14 DAY TRIAL // Leader of interactive pen displays and digital drawing tablets, Wacom is pushing to make the adoption of digital ink a common standard.
For this purpose it has just launched WILL (Wacom Ink Layer Language), an endeavor which aims to unify hardware and software partners under a single standard, regardless of OS, device or cloud.
To understand better “WILL is the initiative to create a seamless digital inking experience across every mobile device and ecosystem.”
Wacom will make available an SDK which will permit anybody willing to jump onboard with the project, to use the same ink language.
If you’re wondering what the advantages of such a strategy would be, it would mean that future consumers and software developers won’t need to check if their digital ink is compatible with different devices or not. The pen will automatically be recognized, no matter the provenience.
Wacom’s aim is to allow users to move through notes, sketches and what not with the uttermost ease, regardless of the device users are working on, which would seemingly prompt fruitful collaborations.
On top of that, Wacom offers an ink engine which acts like a library for pen or finger strokes but not taking into account their methods of input.
What’s more, APIs for bridging hardware components to the ink engine will also be provided, in the form of third-part pens, Wacom’s own offerings, finger-touch or any other type of digitizer one can think of.
WILL throws in a “variety of graphical tools and features” to be accessed across different devices and platforms. Even cooler, this will work outside drawing apps too, so you’ll be able to scribble your own notes in other apps too, like writing directions in your map app.
The ability to recognize handwritten digital notes isn’t something new, as Microsoft has been offering this feat ever since OneNote on the Windows XP Tablet Edition. Samsung’s and its family of Galaxy Note also offers this feat.
Even so, when it comes to transferring notes between different platforms, most of us are faced with difficulties, because all companies are using their own technologies.
Wacom said WILL would be integrated in future products and so it invites other companies to do the same. So far there’s no information whether other third-party players have express any interest in the project or not.
Wacom is the number one choice of professionals working in artistic fields such as graphic designers. One of the most recent tablets Wacom launched on the market is the Cintiq Companion, a Windows 8 or Android tablet.
