Tailored around the increasing demands of creative professionals, Wacom announced two new members of the Cintiq family, the Cintiq 24HD touch and Cintiq 22HD. As with the Cintiq 24HD, Wacom’s latest Cintiqs feature best-in-class widescreen HD displays, ultra- wide viewing angles and premium color performance. To give professional artists and designers enhanced focus on their work and creativity, Wacom introduces the powerful combination of a precision pen and natural multi-touch. With the addition of these models to the Cintiq lineup, anyone, from freelance industrial designers sketching in a small studio to Hollywood animators creating the next blockbuster movie, can find a Cintiq that best fits their workflow.
The Cintiq 24HD touch: Hot Color, Cool Touch!
To offer users an immersive experience and a more intuitive and natural way to work, the new Cintiq 24HD touch combines Wacom's multi-touch with its renowned pen technology. The Cintiq 24HD touch closely replicates the experience of working with two hands when using traditional materials such as paints, markers and clay while giving the artist powerful capabilities that only exist in today’s creative software applications.
"Increasingly, as creative software incorporates multi-touch interaction and gesture support, the Cintiq 24HD touch provides a natural input experience for all related activities including concept sketching, illustration and especially 3D activities such as sculpting, modeling and animation," says Don Varga, Professional Products Brand Director. "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."
Support for Wacom's advanced multi-touch is available in Corel’s latest Painter 12.2 update and provides a harmonious digital painting experience to artists. "With the introduction of multi-touch, Wacom has created a highly evolved environment for Corel Painter users to work with the power of digital tools but in a completely natural and intuitive way. Multi-touch allows users to directly manipulate their work by spinning, pinching and moving it around, instead of searching for buttons or quick keys to perform the same actions," said Nick Davies, Executive Vice President of Graphics and Productivity at Corel.
Professionals with color-critical workflows, such as photographers, graphic designers, video and film editors as well as animators and game developers will benefit from the Cintiq 24HD's life-like color quality which displays 1.07 billion colors and 97 percent of Adobe's color gamut. "For many creative workflows the calibration of color for the entire project is a necessity," continues Varga. "Given the color gamut of the Cintiq 24HD touch, artists can be certain that the colors they see while working on the Cintiq can be calibrated to match the printing or other output phases of a project."
As with the Cintiq 24HD, the Cintiq 24HD touch offers best-in-class ergonomics. Professionals working long hours will appreciate the counter-weighted stand that adjusts to their favorite positions for maximum comfort. For example, one can bring the display surface over the edge of the desk so that it rests comfortably just above the lap or the display can be adjusted to more vertical, easel-like positions.
In addition, frequently used shortcut commands are available at the user's fingertips through the application-specific, customizable ExpressKeys and Touch Rings of the Cintiq 24HD touch. Employing these shortcuts can save valuable time by minimizing keyboard dependency.
The Cintiq 22HD: Express Yourself!
With Wacom’s new Cintiq 22HD widescreen interactive pen display, illustrators, designers and artists can interact with their artwork on a more personal level. By offering a pen-on-screen experience that delivers the same natural feel, response and results derived from working with traditional brushes, pencils and pens, the Cintiq 22HD workflow allows users to unleash their creativity and express themselves just like they would with real paint on canvas or real ink on paper. Additionally, the Cintiq 22HD's unique stand is ideal for artists who prefer to rotate their entire display as part of their workflow.
"Creative professionals want their technology to be invisible," says Varga. "That is, they need their tools of the trade to be natural, seamless and comfortable. The Cintiq 22HD meets these requirements with ergonomic features to help increase comfort and productivity."
To improve workflow and creative output, the Cintiq 22HD offers eight customizable, application-specific ExpressKeys located on each side of the display’s bezel. Additionally, user-defined Touch Strips, conveniently placed on the back of each side of the display, can be used for such functions as zoom, scroll, brush size and canvas rotation. "Artists and designers appreciate the comfort and freedom that the Cintiq provides, especially during long sessions of drawing or sketching," continues Varga.
Scintillating Cintiq Pen
Pen performance remains the key ingredient to the whole interactive pen display experience and Wacom’s two new Cintiqs do not disappoint. Delivering virtually the same feel and feedback as traditional brushes and pens, both Cintiqs feature Wacom’s professional-level pen performance to produce dazzling artistic effects within creative software applications from Adobe, Corel, Autodesk and many more. Both the Cintiq 24HD touch and Cintiq 22HD support the Art Pen and Airbrush accessory pens to deliver natural brush effects within Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator (CS3 and above) as well as Corel Painter (10 and above).
Choosing a Cintiq
With four Cintiqs now in the family (Cintiq 12WX, Cintiq 22HD, Cintiq 24HD and Cintiq 24HD touch), Wacom offers a line of interactive pen displays that each have their own set of unique features and characteristics. Choosing the best model ultimately boils down to matching personal workflows with the right Cintiq.
Pricing and Availability
The Cintiq 22HD ($1999 USD) will be available in the latter part of July and the Cintiq 24HD touch ($3699 USD) is expected to ship in August.