Adobe made the jump into hardware on Wednesday, and for iPad users that means a few more tools to hone your design skills. TheAdobe Ink & Slide ($199.99) works in tandem as a stylus and ruler for creating digital works of art.
Adobe has been hinting at the stylus and ruler concepts for a little over a year. Dubbed Project Mighty in the early planning stages, the final product hopes to give design professionals "greater creative control."
Adobe Ink utilizes Adonit Pixelpoint technology, a shrunken stylus tip that offers more precise drawing capabilities like that of a ballpoint pen. It also connects to Creative Cloud for accessing your photos and creating color palettes on Adobe Kuler.
The stylus syncs to your iPad via Bluetooth and charges in a carrying case that can be plugged into a Micro USB. The top button of the stylus opens up your colors sets and Creative Cloud clipboard.
As a drafting tool, Slide can create straight lines and geometric shapes with ease. Using magnets, the iPad can detect when the ruler is placed on the screen without requiring batteries.
Two new mobile apps,Line (free) and Sketch(free), work with both the digital pen and the ruler to bring some added features and a forum for sharing ideas with the Creative Cloud community. Line can be used primarily for straight-line perspective drawings, while Sketch is a more straightforward drawing app.
Ink & Slide are sold together as a package for $199.99, and the Line and Sketch apps can be found on iTunes for free. To learn more about Ink & Slide, visit Adobe's website to find a series of tutorial videos.
