Brad's Personal Update No. 2

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I think I'm starting to feel a bit better. But I don't want to jinx it. I do, however, want to share a few things. I downloaded the update for Paper by FiftyThree and I'm so happy about the new zoom tool. Although I think it still needs some tweaking, it's a very clever way to achieve a blend of style and functionality that fits the theme and mission of the Paper sketching app. If you have an iPad, you need Paper, even if you don't consider yourself an artist or creative. It's just that cool.

I'm writing this blog entry from the official (semi-janky) Squarespace app because for some reason, my favorite, go-to app Blogsy isn't able to load my categories. I don't yet know if that's a Squarespace problem or a fomola (Blogsy devs) issue, but I emailed Lance (fomola Big Boss aka CEO aka awesome friend) to find out. [I'm still very interested in migrating from Squarespace to WordPress, but I don't have the knowledge or energy yet to start making that happen — I'd want a nice WP theme and don't know how to go about putting that together.]

Paper by FiftyThree art

Inspired in-part by the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer profession (which reminds me of Accel World's Kuroyukihime character), this purple abstract butterfly was created on the iPad mini using Paper specific tools (primarily the pencil and watercolor) in order to familiarize myself with the color wheel and zoom. Although it's still work-in-progress in both forms, one is a screenshot showing off the new zoom/magnifying tool. It took a few minutes to get used to, but in general, I like it; although I might've preferred a more traditional zoom functionality, this style does have advantages because you can see exactly where you are drawing relative to the whole page/screen, without zooming in and out, back and forth. It's also very fast with a decent margin for error, and doesn't interfere with the undo/redo feature.

I'm excited, because Paper is finally an app I can use start to finish for my style of design. Until now, it's been a rough ideas and sketching tool; first it was limited by a restricted color palette — they fixed that — and now they've added zoom. I'd still like to see a smaller eraser tool (or a variable one with opacity adjustment) and portrait mode, but as is, it'll work well. I've come to prefer the two-finger circular undo/redo and now wish that other apps had it.

Next

I have to take things slow and pace myself, but I'll see about adding new sketches and designs to dribbble along with more blog entries here such as app and stylus reviews & tips. Until then, take care, enjoy life, and wish me luck. Thank you all!

I'm alive, I think

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not dead, but I haven't been well. I am trying to catch up on contacting people but it is very difficult and I've been relying on a lot of help from people, for everything — including this update. I am trying to get back into a normal routine as quickly as possible without injuring myself or making things worse. It's still very hard to talk and I've been needing a lot of sleep.

Thanks for the kind words and support. Also, I'm glad that my previous blog entries were helpful for some people.

Posted with Blogsy

Says Brad Update

Some have been wondering what's been going on and why I haven't been very active online and off this year. I've basically been very sick. I don't want to go into all of the details here, but my disability (mainly) — as well as cold + flu — has kept me resting indoors, attempting to recuperate.

The iPad & capacitive touch stylus + Siri & Dictation have been a tremendous help to me, these past few weeks in particular. Although not sophisticated nor accurate enough to effectively blog with, Dictation has helped me compose a few emails. Definitely going to look at integrating Dragon speech recognition software into my computer usage.

I sincerely hope that February is a better month for me. December 2012 and January 2013 has been a whole bunch of bad. When I'm feeling better, I hope to share some new sketches and stylus & app reviews.

Posted with Blogsy

Happy New Year

Well, I guess those Mayan calendar December 21st 12/21/12 people have something in common with those Y2K doomsday preppers. Earth is still here! Assassin's Creed III had me really worried…

If you haven't seen it, I recommend watching the Showtime series Penn & Teller Bullshit. Enlightening and fun! Unless you're easily offended. But if that's the case, why are you reading my site?

Happy new year, friends and family. More real content coming soon. It looks like a few of my scheduled drafts never actually posted, so there'll be those, too, after I edit them a bit to make them more relevant.

And of course, stuff about apps.

It looks like Adobe canned their Touch Apps Collage and Proto, as well as Kuler. Damn. If it means that Photoshop Touch and Ideas are going to be better, however — maybe it's okay.

Hopefully you snagged a few discounted apps and games during the holiday — lots of cheap and free apps!

School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut

I'm sure you know about this already. On Friday, Adam Lanza, 20, gunned down his mother, twenty children ages six and seven, the school Principal and teachers. CNN reports 26 victims, others say 27.

It's almost unbelievable. I don't even no where to begin, or why. It's hard to process for me; I was physically sick after hearing the news and reading a bit about it, part of the inescapable media bombardment we live with today. AP news alerts on our always-on, always-connected smart phones and tablets…

I lost two brothers when I was younger yet cannot imagine what these families are dealing with. I can only hope that people will be supportive in whatever way they need. I also acknowledge that tragedies happen nationwide and worldwide each day — that never stops. People are killed, assaulted, raped. The country grieved for the loss of these kids and yet, crime didn't stop. Thefts took place. People killed on the road. Children kidnapped.

I need to unplug and reflect. While some use yesterday's tragedy as a platform for gun control and our system's failure to deal with mental illness, others unleash their own agendas while most just try to continue living as normally as possible. What is the right thing to do in this situation?

I've tried to distract myself, read, play games, do the things I'd normally do. I'm going to try to focus the emotions toward constructive things, though it feels wrong. I want to write about nothing in particular and use line art to bring some order to chaotic thoughts and confusion. I want to sleep and dream of a happier world.

Childhood is that time of magic and innocence that we lose so quickly. A time of fairy tales and clearly defined good and evil; where brave heroes and heroines are victorious and happily ever after is a reasonable expectation.

It's gone.

Posted with Blogsy

Removing Apps From Launchpad

I prefer the Dock on the left to maximize vertical space.

Mac OS X Lion & Mountain Lion make Apple computers more like their iOS devices, but this isn’t always a good thing.

Apple’s Lions are pretty — there’s no denying that. However, in adding simplicity, Apple has limited functionality and control. In an attempt to make Mac OSX more user-friendly, Apple has hidden files and features. The multitouch trackpad and Launchpad make Macs function more like iPhones and iPads — the problem is that desktops and notebooks are more complex than their bite-sized brethren.

Want full control of your Launchpad? Too bad!

That seems to be the Apple response. According to Apple, you can rearrange icons and remove Mac App Store apps only. To remove an app, either click and hold over an icon (similar to the iOS process of removing/re-arranging apps) or hold the “alt option” key. To add an app to Launchpad, drag & drop the app from Finder onto the Launchpad icon (located on your Dock).

But what if you want to remove an app without an “X”?

Since Apple won’t help, I will!

First, if you’ve used Mac OS prior to Lion, you’ll notice the absence of the Library folder. Apple decided that people don’t need to be bothered with such things and hid it. If you want to view it again, open Terminal.app, located in /Applications/Utilities. Copy/Paste the following:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

Like magic, Library will now appear in Finder. (Note: Before you go modifying your Launchpad, you may want to backup its current setup. To do that, backup the .db file located in /Library/Application Support/Dock)

If you want to remove ALL items from Launchpad, you can follow this guide at gnuu.org This might be best if you have a lot of clearing to do.

However, if you just want to remove some apps from Launchpad…

Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and use the following;

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db "DELETE from apps WHERE title='APPNAME';" && killall Dock

REPLACING APPNAME with the name of the app you want to remove from Launchpad. For example, if I wanted to remove Reminders, I would open Terminal and enter:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db "DELETE from apps WHERE title='Reminders';" && killall Dock

Note: This won’t delete the app, it just removes it from Launchpad.

Hopefully this helps you!

If it has, please leave a comment and consider liking my Says Brad Facebook page to keep in touch. I’d love to hear from you.

There are a lot of third-party apps out there for Dock, Desktop, Library and Launchpad management, but frankly, I don’t trust them; many aren’t free or are ad-supported, created by people I’ve never heard of. Not saying that they’re all illegitimate, but I can’t be certain. Luckily, a little Terminal magic can solve the bulk of your OSX issues. I’m an iOS guru (lol), not an OSX expert, but feel free to ask if you have questions — if I can help, I will.

3 Best iPad Notes Apps

I forgot that I wrote this last month for Halloween. I guess the colors are appropriate for Thanksgiving, too. Anyway, the information is still valid.

The three best note taking apps for iPad

1. Noteshelf – Ramki
2. Remarks - Write notes and Annotate PDFs – Readdle
3. Infinite Sketchpad – AllTom

Noteshelf and Remarks are similar, but there are notable differences. Remarks uses some kind of vector line technology for its ink, while Noteshelf is raster. Both can export and notes in multiple formats (image and PDF) and both can backup to Evernote and Dropbox, albeit in different ways. Both Noteshelf and Remarks have a selection of paper types (grid, lined, dot grid, blank, etc) and zoom. Many users will likely choose one over the other, but there are distinct uses for both.

• Noteshelf can send individual pages and export them, and has pressure sensitivity support — Adonit Jot Touch, HEX3 Jaja and Pogo Connect. Noteshelf has extensive color and line shape options (pencil, pen and calligraphy lines) as well as highlighter colors.
• Remarks can automatically backup pages in a specific Dropbox notebook, a very handy feature. Documents can also be saved as annotated or flattened PDFs and opened in a myriad of other iOS apps, including Evernote, iBooks, Kindle reader, GoodReader and other backup services such as SkyDrive and Box.

If you're mostly drawing, sketching, and note taking by hand, pick Noteshelf. If you work with PDFs and want to insert images and audio recordings, choose Remarks.

Saving (perhaps) the best for last...

Infinite Sketchpad is a creative's dream canvas. This unique app is a must-have for sketchers, doodlers and planners; as its name implies, with Infinite Sketchpad, you can draw and write on a near infinite workspace with single-color vector pen tools. Incredibly simple, straightforward and intuitive, the incredible zoom levels, undo/redo, and lightning fast UI make Infinite Sketchpad the ultimate blank sheet for ideas. Files can be sent as images or published on the web as a scalable format that allows viewers to zoom in and out, exploring the document they would from the iPad itself.

If you do any kind of work on the iPad, consider these apps if you haven't already. These three are amongst the best notes and planning software for any platform, and should work wonderfully on the new iPad mini. Let me know if you have a different favorite note-taking tool!

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

Fixing Adonit Jot and Hex3 Jaja Stylus

Adonit Jot not working properly?

Adonit claims that only 1% of their capacitive touch disc tip styluses have issues with skipping and contact. I've found that to be wholly inaccurate. Every Jot I have has had an issue.

The problem is likely a design flaw that they don't want to admit to. Capacitive touch styluses essentially trick the iPad into recognizing it as your finger. The way the iPad screen works is somewhat difficult to explain, but essentially, a conductive surface of about 6mm is what the iPad looks for.

Instead of the typical soft rubber tips, some styli use discs, like the Adonit Jot series: Mini, Pro, Flip, Touch. Other manufacturers use disc tips as well. The disc is plastic with a metal piece that touches a metal pen, with a small enough surface area to offer precision, and just barely large enough to be detected. In theory, this is great. In practice, well...

If your Jot isn't working properly, Adonit may send you new tips or a new pen. But you will probably have the same problem again.

The most common issue is skipping, where a continuous line drawn on the screen with the capacitive stylus, in this case Jot Pro, is broken into segments and dots. In addition, the stylus may not start a line where you intend, appearing several millimeters after you thought you were touching the screen.

Fear not. There's a cheap fix!

Conductive grease or thermal compound will most likely solve your problem. I improved my HEX3 Jaja the same way. I ordered Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 from Amazon. [Order yours! There's also a link in the sidebar. I get a small credit if you use it. Thanks!] Another brand may work just fine; electronics stores should carry it, places like Radio Shack — or a store that sells motherboards and processors should you want to pick it up at a retail location. Other Jot owners have tried this as well; I actually found this solution on the Adonit forums.

Step 1: Simply remove the disc from the Jot.

Adonit has a guide to replace a disc. Make sure the disc is clean!

Step 2: Place a dab of thermal compound paste on the disc.

You only need a small amount. Just take a tiny dab and put it in the hole where the Jot's ball tip inserts into the disc. You can also rub a thin coating around the ball tip. Afterward, reinsert, and make sure the disc is clean.

And that's it! Your stylus should work 100% better!

I hope I just helped you save your $25-100 stylus, and/or a month of dealing with customer service getting nowhere. I'm sure many frustrated Jot owners have given up on their styluses, so let them know about this!

Problems with Hex3 Jaja pressure sensitive stylus?

The Jaja tips are slightly different. The disc is attached to a 0.7mm metal rod that inserts into the Jaja stylus (or any 0.7mm mechanical pencil). From my experience, it isn't that responsive, and requires uncomfortable, firm pressure and a near vertical angle to work properly.

You can improve the Jaja significantly by adding a bit of thermal compound. Remove the tip, and place the disc on a flat surface. Rotate the metal rod to the side, and put a small amount of paste onto the ball. Next, twist the rod and rotate it in circles, spreading the paste around the part of the tip that holds the rod.

The thermal compound will improve the conductivity of the tip, and your capacitive touch stylus should now work with very little pressure!

Hopefully this helps! Let me know.

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

iPad mini for artists

Apple finally unveiled its worst kept secret of the year, the iPad mini.

However, Apple also surprised a bunch of people with several product updates: a new iMac, 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display and my favorite, 4th generation iPad with Retina display. (I got a heads-up about the new New iPad from RazorianFly)

The new computers are very exciting on their own, especially because I desperately need one. (My 2007 iMac is entering senescence, is painfully slow and can't run current software due to minimum hardware requirements and specifications.) The 13" MacBook with Retina display isn't impressing me, however, after looking at all of its specs.

Since getting my first iPad, I've never missed my notebook computer. For years now, the iPad has replaced my need for mobile computers. There's an app for basically everything that I'd do on the go or in a hotel room. The sketching and productivity apps are incredible! Plus photo apps, reading, video, news, games. There are only a few things that I can't do from an iPad, things I prefer to do at my desk anyway.

The iPad revolution, again?

The New iPad was new for about six months. The 4th gen iPad has an A6X processor, supposedly twice as fast as the A5X, Lightning port and an improved FaceTime camera. (I wonder what's next and when it'll arrive!)

The mini was thought to be Apple's response to the Android 7" tablet market and industry analysts and experts guessed that the iPad mini would start at around $250. To me, that sounded like nonsense because of the iPod touch price tag and hardware specs. The mini has a bigger screen than the iPod touch, but isn't any faster. I think Apple might've deliberately scaled back the iPad mini components to prevent cross-competition with its own devices. The iPod touch is in essence, an iPad nano.

On the topic of nano…

Apple has gone backward with the new iPod nano. Some might think of the constant design changes as revolutionary, some might think the term renanoed is cute — but I'm not one of those people. The previous generation nano was much more groundbreaking; its size and shape made it a hit with athletes and travelers, and its form and software lead to numerous wristwatch conversion kits for the iPod.

The new iPod nano is basically a gimped iPod touch — it doesn't make sense to me as anything other than a gift for someone else (because if you're going to get it for yourself, save up a little and get an iPhone or iPod touch), but there are so many better things available for $150. My Amazon wish list has a bunch of those things — you know, just saying.

Art and design on the iPads

The iPad is amazingly an all work and all play all-in-one.

The iPad could be significantly improved for artists in two ways: first the impossible — Apple adds a Wacom digitizer to the tablet, second (mkre realistic, definitely feasible) — Apple could support pressure sensitivity on an OS level. There are some amazingly creative solutions for pressure sensitivity built into capacitive touch styluses, but apps haven't yet fully utilized the hardware. Many apps will never support pressure-sensitive styli such as the Adonit Jot Touch or HEX3 Jaja on their own, and stylus manufacturers don't have any standards to work from, inventing their own as needed.

Currently, pressure sensitivity is more of a gimmick in a few apps, unable to recreate the digitizer tablet experience. I love Wacom tablets, but I don't miss pressure sensitivity much on my iPad. The trade-off is size, weight, iOS software and amazing battery life.

Drawing and writing on the iPad with Retina display is truly magical; I thought doodling and sketching on the iPad 2 was fantastic, the Retina display is something else entirely. The wow factor is like seeing Disneyland at night for the first time, with everything lit up and fireworks overhead. Well, I suppose that's a bit of an understatement.

I don't know how the iPad mini will be as an artist's platform. Will it be a good drawing tool? Undoubtedly. Will it have a place with an iPad with Retina display? That's the question. I already know that I want the fourth generation iPad.

Brad Chin uses Blogsy