For years, the Wacom digitizer has been the only choice for almost 100% guaranteed pressure sensitivity in almost any application. If you own a Wacom tablet of any kind, and load up even the most obscure application that supports the wintab specification, Wacom has it covered.

In light of Ntrig’s recent 24 Million dollar deal with Microsoft to support its technology for touch-screen computers, I sent off the following message to NTrig headquarters.

Me:

“Does N-Trig have plans to make a Photoshop compatible driver? How about a combination capacitive touch screen and magnetic pen? I really want across the board compatibility with all my applications, (Photoshop, Flash, Painter, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, etc.) before I invest in any hardware with ntrig digitizers. Can anyone there clear this up for me? Thanks! -Chad”

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Ntrig:

Dear Chad,

Thank you for your email.

DuoSense supports full pressure-sensitivity.

For example, if you open Microsoft Journal, and select Tools => Options => Pen Settings, there is a Pressure Sensitivity checkbox which can be selected, and doing so enables full pressure sensitivity in all supported applications.

Other examples of applications that support pressure sensitivity with DuoSense, are the Windows Office applications, the ArtRage graphical application to name but two.

For answers concerning any specific software that does not support DuoSense pressure sensitivity, (for example, the software you mentioned in your email) you would need to consult with the Customer Support department of that software’s manufacturer.

Thank you for visiting our website.

Kind regards,

Debbie Gold Hadar

Business Development

N-trig Ltd.

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Clearly, a cut and paste response, edited a little for my situation. Grr. My response:

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Me:

Hello Debbie,

Thanks for the reply. However, this e-mail itself is a shining example of why I would never buy a product that contained an NTrig digitizer.

I understand clearly that your product does support pressure sensitivity in the applications you mentioned,( Journal, Office, and Artrage – hey, that’s three..) however being provided with the stock answer of “you would need to consult with the Customer Support department of that software’s manufacturer.” in reference to Photoshop, Corel Painter, Adobe Flash, etc., will not win a larger customer base. Perhaps the multimedia and design portion of your market is not your largest target audience, however given your position in the Windows 7 game, Ntrig should make across the board compatibility a #1 effort. I can’t count how many tablet pc users I have read about in forums online saying “..oh.. it has an Ntrig digitizer? No sale. I need Wacom.” For the following reason:

Wacom does the following flawlessly, and thus, they are the leader of the pack. If I go to start almost any application that requires pressure sensitivity, Wacom has it covered! end of story. With NTrig, there are solid limitations. Ntrig asks me to NOT rely on them for support, rather that I rely on each individual sofware vendor.

Clearly, there is a standard for pressure sensitivity in Windows itself, ( the wintab specification ) so why can’t Ntrig address this in a broad sense, giving pressure sensitivty in all applications?
Surely the value of being a real competitor to Wacom would be invaluable. A driver that provides real pressure sensitivity in almost any existing graphics application, combined with Ntrig‘s capacitve touch technology will literally knock the ball out of the park. If the inability to do this stems from a patent application on Wacom’s part, so be it, but I can’t see a viable future for Ntrig without addressing this subject in a very public way, to the tablet pc and gadget community at large.

I hope that this e-mail reaches farther than just business development, it needs to be read out loud, to the head of the company.

Thanks,
Chad Essley

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Ntrig:

Dear Chad,

Thank you very much for your detailed email.

We thank you for  your concerns, and would like to assure you that we are working with various ISVs to ensure there will be more supported applications in the future.

Please also be assured that your sentiments have been passed on to the appropriate parties.

Kind regards,

Debbie Gold Hadar

Business Development

N-trig Ltd.

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I hope that Ntrig is able to take these concerns seriously. It would be fantastic to have an alternative to Wacom products that works equally as well in any application. It would open up competiton to the harware manufacturers, and choice to the consumer.

I’m personally hoping that either Wacom, or Ntrig pulls of the first digitizer that does both capacitive touch for Windows 7, combined with a true pressure sensitive magnetic stylus for inking & drawing. (Oh and can someone out there pack this all into a nice 12″ macbook air thin slate tablet pc that weighs under 1lb?

Let’s cross our fingers folks..

C