Last week, Wacom launched its latest flagship device, the Cintiq 27QHD, featuring without a doubt, the best pen-on-screen and color performance from any of the work tablets.
The new flagship Cintiq has a 27-inch edge-to-edge glass work surface, in a 16:9 display, with a resolution of 2560 x 1440px (the highest of any Cintiq), 1.07 billion colors, REC 709 and 97 percent of Adobe’s color gamut.
Available in both a Touch or Pen version, Touch allows users to incorporate multi-touch gestures in applications such as Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator CC to position and navigate your work with one hand while you create with the 2048 levels pressure-sensitive pen in the other.
Included is the new wireless ExpressKey Remote which can be placed anywhere on the screen or desk, allowing users to dictate exactly how, when and where their customisable keyboard shortcuts and modifiers are implemented. The Touch Ring allows users to zoom, rotate or change brush sizes.
COLOUR PERFORMANCE
For any high-end creative production in art, design, image editing and 3D animation, artists can be certain that the colors match the printing or other output phases of a project. This is largely due to the precision color matching powered by X-Rite (purchased as an accessory at the Wacom eStore), that sets and fine-tunes the colors for a near exact match.
Members of the Laika animation team, makers of the films The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman and Coraline, show the kind of colour performance you can expect in the video below.
WORK SURFACE
Both versions of the new flagship product feature a 27” 2560 x 1440 seamless edge-to edge glass screen. The extra wide viewing angle enables designers, artists, game or film developers to create rich, detailed, large-scale work directly on the screen. Multi-touch allows users to directly manipulate their work with fingers by rotating, pinching and moving it around. The ability to manipulate a 3D model or pan, zoom and rotate an image with one hand while simultaneously sculpting or sketching with the other delivers a completely natural experience, enabling artists to stay completely in their creative zone.
Chris Tran, CG Modeler and his Laika colleagues, discuss the importance of the Cintiq size in the vid below..
PRESSURE SENSITIVE PEN
Users benefit from a combination of pen, multi-touch (Cintiq 27QHD touch), on-screen controls and a Radial Menu. Pen performance remains the key ingredient to the whole creative pen display experience and the Cintiq’s Pro Pen emulates the feel of a traditional brush or marker. Users can draw, paint, design and edit directly on screen with the Wacom pen and its 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity. Users can incorporate different pen nibs to increase the natural feel, including the felt nibs, which provide a realistic pen on paper feel.
CG Texture artist from Laika, Holly Webster, explains the Cintiq pen, in the vid below.
EXPRESSKEY REMOTE
This hand-held set of shortcut keys and Touch Ring liberates creatives to focus on their work. It can be placed wherever is most convenient while drawing – either on screen, in the hand or beside the keyboard on the desk. Up to five ExpressKey Remotes can be attached at one time so when combined with the onscreen controls, users have dozens of options to customize shortcut keys by task or by application.
Ean McNamara, Illustrator at Laika, states that the new Cintiq provides all the right features “to build your own workspace and make it comfortable.”
ERGONOMICS
The integrated stand means the Cintiq can be either laid flat (five degrees to be exact) similar to a canvas or positioned at a 20-degree angle by extending the legs. An optional ERGO stand or 3rd-party VESA arm give users the option to adjust the position even further to whatever angle works best for them, whether sitting or standing.
With three differently sized stationary Cintiqs (13 HD, 22 HD, 27 QHD) and the mobile Cintiq Companion 2, all varieties come in both Touch and Pen versions.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The Cintiq 27QHD Pen is priced at US$2299.99 and the Cintiq 27QHD Touch is priced at US$2799.99 both models and will be available in late January.
For more info, check: www.wacom.com
Excerpts from Press Release
