. It does take some practise to coordinate the movement of the pen with the onscreen image but I didn't find it too difficult. I like using it but I really wish I could afford a Cintiq for home use...

We also have a few tablet PCs in the section but I haven't used them enough to comment on that option.

[Dennis Degler]

[josher89]

Dennis,

I've been using a Bamboo tablet for over a year and I LOVE IT!!!!! It works great for latents (tracing ridges) and when it's being used in Photoshop, it will take on a brush-like characteristics (if you press harder, the stroke gets bigger, etc.) I've even traced latent prints (always in a separate layer) and used that layer to search AFIS (it's just a thin-image of the latent, really!) I've had great luck with it and they can run under 100 bucks, depending on the model.

http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/

Good Luck. The flow of the pen is very smooth; I would recommend putting the tablet in the middle and above your keyboard (center it up under your monitor) and you should find that wil a little practice, you'll be really glad you have one.