What is Digital Ink?
Wacom WILL and digital ink crayon at CES 2016
Digital ink is the visual representation of handwriting or drawing on a screen. Digital inking requires a sensor-containing layer under the screen called a digitizer. Probably the most familiar example is the signature pad on many supermarket checkouts. Another common example is finger painting or writing on the iPad using a stylus. (Digital ink is different than e-ink or digital paper, which is used in e-readers.)
It gets way more sophisticated, with 2-in-1 devices such as Microsoft Surface and tablets like iPad Pro, and tablet PCs and monitors that sense the amount of pressure and adjust lines accordingly, with some also allowing touch input.
In short, digital ink puts organic, handmade markmaking into the computing environment. With artists and designers largely creating images using Photoshop and other art programs, the graphic arts industry and digital ink are inseparable.
Digital ink is integrated directly into Windows 10
Once mostly a function of hardware, such as the digitizer and pen itself, software is taking on a greater role in high-tech inking. Not only can you use it in graphics programs, but Microsoft integrates Windows Ink into Windows 10. You can use it to make e-signatures, write on Sticky Notes, translate handwriting into text, or write on Web pages in Microsoft's Edge browser.
Windows Ink Sketchpad app with ruler. Image by Microsoft
Windows Ink Workspace takes the technology to a new level by making it work across apps. You can jot memos into Sticky Notes and have Cortana sync them, or write a flight number and have Bing open a travel page. Microsoft has worked with companies including Adobe to offer simultaneous pen and touch capabilities using Windows Ink. You can also doodle in Sketchpad and use rulers and templates on it to create lines and stencils. And you can use OneNote and various pen apps to do more; clicking the pen buttons to open apps is part of the user experience.
Microsoft is encouraging developers to incorporate Windows Ink into third-party apps. If you would like to learn more, please read this post from their blog.
Wacom's WILL and the future of digital ink
Microsoft is also partnering with Wacom, the Japanese company long in the forefront of digital ink, to create a universal pen that should start to heal the rift between Surface and Wacom artists. (Though originally scheduled for winter 2016, it hasn't yet made an appearance.) Wacom makes the Intuos, Bamboo, and Cintiq tablets that allow precise handwriting and art.
In my opinion, Wacom is pushing the envelope farther than Microsoft in the digital ink space. Its latest initiative to push software to the forefront of this movement is called WILL, which allows users to collaborate on inking in real time across devices, platforms, input methods, and geography. Think of it as a worldwide paint party. I got to see it at the Wacom booth at CES earlier this year. Here are some photos.
Wacom's digital ink shared canvas. Each pen has its own unique ID
These are all edits of the same original notes. You can write on one tablet and have it show up in another, either right next to you or across the globe.
WILL stands for Wacom Ink Layer Language. The idea is to allow users to add digital ink to any kind of app.
WILL can work on the Web, Android, iOS, or Windows, but the Web-based application is perhaps the most exciting, and has potential for educational uses. On the Web, users can collaborate in real time in a virtual workspace. This can take the form of a shareable whiteboard that can be used for tutoring, sharing documents, and brainstorming. drawing, circling things, and marking up documents.
A group can work together on a virtual whiteboard, with the instructor calling on students to come up and write or draw. SMF, the Stroke Messaging Format, part of WILL, enables streaming fast enough to accomodate the demands of video conferencing.
Sierra Modro, Wacom's WILL evangelist, says whether you're writing on a Post-it note or on a screen, being able to have a personal ink that follows you throughout the day is "A powerful opportunity to really capture people at an emotional level."
Luscious Wacom pens! The silver and black one is an airbrush. Too bad they're not for sale
Some Wacom products, including the Slate and Spark, already use WILL. These products allow you to draw or write on paper with a real pen. The notes get automatically captured, digitized, vectorized, and sent to an app, where they can be edited.
WILL captures the biometrics of signatures. including speed of each stroke, tilt, and pressure. Each stroke's metadata gets stored and appear beautifully in each operating system. Interestingly, each piece of data gets a timestamp. That enables you to play back the strokes of your drawing or writing using a slider. WILL focuses on both capturing and rendering to ensure beautiful and accurate output across platforms and and systems.
Every stroke you make, WILL be watching you: biometrics noted
The biometric aspects of WILL are both impressive and slightly scary, for they call to mind the possibility of recreating an absent person's unique handwriting, and even works of art. Imagine if we had recorded Van Gogh, and could program our Gogh-bot to quickly paint a new masterpiece!
WILL can record the ingredients that make your unique handwriting, such as speed, pressure, and tilt.
Rather than using point data the way some systems do, WILL doesn't just look at your point to point input and then interpolate it to produce curves. Rather, it produces a stream of circles. It lets you split points, which allows you to erase just part of a line. It also contains an active smoothing engine so you won't end up with a jagged or jittery line.
Like Microsoft, Wacom is happy to have developers integrate the software into apps, or create new apps that use it. It even ran a contest called Inkathon.
Will Apple expand the Apple Pencil?
Apple, for now, is sticking with the Apple Pencil only with iOS, rather than offering a Pencil-abled Mac. So, full desktop apps like Photoshop remain in the clutches of Windows. If you want to use your Apple Pencil to mark up Word docs, MS is ready with its Office 365 app. This Tech Republic article shows how to use highlighting and more. Apple seems content to not try to mix mobile with desktop.
Is digital ink just a footnote? Or will we see massive groups of MOOCS students step up to the whiteboard across continents? There's something comforting and emotional about writing, as the Wacom evangelist said. It's an eternal act, now rendered infinite. Who wouldn't want to to take part in an everlasting, ever-editable worldwide doodle? I'll be waiting, pen in hand.