Apple's new MacBooks, announced earlier this month, have been upgraded with force-sensitive trackpads. Using the awkwardly named "Force Touch" technology, the pads can tell how hard you are pressing, allowing Apple to replace the old three-finger tap with a new powerfully pressed "Force Click." But the new tech doesn't just let Apple offer more menu options — other app developers can use the increased fidelity of the new trackpads too. Drawing app Inklet becomes the first piece of third-party software to make use of the new technology.
Inklet users will be able to use a stylus on their 2015 MacBook trackpads to manipulate and draw over images on screen. Users can highlight the section of the image they want to work on in a shape that corresponds to the trackpad itself. Drawing normally creates a light stroke, but more pressure makes for thicker lines, allowing the stylus to work like a digital paintbrush. For fine detail, you'll be able to resize the highlighted area, zooming in to add tiny details or out to create broad brushstrokes.
The process will be familiar to anyone who's used a dedicated drawing tablet, but at $25, Inklet opens up the Wacom-esque experience to casual artists who might not want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a device they're not advanced enough to use. Inklet also works with any program that accepts pen input, running in the background as you manipulate images in programs such as Photoshop or Lightroom, and uses trackpad's technology to reject accidental inputs, stopping you from erasing your pretty pictures by clumsily swiping a palm across the pad.
The process will be familiar to anyone who's used a dedicated drawing tablet, but at $25, Inklet opens up the Wacom-esque experience to casual artists who might not want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a device they're not advanced enough to use. Inklet also works with any program that accepts pen input, running in the background as you manipulate images in programs such as Photoshop or Lightroom, and uses trackpad's technology to reject accidental inputs, stopping you from erasing your pretty pictures by clumsily swiping a palm across the pad.
