Wacom's new Cintiq 21UX pen display ups the sensitivity, skips the multitouch and 'affordability' options
By Paul Miller 
posted March 1st 2010 10:26AM
posted March 1st 2010 10:26AM
Wacom Introduces New Cintiq 21UX Interactive Pen Display
New Cintiq provides enhanced pen performance and innovative ergonomics, providing an intuitive and natural-feeling pen-on-screen workflow for the very best in creative control, comfort and productivity
VANCOUVER, Wash., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Wacom® introduces the much anticipated Cintiq®21UX, its newly-redesigned interactive pen display delivering state-of-the-art pen performance and innovative ergonomics in a color-accurate LCD display. Designed specifically to meet the demanding needs of professional photographers, designers, artists and animators, the new Cintiq 21UX offers unparalleled creative control, comfort and productivity.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100301/SF62000)
The Cintiq 21UX experience starts with its amazing new pen performance, capable of capturing the slightest nuance of pen pressure against the LCD surface, as well as offering 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity. Other innovative enhancements include rear-mounted Touch Strips that are ideally placed for fingertip access while working. Each Touch Strip has an accompanying thumb-controlled Touch Strip Toggle button that controls up to four different user-assigned functions per application such as zoom, scroll, brush size adjustment and canvas rotation. In addition, the overall design has been refined and updated in an all-black color scheme, providing a sophisticated and handsome look.
2048 Reasons to Work Directly On Screen
The Cintiq 21UX Grip Pen features Wacom's new proprietary Tip Sensor technology, offering users near-zero (one gram) starting pressure for the most sensitive interactive pen display performance to date. "Now, pressure-sensitive support can start with an incredibly light touch, emulating the same organic feel, response and result derived from working with traditional brushes, markers and pens," said Don Varga, Senior Product Manager for Wacom Technology Corp. Additionally, the Cintiq pen delivers 2048 levels of pressure, doubling the resolution of the pen's pressure curve and greatly improving the accuracy of pressure-sensitive effects such as controlling line weights or opacity adjustments. The Grip Pen also features a pressure-sensitive eraser and two customizable side switches that can be customized for commands such as double-click and right-click.
New Design Elements Improve Workflow
With a new ergonomic design and productivity features, the Cintiq 21UX is the ultimate tool for creative professionals. The customizable, application-specific ExpressKeys™, eight located on each side of the display's bezel, are instrumental in helping improve workflow and boost productivity by placing commonly used commands at the fingertips. Pressing the top ExpressKey brings up an on-screen display showing the settings of all the ExpressKeys and Touch Strips. The close proximity of these tools to the actual work area is efficient and comfortable and helps save valuable time by minimizing dependence on the keyboard without taking focus away from the pen hand.
Also new to the Cintiq 21UX is the introduction of two user-defined, four-function Touch Strip Toggle buttons which control the function of their associated Touch Strip, located on the back of the bezel. The position of an illuminated LED located along the perimeter of the Toggle button indicates the current function of the Touch Strip. Fully application-specific, the Touch Strips can be used for up to four functions such as zoom, scroll, brush size adjustment and canvas rotation per application. This new ergonomic treatment is also extremely practical, allowing users to "toggle" with their thumbs while using their forefinger or middle finger to control Touch Strip speed and variation. "The four-function Toggle combined with the new location of the Touch Strips provides increased comfort and measurable increases in speed," says Varga. "Additionally, locating the Touch Strips on the back of the pen display rather the front helps prevent accidental contact with the pen hand when, for example, flowing brush strokes are employed and extend beyond the screen's border."
Stand and Deliver
The Cintiq 21UX's patented stand allows users to recline the pen display at any angle between 10 degrees and 65 degrees to match the users ideal working posture. In addition to reclining, the Cintiq 21UX can be rotated up to 180 degrees in either direction to take advantage of natural drawing movements or offer a different viewing angle. If desired, users can easily remove the Cintiq from the stand for use on a table top or to attach it to an articulating arm (not included) using the standard VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) mounts located on the back of the display.
A new weighted pen stand is not only a convenient pen holder, but doubles as a handy twist-off storage compartment for pen nibs and handy nib removal tool. Standard, felt and stroke nibs are provided, allowing users to simulate the feel of working with a variety of traditional art and design materials.
Included Software
To help users get started right out of the box, the Cintiq 21UX ships with valuable creative software from several of our software partners:
Corel® Painter™ Sketch Pad for recreating the natural feeling of sketching and painting by hand
Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 3.0 WE6 for selectively applying lighting and photo enhancements with the pen
Wacom Brushes 3.0 for 81 customized brushes for use with Adobe® Photoshop® CS + and Photoshop Elements 4 +
Additionally, Cintiq 21UX users will also benefit from Wacom's powerful driver software, including radial menus for quick "pen-point" access to additional customized shortcuts.
Creative Accessories
Wacom has a line of accessories to complement the Cintiq 21UX that address the specific needs of individual users. The Art Pen, for example, supports the barrel rotation feature within such applications as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator® and Corel Painter 11, allowing users to create natural brush effects by rotating the pen, much like a calligraphy pen. The Art Pen is newly designed and features a round barrel with two nib options, standard and chisel-tip. The Airbrush pen offers users a digital airbrush that has a similar form and wheel-based control as a traditional airbrush. It provides creative, fun effects when combined with select applications. Cintiq 21UX accessories can be conveniently purchased at the direct.wacom.com Internet site.
Availability
The new Cintiq 21UX (DTK-2100) priced at $1999 USD is intended to begin shipping in the United States, Canada and the majority of Latin America countries in late March or early April. It will be available in Argentina, Brazil and Chile in early summer due to certification requirements in those countries. Consult your local electronics retailer or visit www.wacom.com for the most current information.
About Wacom
Founded in 1983, Wacom's vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world's leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashions and designs around the world and provides business and home users with the ability to explore digital content creation in a comfortable, natural way. Today, millions of customers use Wacom's cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology to express their creativity.
New Cintiq provides enhanced pen performance and innovative ergonomics, providing an intuitive and natural-feeling pen-on-screen workflow for the very best in creative control, comfort and productivity
VANCOUVER, Wash., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Wacom® introduces the much anticipated Cintiq®21UX, its newly-redesigned interactive pen display delivering state-of-the-art pen performance and innovative ergonomics in a color-accurate LCD display. Designed specifically to meet the demanding needs of professional photographers, designers, artists and animators, the new Cintiq 21UX offers unparalleled creative control, comfort and productivity.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100301/SF62000)
The Cintiq 21UX experience starts with its amazing new pen performance, capable of capturing the slightest nuance of pen pressure against the LCD surface, as well as offering 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity. Other innovative enhancements include rear-mounted Touch Strips that are ideally placed for fingertip access while working. Each Touch Strip has an accompanying thumb-controlled Touch Strip Toggle button that controls up to four different user-assigned functions per application such as zoom, scroll, brush size adjustment and canvas rotation. In addition, the overall design has been refined and updated in an all-black color scheme, providing a sophisticated and handsome look.
2048 Reasons to Work Directly On Screen
The Cintiq 21UX Grip Pen features Wacom's new proprietary Tip Sensor technology, offering users near-zero (one gram) starting pressure for the most sensitive interactive pen display performance to date. "Now, pressure-sensitive support can start with an incredibly light touch, emulating the same organic feel, response and result derived from working with traditional brushes, markers and pens," said Don Varga, Senior Product Manager for Wacom Technology Corp. Additionally, the Cintiq pen delivers 2048 levels of pressure, doubling the resolution of the pen's pressure curve and greatly improving the accuracy of pressure-sensitive effects such as controlling line weights or opacity adjustments. The Grip Pen also features a pressure-sensitive eraser and two customizable side switches that can be customized for commands such as double-click and right-click.
New Design Elements Improve Workflow
With a new ergonomic design and productivity features, the Cintiq 21UX is the ultimate tool for creative professionals. The customizable, application-specific ExpressKeys™, eight located on each side of the display's bezel, are instrumental in helping improve workflow and boost productivity by placing commonly used commands at the fingertips. Pressing the top ExpressKey brings up an on-screen display showing the settings of all the ExpressKeys and Touch Strips. The close proximity of these tools to the actual work area is efficient and comfortable and helps save valuable time by minimizing dependence on the keyboard without taking focus away from the pen hand.
Also new to the Cintiq 21UX is the introduction of two user-defined, four-function Touch Strip Toggle buttons which control the function of their associated Touch Strip, located on the back of the bezel. The position of an illuminated LED located along the perimeter of the Toggle button indicates the current function of the Touch Strip. Fully application-specific, the Touch Strips can be used for up to four functions such as zoom, scroll, brush size adjustment and canvas rotation per application. This new ergonomic treatment is also extremely practical, allowing users to "toggle" with their thumbs while using their forefinger or middle finger to control Touch Strip speed and variation. "The four-function Toggle combined with the new location of the Touch Strips provides increased comfort and measurable increases in speed," says Varga. "Additionally, locating the Touch Strips on the back of the pen display rather the front helps prevent accidental contact with the pen hand when, for example, flowing brush strokes are employed and extend beyond the screen's border."
Stand and Deliver
The Cintiq 21UX's patented stand allows users to recline the pen display at any angle between 10 degrees and 65 degrees to match the users ideal working posture. In addition to reclining, the Cintiq 21UX can be rotated up to 180 degrees in either direction to take advantage of natural drawing movements or offer a different viewing angle. If desired, users can easily remove the Cintiq from the stand for use on a table top or to attach it to an articulating arm (not included) using the standard VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) mounts located on the back of the display.
A new weighted pen stand is not only a convenient pen holder, but doubles as a handy twist-off storage compartment for pen nibs and handy nib removal tool. Standard, felt and stroke nibs are provided, allowing users to simulate the feel of working with a variety of traditional art and design materials.
Included Software
To help users get started right out of the box, the Cintiq 21UX ships with valuable creative software from several of our software partners:
Corel® Painter™ Sketch Pad for recreating the natural feeling of sketching and painting by hand
Nik® Color Efex Pro™ 3.0 WE6 for selectively applying lighting and photo enhancements with the pen
Wacom Brushes 3.0 for 81 customized brushes for use with Adobe® Photoshop® CS + and Photoshop Elements 4 +
Additionally, Cintiq 21UX users will also benefit from Wacom's powerful driver software, including radial menus for quick "pen-point" access to additional customized shortcuts.
Creative Accessories
Wacom has a line of accessories to complement the Cintiq 21UX that address the specific needs of individual users. The Art Pen, for example, supports the barrel rotation feature within such applications as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator® and Corel Painter 11, allowing users to create natural brush effects by rotating the pen, much like a calligraphy pen. The Art Pen is newly designed and features a round barrel with two nib options, standard and chisel-tip. The Airbrush pen offers users a digital airbrush that has a similar form and wheel-based control as a traditional airbrush. It provides creative, fun effects when combined with select applications. Cintiq 21UX accessories can be conveniently purchased at the direct.wacom.com Internet site.
Availability
The new Cintiq 21UX (DTK-2100) priced at $1999 USD is intended to begin shipping in the United States, Canada and the majority of Latin America countries in late March or early April. It will be available in Argentina, Brazil and Chile in early summer due to certification requirements in those countries. Consult your local electronics retailer or visit www.wacom.com for the most current information.
About Wacom
Founded in 1983, Wacom's vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world's leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom's intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashions and designs around the world and provides business and home users with the ability to explore digital content creation in a comfortable, natural way. Today, millions of customers use Wacom's cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology to express their creativity.
I like it alot just not the price ....
I suspect 2000 actually isn't that bad if it's one of the higher end panels with extended color depth. A touch digitizer might put another layer to diffuse the colors some more, too, although that new ring-sensor tech sounds promising.
Bet it's amazing for drawing on. The best things take a bit of sacrifice, apparently. At least 2000 isn't -too- bad for the best. Not like cameras that get up into the stratosphere.
Given that these are probably not made in huge quantities and appeal to businesses like mine with lots of artists needing to do game artwork, that doesn't help either.
This is the flagship huge model Cintiq, too. It follows that they will have a smaller model that costs half as much but is about as useful. And you could get a tablet with a Wacom digitizer, but you'd not be likely to get the very nice display panel.
@Bocefuss4500
You are paying for a very accurate screen that can completely revolutionize how you work on your art. I hear the same people who have no problem with a 600$ graphics card for gaming complaining about price.
I think the only things it's missing is a wireless video connection.
@Bocefuss4500
Yes, the price is a joke... A VERY BAD JOKE... no sale!
1) Why skip the multitouch?
2) I'm a "child", why, oh why does Engadget want to sell my internal organs?
@andrewia *Steals your spleen*
@andrewia
thats because engadget doesnt know: no artists draw with too pencils/pens/brushes simultaneously. multitouch is for kids who wants to doodle.
@andrewia because some artists wish to do more than smudge virtual paints with their big, fat, clumsy fingers. A fact lost on many multi-touch afficiandos, but not Wacom, thank doG.
@crescentdavid To be fair, as a Wacom user and digital artist myself, multitouch would come in very handy for navigating the canvas / changing brush size with one hand, while painting with the other. Sure you can use the controls on the side, but physical buttons feel so clumsy once you've used the alternative. What about when you want to enter a filename etc, that would be so much easier without having to hunt for my keyboard.
...and at this ridiculous price point, I don't think multi-touch would be too much to ask.
I'm looking forward to trying out the iPad, sure it won't be anything near as accurate as this Wacom, but it should be a nice cheep alternative, a quarter of the price, a simple operating system thrown in for good measure and portable too. Yeah accuracy is nice but so is the ability to pick up your tablet on your coffee table and instantly start sketching away.
Wacom should be worried, they need to start innovating again or at least drop their prices so us poor artists can afford their products.
@Downpour I don't completely disagree with your points, but you're talking as if the multitouch technology exists that would easily (with that one hand you're talking about-and without buttons) navigate layers and call up a plethora of immediately usable tools. Basic (and I mean basic) zoom and rotate would be nice for "roughing-in," but hardly revolutionary. To speak of any other multi-touch graphics capability which gets into the heart of any mature graphics program?
It doesn't exist. Maybe it could exist ... but it doesn't exist now. Anywhere. There are limited alternatives which add limited multi-touch capabilities while leaving out everything else which makes a cintiq a professional tool.
And in the near or far distant future when it does exist ... multi-touch will have to match what Wacom is describing the cintiq can already do: "gain instant control of up to four application-specific Touch Strip functions on each Touch Strip, such as brush size, zooming, scrolling and canvas rotation. Sixteen ExpressKeys (eight on either side of the display) boost productivity by providing quick access to keyboard shortcuts and modifier keys." Clumsy compared to ... what? Other than zoom & roatate, there is nothing to compare it with. Speaking of keyboards ... my wireless keyboard is about 12 inches from my cintiq-I don't have to "hunt for it."
Are you going to find this level of immediate, specific, customizable control, one handed, on ANY future iteration of a touch screen? The probability approaches zero.
@andrewia
>1) Why skip the multitouch?
because Wacom dont have a patent for multi-touch and would have no way to argue(read milk) the artist, whom they think should be paying 2K for an overpriced under achieving tablet.
Wacom have been milking the same old patents for donkeys years now. They rely on a flock, much like jobs flock, to swear blind that Wacom products are worth every penny,when in reality these things cost $10 to $100 to manufacture in china. The tablets probably cost like $10 or $15 out of fab and end up costing anything anything up to 50 times what they actually cost to manufacture. There's nothing in there.cheep electronics,cheep plastic,a $2 pen. At least jobs is able to deliver a solid body these days and be creative. Wacom are still churning out the same old overpriced shiny plastic crap they've been doing for years.
good to know mutlitouch isn't taking the digitizer away from artists
Is that a Mac OS bar I see at the top? Mac4Lin, maybe?
@The Madman Definitely Mac bar.
@The Madman Or, you know, Mac for Mac, since this is only a pen-based display, not a pen-based computer.
@The Madman Looks like Tiger maybe?
@drewdraws2 OK, you got me there. My bad.
Why would multitouch be good for this? Is someone going to tape 10 pens to their fingers and claw the screen? I don't understand. Multitouch is fine for things that could make it useful, but for this I don't think so.
@ChrisK15 Basically; it's a gimmick. I don't see why you need multitouch here. Doesn't Wacom have gestures for zooming and rotating anyway? It's like that on my Bamboo Medium.
@ChrisK15
It would be worse with multitouch. Capacitve technology hasn't got the accuracy for artists.
@ChrisK15 Multi-touch wouldn't stop you using a stylus, it would just mean you could navigate the image much easier. I spend a lot of time panning and zooming when I'm painting... this currently feels clunky on my Intuos 3.
@ChrisK15 If you don't use one of these, then yeah, you might think multitouch would be a gimmick. Maybe even those who do use these likely think so too. But I own the monitor that this is replacing and I think it would be great if they could bring it in a new model. Using one of these things can really make you nuts sometimes, you have to change your hands' working position often and make you wish you had a third hand. It's very much a single point interaction with your drawing hand while your other hand goes from keyboard to touchstrip/buttons, and it can get tedious.
Multi-touch could help. No, not to use multiple pens. More for more dynamic input with your non-drawing hand, like for zooming with a pinch command (would be more accurate than the strips, which often go haywire and push in too far, etc.), picking tools without having to move your drawing hand, mixing colors, throttling opacity or color with your hand on a virtual fader while you draw with the other hand, any number of innovative things that I can't think of on the spot right here, but that will change the digital illustration game when they finally arrive.
But like CrescentDavid talked about above, this functionality that I want would require more than Wacom just adding it to hardware, it would require software to support it all. So no doubt it's a ways off.
What I had actually hoped/expected to see was LED backlighting, to keep things a little cooler on your hands and forearms as you lean on to it, and a much higher resolution screen. I like how more buttons have been added, that will definitely be handy.
Mmmm... looks nice.
It looks to be 4:3 aspect ratio... 1600x1200? And is it IPS? Wide-gamut or standard?
@Old fogie late bloomer
These are things I'd also like to know!
@Old fogie late bloomer
C&P from the US website:
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Screen size 21.3" diagonal (541 mm)
Display area 17" x 12.75"
(431.8mm x 323.9mm)
Native resolution UXGA (1600 x 1200 pixels)
Total pixels 1,920,000
Number of colors 16.7 million
Pixel pitch 0.27 mm x 0.27 mm
Brightness 200 cd/m2
Contrast ratio 550:1
Viewing angle 85°/85° H, 85°/85° V
Color management ICC profile, 6500° K whitepoint default
Color management control DDC/CI
@Old fogie late bloomer
Yeah, I was mainly waiting to see if they were going to do an update on their display. I guess not, which is unfortunate.
Someone needs to invent a new input device with similar passive functionality to wacoms design and open up this market. Their tech cant cost that much to manufacture. I spent $600 on a tablet that im sure would cost half that or less if there were any decent competition.
>ChrisK15 - Wacom have a bamboo tablet that supports both multitouch and pen input. touch based zoom and rotation tools would speed up workflow significantly. You can use a strip for the same functionality easily in photoshop but that requires more movement and it'd make working with programs like Mudbox and Zbrush an absolute dream.
@groperofeuropa
Wacom have their tech locked down with patents, very, very securely.
@groperofeuropa Yeah, it "would speed up workflow significantly" if you spend a "significant" amount of time just zooming and rotating. I have work to do, so I'm involved in other functions 95% of the time. Besides, I don't find ctrl & t and ctrl & + or - to be "significantly slower." Maybe it's because I use "layers."
@crescentdavid Everyone works differently. Some would benefit from interface improvements even if you don't see it as necessary.
As an artist .. I have no use for multitouch... unless it's to rotate the image as I draw, which would be kind of neat ... but way too memory/processor intensive.
Why on Earth would there NEED to be an "affordable" option to this? Isn't the affordable option the none display Wacom tablets already out there? Since when did we demand an affordable option on every luxury item there is.
@Tes
Came here to say something like this. Not every electronic gadget should be affordable to your middle class average Joe. Just like as much as I'd love to own a Bobcat M-Series loader, I'm not a construction worker and couldn't justify the price.
/Dreams of plowing everything in sight...
I'll drive that tanker!
That's because Multi-touch in most applications is a gimmick.
I'm glad that the majority of the commenters realize this is a professional device designed for people who need the functionality it provides. It's not meant to be a cheap gadget with an "as seen on tv" tag on it that you could get at the sharper image. keeping it at this price means it stays in professional hands and they'll continue to earn a living without being undercut by millions of "look at me's"
...my pants are tight!
Big "meh" on this update.
It's not much different from the old one, they've just improved the build quality... adding the improvements from the 12wx (better unscratchable glass, touchstrips and things) and increasing the price slightly.
Seems like they weren't really wanting to update the thing this soon, but they got tired of people sending their screens in to be replaced every 6 months. :P
@(Unverified) Thats exactly what this product needed....
As a designer and using this product it had its flaws. And NONE of them were really in the design but more the software and LCD screen. Color matching and color correctness was a large problem i had and still have with the old one so i hope the fixed that and there new pens are much better.
No multitouch is what ever because in the end of the day it would just get in the way of an artist hand...unless they had complex software to recognize hand position.
Still think the price is a little steep but it is a very nitch market so that could explain the price hike.
I've used the previous generation 21" as well as the 12" Cintiq, and to be honest I was expecting something better than this.
It's missing the OLED screens next to the custom buttons, like the Intuos4 has. It's missing multitouch (new software could leverage this to create more intuitive controls: using one hand for locking angles, placing guides, panning etc, while at the same time being able to use the pen.). And last but not least, compared to the design of the Intuos4 it is an abomination.
Hopefully they did take the time to fix the (lack of) accuracy around the corners. That was driving me mad last time I used a Cintiq.
The near no-pressure starting point is the most interesting bit to me. I don't use a cintiq (but I dream!), but having used normal tablets for a while, it always bugs me a bit how I need to extert a bit of pressure to draw in the first place. It makes it hard to do the really faint lines :)
Not everything is a consumer product. The Cintiq is Wacom's most serious of its products for illustrators and designers. Multitouch? Seriously? You want to buy a Cintiq for finger painting? Levels of pressure, resolution, and color accuracy is ALL Cintiq should focus on.
This reminds me of the people who only use 5 tools in Photoshop so they think it should be cheaper.
Just because you're using a bulldozer to go to the grocery store doesn't mean that bulldozers should cost less. Maybe you should look into a car (or in this case, a non-professional tablet)
@MisterK I concur- my father-in-law is an animator (worked with Mr. Hanna and Mr. Barbera when they were still kick'n), and he has one of these. He hates them in general as compared to a pencil, but I'm sure he'll be happy to know of a higher degree of sensitivity is coming.
1. love cintiqs, hate their prices..
2. i think multi touch wouldnt work with this product anyways, it would be cool, but how could you draw when you have your palm resting on the screen and multitouch trying to differentiate your palm and the input you really want.
@daewootech Wacom tablets could easily differentiate between your hand and the stylus because the pen is detected in a totally different way than a hand touching the screen would be. Wacom has a crazy system where the pen is detected and receives power via wireless "resonant coupling," while a hand and multitouch input would be detected differently. Wacom already offers a small tablet that combines both finger input and pen input.
I don't know too much about Wacom tablets ad the tech behind them, but why didn't Apple make their iPad do something close to this as well as all it does now.
$1999 IS cheap...
@Cru Considering that its a very specialized item, yes. But I think most people who really need to draw with that sort of thing would pay or have no problem paying that much for it as a business expense.
Most people look at it and think how cool it would be to use it for things, just like a Tablet PC...but the cost outweighs the fun of having it.
@RAMz
I guess that depends on how much you're paid per drawing.
I get paid nothing per drawing, and bought the second largest intuos4 - definitely worth it.
It Got Me So Hyped Up Until The Price :(