Exercise 3. Read the product descriptions A and B. What graphics tablet would you like to buy? What advantages and disadvantages does it have?

A. WACOM Wireless Pen Tablet graphics tablet

Price: £ 314.74

Product Description

The Wireless Pen Tablet from Wacom is ideal for graphic designers and photographers of all levels. Thanks to this graphics tablet's high resolution of 2, 000 dpi, you can touch up photos, create illustrations, and even sign documents with incredible precision. Not only does the Wireless Pen Tablet offer 25 hours of battery life thanks to its lithium battery, it also works wirelessly for complete freedom of movement! Compatibility: - Windows 2000, XP, Vista - Mac OS X 10.3.9 - Bluetooth receivers and Bluetooth stacks compatible with the Bluetooth 1.1 standard (minimum) and HID profile (built-in Bluetooth support or external dongle). A Class 1 Bluetooth USB adapter is recommended for optimum use and range.

Words:

compatibility – совместимость

dongle – защитная заглушка (аппаратное средство защиты программного обеспечения и данных от несанкционированного доступа)

HID (human interface device) – устройство, удовлетворяющее требованиям, предъявляемым к устройствам для взаимодействия с компьютером.

 

B. Wacom Intuos4 Large A4 Graphics Tablet

Price: £ 386.70

Manufacturer's Description

Built for creative professionals, in four different sizes, S, M, L and XL, Intuos4 by Wacom delivers probably the most natural drawing experience you can imagine. The 2, 048 levels of pressure sensitivity capture even the slightest nuance of pressure. Its ergonomic, ambidextrous design was developed for hours of hard work. It offers customisable ExpressKeys™ - including OLED-displays showing the current function setting of each key on M, L and XL tablet models. New radial menus enable fast access to shortcuts - with just a pen stroke. Scrolling, zooming and brush adjustments can be done with a fingertip thanks to the Touch Ring with toggle functionality. Try it. Discover for yourself where it all begins: Discover the world of Intuos4.

Words:

ambidextrous design – право-левый дизайн (для левшей и правшей)

customiz/sable – настраиваемый

OLED (organic light-emitting diode) органический светодиод

toggle – переключатель, тумблер

4.2

VOCABULARY EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Look through the words and word combinations, which will help you to understand the text.

coil - катушка; обмотка, катушка индуктивности

LC circuit – индуктивно-ёмкостная цепь

switch – переключатель

nib – остриё, кончик (пера)

bulky – большой, объёмистый, громоздкий

pattern matching – сопоставление образов

spark – искра

grid – решетка, сетка

proximity – близость

to hover – нависать

tilt – наклон, наклонное положение

 

Exercise 2. Explain the following words and word combinations, translate them into Russian.

o similar to

o to generate

o property

o to touch the surface

o to eliminate

o to be mounted in

o to detect the signal

o three dimensions

o high-performance tablet

o in proximity to

o in addition to

o to detect the position

Exercise 3. Make nouns from the following verbs and translate them.

o to generate

o to categorize

o to receive

o to transmit

o to use

o to permit

o to alternate

o to operate

o to detect

o to determine

 

TEXT B

Operation of Graphics Tablet

There have been many attempts to categorize the technologies that have been used for graphics tablets. Some of the one such categorization is as follows:

Passive tablets, most notably those by Wacom, make use of electromagnetic induction technology, where the horizontal and vertical wires of the tablet operate as both transmitting and receiving coils. The tablet generates an electromagnetic signal, which is received by the LC circuit in the stylus. The wires in the tablet then change to a receiving mode and read the signal generated by the stylus. Modern arrangements also provide pressure sensitivity and one or more switches (similar to the buttons on a mouse), with the electronics for this information present in the stylus itself, not the tablet. On older tablets, changing the pressure on the stylus nib or pressing a switch changed the properties of the LC circuit, affecting the signal generated by the pen, which modern ones often encode into the signal as a digital data stream. By using electromagnetic signals, the tablet is able to sense the stylus position without the stylus having to even touch the surface, and powering the pen with this signal means that devices used with the tablet never need batteries. Wacom's patents don't permit their competitors to employ such techniques.

Active tablets differ in that the stylus used contains self-powered electronics that generate and transmit a signal to the tablet. These styli rely on an internal battery rather than the tablet for their power, resulting in a bulkier stylus. Eliminating the need to power the pen means that such tablets may listen for pen signals constantly, as they do not have to alternate between transmit and receive modes, which can result in less jitter.

Optical tablets operate by a very small digital camera in the stylus, and then doing pattern matching on the image of the paper. The most successful example is the technology developed by Anoto.

Acoustic tablets. Early models were described as spark tablets—a small sound generator was mounted in the stylus, and the acoustic signal picked up by two microphones placed near the writing surface. Some modern designs are able to read positions in three dimensions.

Electromagnetic tablets. Wacom's are one example of a graphics tablet that works by generating and detecting an electromagnetic signal: in the Wacom design, the signal is generated by the pen, and detected by a grid of wires in the tablet. Other designs such as those by Pencept generate a signal in the grid of wires in the tablet, and detect it in the pen.

Capacitive tablets have also been designed to use an electrostatic or capacitive signal. Scriptel's designs are one example of a high-performance tablet detecting an electrostatic signal. Unlike the type of capacitive design used for touchscreens, the Scriptel design is able to detect the position of the pen while it is in proximity to, or hovering above, the tablet. Many multi-touch tablets use capacitive sensing.

For all these technologies, the tablet can use the received signal to also determine the distance of the stylus from the surface of the tablet, the tilt (angle from vertical) of the stylus, and other information in addition to the horizontal and vertical positions.

Compared to touch-sensitive touchscreens, a graphics tablet generally offers much higher precision, the ability to track an object which is not touching the tablet, and can gather much more information about the stylus, but is typically more expensive, and can only be used with the special stylus or other accessories.

EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.

 

1) What types of technologies used for graphics tablets do you know?

2) How do the wires operate in passive tablets?

3) What signal allows the tablet to sense the stylus position?

4) In what component do the active tablets differ from the passive tablets?

5) What is the main principle of the optical tablet?

6) What is the main feature of the acoustic tablet?

7) What tablet works by generating and detecting an electromagnetic signal?

8) What signal is used in the capacitive tablets?

Exercise 2. Say True or False.

1) The tablet can use the received signal to also determine the distance of the stylus from the surface of the tablet.

2) Compared to touch-sensitive touchscreens, a graphics tablet generally offers lower precision.

3) The passive tablet doesn’t generate an electromagnetic signal, which is received by the LC circuit in the stylus.

4) Unfortunately, modern designs are not able to read position in three dimensions.

5) Acoustic tablets operate by a very small digital camera in the stylus.

6) A small sound generator is mounted in the optical acoustic tablet stylus.

7) The signal in the capacitive tablet is generated in the grid of wires.

8) Many multi-touch tablets use capacitive sensing.

 

Exercise 3. Match each word with its meaning.

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