Wacom Art Pen versus the Wacom Grip Pen

A few months ago I lost my Pen (the default Grip Pen which comes with the tablet) for my Intuos4. These pens aren't cheap so I thought my not try one of the higher end pens. Specifically I chose the Art Pen.

The primary functional difference in the Art Pen is that it measures Rotation while the Grip Pen does not. In case you are wondering what is different physically –  I have provided some photos below.

First, this is the package it came in.

Just in case there is any doubt about which version I purchased…

Ok, here is the Art Pen:

It's hard to detect any immediate difference, so let's bring up a Grip Pen to compare.

The Grip Pen is at the top, the Art Pen at the bottom. You can see that Art Pen's the tip and nib look thicker. The bottoms are a couple of milimeters further down the shaft of the pen. The body seems very slightly thinker. The eraser end has no detectable difference.

Now look at the pen stand and nibs. Art Pen nibs are on the left. Grip Pen nibs are on the right.

This was the biggest surprise. The nibs are quite different.

So what about using the Art Pen?

Yes, can apps (I tried with ArtRage) take advantage of the Art Pen's rotation –  though you may have to tweak the brush settings to get this to happen. Otherwise, for my use the pens really don't feel any different at all either in terms of ergonomics or expressive ability. However, keep in mind that I am a casual digital painter.

How to Force Internet Explorer to Launch in Desktop Mode on Windows 8

If you primarly work in Desktop Mode in Windows 8, you'll often be irritated when the you get the special Modern (Metro) Internet Explorer.

It turns out this is very easy to force Windows 8 to only launch IE in Desktop Mode.

First, enter Desktop Mode (Windows-D) and Launch IE from the taskbar. If you don't have an IE icon in your taskbar, then click Windows-R which will launch the Run Window, then type iexplore as shown below. 

Once IE launches, click on the Tools Icon (the gear) on the top right and select Internet Options.

In the Internet Options dialog, go to the Programs tab and under Choose how you open links select Always in Internet Explorer on the desktop and press OK.

And you are done. Now you'll always see IE launch in desktop mode –  even if you click on the IE Icon on the Modern/Metro Start Screen.

Screen Capture and Recording

My Top Recommendations For Screen Capture

• Hypersnap  Windows ($)
• Print-Screen Windows Free
• Greenshot Windows (free)
• Snapz Pro Mac ($)

My Top Recommendations for Screen Recording

• Camtasia Studio Windows ($)
• Snapz Pro Mac ($)

All Capture Applications

• Snag It Studio Windows: ($)
• HyperSnap Windows ($)
• Snapz Pro Windows ($)
• FullShot Windows ($)
• ACA Capture Pro   Windows ($)
• Gadwin Printscreen  Windows ($)
• Screenshot Captor Windows ($)
• Viziblr Screen Capture Windows (free) – Yes I even write my own. It doesn’t do much but it made my life a bit easier.

All Recording Applications

• Camtasia Studio Windows ($)
• Hyperionics HyperCam   Windows ($)
• Snapz Pro Mac ($):
• Wink Windows ($)
• Active Presenter Windows ($)

Links

• •http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/recording_screen_activity_during_usability_testing.php 
• •http://blogs.borland.com/johnk/archive/2004/11/05/1767.aspx 
• •http://wiki.jboss.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=HowToCreateAProjectDemo 
• •http://www.winwriters.com/articles/capturetools/index.html#featuretable
  

Two tips for C# Developers Trying to Learn PowerShell (Set-StrictMode and ErrorActionPreference)

Tip #1: Use Set-StrictMode -Version 2

In C# you will be used to the following code failing

    void foo()
    {
        Console.WriteLine( somevar );
    }

The reason it should fail is simple: somevar hasn't been defined anywhere.

The nearest equivalent in PowerShell does not fail!

    Write-Host $somevar

By default, undefined variables are treated as null. As you can imagine this leads to some hard-to-find bugs. But there is good news. You can force PowerShell to treat this as an error by using the following cmdlet.

    Set-StrictMode -Version 2

Now, if you run the script below;

    Set-StrictMode -Version 2
    Write-Hos $somevar

PowerShell will complain with a message saying that “The variable $somevar cannot be retrieved because it has not been set”

In general, I always use Set-StrictMode –Version 2 for my scripts.

Tip #2: Halt scripts after an error with $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

How many times will the following loop in C# get run?

    for (int i=0;i<9;i++)
    {
        Console.WriteLine( 1 / 0 ); // that’s right: divide one by zero
    }

In the C# world we know that we’ll enter the loop only once. Execution will be halted because of the divide-by-zero.

But equivalent loop in Powershell gets run 10 times! Because by default errors don’t cause PowerShell scripts to terminate.

    foreach ($I in 0..9)
    {
        Write-Host 1/0
    }

What will happen in this loop is that PowerShell will attempt the loop all ten times!

This behavior can be quite useful in some scripts, but will certainly be surprising for most developers.

Fortunately we can tell PowerShell to stop by using $ErrorActionPreference. Just set its value to “Stop”

    $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

In the script below, the loop and the script will halt on the first divide-by-zero.

    $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
    foreach ($I in 0..9)
    {
        Write-Host 1/0
    }

Interlude: Giant Steps Animated by Michal Levy

This truly cannot be captured in screencaptures and words. You'll have to watch.

Watch it here: http://www.michalevy.com/gs_download.html

(But here are some screen captures anyway)