Using tablets for latent tracing/documentation

[jchooper]

Has anyone had good experiences using a tablet, such as Bamboo or Cintiq, for tracing latent prints ?

[akstephen]

We have the Bamboo tablets in our lab. They do make it easier to trace ridge detail. Not perfect by any stretch, but my easier than the mouse.

[josher89]

I've been using the Bamboo for about three years now...once you get used to it, it works really well. Much better than the mouse, that's for sure! There are several settings you may want to tweak if you are using it; the main one being the Pen Mode option. Use this to mask your screen rather than willy nilly. It will make tracing that much better.

[Steve Everist]

Just out of curiosity - do you trace latents for AFIS entry only, or is there another reason?

We've been out of the practice of tracing since moving from NEC to Morphotrak, but I didn't see it as something that was done so often and was so cumbersome that I'd have to get a tablet to do it.

Are you freehand tracing the latent prints? If so, grab your brush tool and click at a start point. Hold the left shift button and then just click along the ridge's path. Photoshop will fill in the line between clicks. When you get to tighter curves, just click more often and closer together. And if you screw up a click, just CTRL-ALT-Z back in history until you can start over again (which will require a new first click to anchor the start point).

[Pat]

I am not in the lab doing comparisons anymore, but the folks I know who are, and who use the WACOM (pronounced "Way -- Com), swear by it. It is a large screen monitor and you can draw on it directly in Adobe Photoshop. I know a lot of members of this chat board know more about this tool than I do.

[Neville]

In NZ we still have NEC and stopped tracing about 20 years or more ago. I wonder is anyone out there still using the bellows camera with 5x4 negs?

[Mike Fletcher]

G'day Neville,

so if the Kiwis lost it 20 years ago and as we all know you are 10 years behind the rest of us............then where does that leave the whole concept of tracing?

Regards, Mike

ps how long before 'Deans the Dud' returns home?

[Neville]

Hi Mike
Lost is not the word I would have used here more like rejected As it removed 3 hole steps in the process. But then you wouldn't understand the difference between NEC binary photography and and 256 grey scale. Tracing belongs in the Fred Flintstone and bellows cameras.

As for Robbie he can only work with what he is given and who's the world champs then?

Regards Neville