Alias Sketchbook Reviewer's Guide
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Reviewer’s Guide January, 2003 Alias SketchBook Protm Reviewer’s Guide Table of Contents A. Welcome ................................................................................. 1 B. Highlights ............................................................................... 2 C. Context: Philosophy & Goals ............................................... 5 D. Innovations ............................................................................. 7 E. Workflow Scenarios ................................................................9 F. Tour of Alias SketchBook Pro ............................................ 16 1. User Interface.....................................................................18 2. Marking Menus ................................................................ 20 3. Brushes .............................................................................. 21 4. Colors ................................................................................ 24 5. Pan and Zoom .................................................................. 25 6. Undo, Redo, Clear ............................................................ 26 7. Page Creation, Save and Navigation .............................. 27 8. Layers ................................................................................ 29 9. Annotation ........................................................................ 33 10. Screen Capture ............................................................... 34 11. Backgrounds ................................................................... 35 12. Menus ............................................................................. 36 F. Alias SketchBook: The Free Version ................................. 38 G. Gallery ....................................................................................39 H. About Alias|Wavefront ........................................................ 40 A. Welcome to Alias SketchBook ProTM This reviewer’s guide provides a tour of Alias SketchBook Pro, an application designed specifically for the Tablet PC and tablet-equipped PCs. Developed for business users and corridor warriors as well as for artists and designers, Alias SketchBook Pro transforms the Tablet PC into a powerful and mobile digital sketchbook and complements the note- taking features of Microsoft Windows Journal. Alias SketchBook Pro key features • Alias SketchBook Pro is an early entry into a new category of application that combines sketching, image annotation, and presentation into a single integrated tool. Taking full advantage of the Tablet PC’s mobile, pen-based features, Alias SketchBook Pro simplifies visual expression, communication and collaboration. • Alias SketchBook Pro has an easy to use, innovative, user interface based on gestures that appeals to beginners as well as experts. • Optimized for fast annotation and presentation workflow, Alias SketchBook Pro shortens review time and enables people to comment in a more personal way. • Alias SketchBook Pro enables artists, designers and creative professionals to express and capture their visual ideas – from sketches to final production art – anywhere their work needs. • Custom backgrounds, annotation layers, one-flick page creation, and other tools establish Alias SketchBook Pro as a defining application for the Tablet PC. What you need to review Alias SketchBook • A pressure-sensitive Tablet PC or PC with a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet • The most recent version of Alias SketchBook Pro software and supporting files. Contact [email protected] to obtain the most recent versions. Contact Information • Product Management - Tom Wujec 416 874-8219 or [email protected] • Product Marketing – Colin Smith 416 874-8425 or [email protected]. • Press information - Donna Teggart 416 874-8592 or [email protected]. • Sales information - Steve Maric 416 874-8265 or [email protected] • Press web site: Images, updated Alias SketchBook software, supporting material http://aw.aliaswavefront.com/sketchbook/index.html Login: alias Password: sketchbook • Alias SketchBook Website http://www.aliaswavefront.com/sketchbook http://www.aliassketchbookpro.com Alias SketchBook ProTM Page – 1 Reviewer’s Guide B. Alias SketchBook Pro Highlights Alias SketchBook Pro is a compact, fast-loading application that transforms a Tablet PC into a networked, digital sketchbook. Easy and fun to use, Alias SketchBook Pro is a must-have tool for all Tablet PC users. It takes advantage of the Tablet PC’s pen-based input and portability to make creating, annotating and presenting visual ideas simpler and faster than ever. Alias SketchBook Pro provides high-quality and realistic brushes that respond instantly to pen pressure. Its customizable pencils, markers, brushes and airbrushes feel and respond just like the real thing. Mark up any image, from digital photographs and screen captures to high-resolution technical drawings. E-mail visual annotations back to colleagues and clients any time, anywhere. Alias SketchBook Pro creates books of sketches and other digital images that can be easily viewed, organized and distributed. Deliver impromptu and formal presentations and record any feedback instantly on annotation layers. Easy to Use, Designed for the Pen Alias SketchBook Pro uses a unique ergonomically designed user interface that accommodates natural hand movements. With a quick flick of the pen, Tablet PC users can use marking menusTM to perform a wide variety of tasks without needing to hunt through traditional drop-down menus. Alias SketchBook ProTM Page – 2 Reviewer’s Guide Alias SketchBook Pro Key Features • Brush Types: Use fast, high-quality and responsive pencils, pens, markers, brushes, airbrushes, smear tools and erasers. • Brush Controls: Create, modify and save your own brushes, varying their size, transparency, roundness, slant and stamp spacing’ • Image Types: Alias Sketchbook Pro employs layered TIF images but also reads and writes BMP, GIF, JPG and PNG files. • Canvas Size: Change the default size of new sketches to 8k x 8k pixels. • Undo & Redo: Undo up to 50 brushstrokes or actions. • Image Layers: Extend graphic possibilities with unlimited layers, accessible through later editor that provides marking menus to add, hide, lock, clear, name, move, order and change the transparent of layers. • Screen Capture: Take a one-button image capture of any application, launch Alias SketchBook Pro and load the image into a background layer. • Annotation: Use layers to write over images without damaging them, to compare variations, or to produce complex drawings. Save out to TIF format to preserve your layers. • Rapid Ideation: Create new pages quickly, taking advantage of an auto- naming feature that doesn’t require the Tablet PC text tool. • E-mail Integration: Share visual ideas quickly with an integrated e-mail feature. New notes are created automatically in your default e-mail program with the current image attached. • Presentation Mode: One-flick full screen image presentation. • Backgrounds: Select from hundreds of backgrounds including lines and grids, charts and graphs, architectural and design elements, storyboards, maps and games. • User interface: Enjoy a tried and tested interface designed specifically for the pen-based Tablet PC. Text input is rarely required, and Marking Menus provide one-flick access to major tools such as brushes, colors, zoom and pan. • Present Images: Turn off system and program toll interfaces to maximize screen real estate. • Manipulate Images: Rotate, mirror or flip images. • Online Help: Answer your questions with complete online help. Alias SketchBook ProTM Page – 3 Reviewer’s Guide System Requirements Alias SketchBook Pro is designed for pressure-sensitive Tablet PC devices running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. It will also operate on PCs with the following minimum system requirements: • An Intel Pentium II computer running either Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows 2000 • 128 MB of memory • 16-bit color display • A pressure-sensitive tablet and pen Download an Evaluation Version Visit the Alias|Wavefront web site to download Alias SketchBookTM, a free limited-feature set version of Alias SketchBook Pro, at www.aliaswavefront.com/sketchbook Alias SketchBook ProTM Page – 4 Reviewer’s Guide C. Context: Alias SketchBook Pro Philosophy and Goals The Pressure to Innovate in a World of Data Overload In our sped-up world of better, faster, and cheaper, business is continually looking for new ways to innovate. Success now depends largely on an organization’s ability to create new ideas and bring them to market successfully. Simple as this sounds, the path of innovation is a winding, rocky road. Today’s workplace is a whirlwind of people on the move: running to meetings, gathering information, making decisions, and providing direction. In this world of data overload, there is always too much to do and not enough time to clarify ideas and explore their full potential. The need for clarity and simplicity has never been greater. The Power of Visualization One strategy for realizing the power of ideas is to create meaningful images. We’re all familiar with how lines, circles and arrows can convey relationships, or the features of a gadget. We often draw to see connections and possibilities, to flesh out possibilities. Sketches have a spirit that we can relate to instantly and intuitively. Yet the paper we draw on is tossed or filed away, and with our current computer and business culture we must then struggle to put our visual thoughts into