I’ve encountered that issue with one or two apps on my Boox Note 2, notably Total Commander. They have this special menu for modifying contrast settings and what have you for individual apps, and there’s also one setting that adds a black outline to letter shapes. For me this made Total Commander menus readable/usable, so maybe that would be an option for those other apps as well.
PS: I should specify, that menu is something Onyx offer as part of their firmware, dive the last couple of firmware updates you can also access it directly from the top swipe down menu (next to WiFi and Bluetooth etc I think)
Oh I just thought of another one! I’ve been looking at the Qwerkywriter clones. I’d love to have a retro typewriter style bluetooth keyboard with the slot in the back to hold up a tablet. But considering I already have a nice mechanical keyboard and about a zillion other bluetooth keyboards, it seems a little silly to drop over $100 on a fancy BT keyboard. Also the logitech one with the slot in the back is currently on sale for $30 if I really want something with a built in tablet slot.
Is it just me? Lately, I just can’t think of any piece of tech that I want not even need right now. Completely lost interest in reviews of new products cos I just take one look and think to myself, it offers nothing new to what I already have. Between the SP8, ZF3 & Duo Uno I’m in @Bronsky’s world now.
Maybe it’s a testament to how less innovative tech companies have become. What I know though is that a redesigned Surface Neo will really pique my interest again.
When I started researching and reading here, pen/screen tech was full of bugs and wish list qualities not affordable or even invented yet. For more than a few years, I was full-on trying to build my own Cintiq!
That’s all changed. Add to that, memory ceilings and processor speeds having blown past all my personal needs and I find myself slapping the dust from my hands and thinking, “Job done!”
There are still a few things I’d like to see, like eInk devices which perform at the same level as current solutions, and basic refinements to existing tech, but on the whole, I feel like the itch has been scratched. It’s been a fun ride!
Man, just when we got the new forum up and running, @thatcomicsguy declares victory! Thankfully we still have a few members that will never be satisfied (raises hand).
I kind of get the sentiment, I used to love to go in to Akihabara at least twice a month and even if I didn’t buy anything I was always enamored by some new device on display. Nowadays it is the big companies that dominate and they tend towards being risk averters. Huge bureaucracies with committee decisions, aiming for concensus and promotions, rather than innovation and whoa experiences. Walking into an electronics store today, well I might not call it depressing, but it sure isn’t uplifting either.
The thing I’m interested in now is this whole AI phenomenon, competent digital art poofing into existence. Who even needs pens? You can just type in, “Create epic image here”.
It’s interesting to me that as one technology reaches perihelion in terms of development, that another threatens to render it obsolete.
I’m fascinated by the question, “Can I remain one step ahead of the Matrix? What can I do that a machine cannot? I have this fancy human soul…, is it good enough that I can somehow push a stylus in a way a machine never could? Will AIs conquer humor?”
Right now…, over on Niftyink, (an NFT creating platform) an AI can’t actually breech simple natural barriers, (nobody has coded an AI to perform brush strokes in a way so that when you play them back as you can with a .json image file, it looks like a human is pushing a pen). Whereas a guy with a stylus is miles ahead of the game.
I’m still constantly tempted by the tab S8 ultra which went down to 870$ new and about 750$ lightly used. But then remind myself that it will become a permanent table accessory that I will spend more time babying instead of making use of. And the tab S7 FE still feel big for me sometimes.
The whole AI fiasco gave me terrible feeling about the future of digital artist. I had been considering for years about quitting my job and pursue full time freelance art while making my own dream project. This AI thing just put the final nail on the coffin of that dream.
Recent CSP update just made timelapse recording default whenever you create a new canvas. This could be countering to AI because they can’t export drawing process video, and honest artist can prove that they actually draw their work ( kind of sad that we need proving that now). Now if only CSP time-lapse wasn’t so heavy and bug infested, I would be happy.
On Reddit the trick seems to be “Look cute and stand next to recent piece”. That might work until supposed artists shamelessly pose next to AI generated art. (3… 2… 1…)
I think art in and of itself will adapt and even eventually embrace aspects of it.
What concerns me at the moment is the deepfake stuff especially when it comes to things like p0rn. One of my daughters’ classmates had a vengeful ex-boyfriend that used it to send to the girlfriends parents as a “see what your daughter’s been doing away at school…”
I didn’t see it but my daughter said it was uncanny how real it looked and it was only by knowing who she really was that, she could know it was fake.
And in the era of polarization we are in, it isn’t just p0rn that could be used to hurt some one.
BTW: It’s really freaking annoying that apparently “p_rn” is one of the flagged words. It just seems a bit silly IMHO
On the upside, typing pr0n makes you look like one of the cool kids. As for deepfakes, yeah, all of that stuff can only get better (in quality) and easier to make. Good luck to all of us!
On the less pr0nographic side, personally I’m curious to see what kind of hallucinatory worlds we’ll be able to walk around in once we teach “AI” how to imagine two slightly different perspectives of a scene. It will be like walking around in a computer’s mind, I’m not even kidding.
We already see that computer systems can have “imagination” (conjuring up new things based on prior training data), and once they can render 3D imagined moving scenes, that’ll be something that no human artist can do quickly. I just hope we get to see all those cool things before society collapses from misinformation.
Catching up on this thread, but, yeah, I am almost there. The only thing I am still somewhat coveting is a smaller drawing tablet for carrying around. I don’t need any new features, just a smaller form factor than my 12.9 IPP. We had some guests over this weekend, and one person brought their 11" IPP to get a little work done, magic keyboard included. At one point he had left it on the bar, and I needed to move it out of the way. I was struck by just how portable and light it felt compared to mine in that moment. But yeah, tech wise, I really don’t need anything better or different. Just want something a little smaller that already exists in the world.
I use both CSP and Procreate for the most part. CSP is a much better program overall, but Procreate is very nice just for quick sketches. I think on a smaller screen, CSP would feel more cramped. Still, I have looked at the Tab S6 lite. I think I’m more leaning towards an iPad Mini 6 (or 7 if they refresh them soon), or a 2022 IPP 11" right now. I like the idea of adding hover to the drawing experience, which, while it’s very far behind for IOS, would still be nice to have.
My other thought is to wait and see if the Surface Go gets refreshed with the newer pen tech that rivals the Apple Pencil experience. Even though I’m not a fan of the floppy keyboard and kickstand option, I wouldn’t mind being able to also write code and do some sketching in my take everywhere device.
As for deepfakes, yeah, all of that stuff can only get better (in quality) and easier to make. Good luck to all of us!
