New Technology in Drawing

It has been such a long time since my last drawing appeared in a magazine. I don't know where I am if I continue to be a cartoonist now. It was a great experience working with a comic magazine back in the early 90's. It was really good to be acknowledged as the youngest cartoonist in Malaysia at that time where I had a chance to work with other Malaysian famous cartoonists. I managed to publish few of my cartoons when I worked with GELAGAT magazine under Galeri Cipta Enterprise. That was the time when local cartoon and comic industry were very popular. Some other popular magazines at that time include Gila-Gila, Gelihati, Batu Api, Ujang and many more.
There was no advanced technology in drawing back then. A cartoonist at that time must have a good talent in drawing without any drawing tool assistance. We used normal drawing pad, water or poster color, nip pen or brush, Faber Castel technical pens and of course your own stroke to differentiate your drawing character with others.
As the technology grows, now anybody can be a cartoonist. Anybody can draw with the help of technology. You can do that with the help of a laptop or computer and some drawing assistance or a tablet. A popular drawing tablet nowadays is WACOM where you will also be provided with a CD on how to draw especially when you purchased a Manga Wacom. This is good for those who like to draw manga cartoons.

 How do WACOM tablets work?

The Wacom stylus looks and feels like a pen yet contains no batteries or magnets. Instead it takes advantage of electromagnetic resonance technology developed by Wacom Co. Ltd. in which radio waves are sent to the stylus and returned for position analysis. In operation, a grid of wires below the screen alternates between transmit and receive modes about every 20 microseconds.

The electro-magnetic signal stimulates oscillation in the coil-and-capacitor resonant circuit in the pen. The resonant circuit in the pen’s tip supplies the power and serves as transmitter too. The received signal goes through the modulator to the chip. The information of the pressure sensor (capacity) and of the side switch are going to the chip first. The Tool ID is then added and both are sent back to the modulator which in turn sends a signal to the resonant circuit in the tip. The tablet picks up the information in the pen’s tip in order to determine position and other information like pressure and Tool ID.

Since the grid provides the power to the pen through resonant coupling, no batteries are required. Thus there are no consumables inside the pen that will run down and need to be replaced or that would make the pen topheavy.

A simple analogy for this patented technology is that of a piano tuner using a tuning fork to tune a piano. As the tuning fork is brought into proximity of the appropriate vibrating pianostring (if the fork is of the same frequency) it will begin to borrow energy from the vibrating sting and resonate, generating a tone. In much the same way, as the Wacom pen comes close to the tablet surface, it begins to resonate, generating its own frequency back to the tablet. When it hears the pen, it tracks the pen's location with unprecedented accuracy. The tablet then sends location, pressure and tilt information to the computer along with a signal indicating whether the pen point or the eraser is being used.

As I had to continue my studies to the university, I had to forget my job as a cartoonist. Now, instead of becoming a cartoonist, my career path has totally changed. Although now I am an accountant, my passion for drawings would still be with me. It's just a matter of time for me to make a comeback...I wish I have time for that...
Below are some of my artworks that I found from my store room...

Life without Internet

Imagine a world without internet. It was totally a different world then when we lived without surfing the net. At that time, everything was too “normal”. Everybody had normal lives and busy with their own backyards. When I was a kid, listening to the sound of motorcycle of Mr Postman delivering letters was one of the best things to look for, especially when you started to meet someone.

Communications were mainly via letters and postcards. Telephone line was not really popular as yet because not many could afford to have a telephone line at home. Do I sound a bit old now? Even TV set during that time is unimaginable by kids now. Our family had a TV with a 2-side door. Luckily it was already a color-TV. There were limitations in getting latest news updates. You could either watch TV news at night, listen to the radio (a “mini-compo” radio was an “in-thing” at that time), or read the newspapers including “Utusan Jawi”.

It was only in the year 1995 when internet started to hit Malaysia and not everybody had the opportunity to experience the new technology. It started rather slowly due to the lack of awareness towards the new information age. In 1996, the country’s first search engine and web portal company, Cari Internet was founded. According to the first Malaysian Internet survey conducted from October to November 1995 by MIMOS and Beta Interactive Services, one out of every thousand Malaysians had access to the Internet (20,000 Internet users out of a population of 20 million. In 1998, this number grew to 2.6% of the population. The total number of computer units sold, which was 467,000 in 1998 and 701,000 in 2000 indicated an increasing growth. As of July 2012 Internet users in Malaysia reached 25.3 million. Out of that number, there are 5 million broadband users, 2.5 million wireless broadband users and 10 million 3G subscribers. (source: Wikipedia)

Most of the Gen-X people like me are not really active users of the internet as compared to Gen-Y and the new Gen-Z. Some said that Gen-Z people cannot live without internet and gadgets as they are too relying on the information technologies. The future world will be towards advanced technologies as a way of life from the smartphones, smart house system, electric and driverless cars and the advanced technologies at workplace. Gone are the days when kids used to play board games, cycling among good friends without fear, sending letters and postcards to pen-pals.

 

For the new generation, the following would be what your parents did before the internet-era, and for those who lived in the pre-internet era, these might give you a good smile:

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• Studying at school and universities were tougher during those days. Students had to meet in person when they had a group project. There was no whatsapp, wechat, e-mails and web-conference like what we have now.

• Students went to the library to find books. Now, can just get it online.

• People would go the music stores to buy new albums and this include buying cassette tapes to listen to the music.

• You need to go to the Photoshop to get your photos printed from the camera film roll.

• There were no DVR to help you to record your favourite shows.

•  Actual maps were used to find directions. There was no GPS to help you to find any locations.

• There is no alarm to be set from your smartphones. You had to manually turn your alarm using your real clock.

• You can find jobs in most cities and towns

• We were not bombarded with spam on a daily basis.

• We were a less violent society

• There were no carpal tunnel syndrome in those days  

..and the list continues on and on.. that’s how the amazing life before the internet.

Over-relying on Waze..

Driving to KL everyday back and forth from Shah Alam can be very annoying, frustrating and agitating. Thanks to our very “efficient” traffic system. Malaysians are “forced” to drive due to lack of efficient public transport system and it is not convenient to grab a bus, LRT or commuter train because of poor and insufficient parking space at the stations. Most of the stations are not within a walking distance which makes Malaysians like me have no choice but to drive a car everyday not only to work but also to commute from one place to another. It is very pitiful that we have to spend most of our hard earn salary just to pay for car instalments every month. Knowing the fact that car prices in Malaysia is one of the highest in the world just rubbed salt into the wound. Driving a car to work as a solution because of poor public transportation does not end my story here. There is another problem that Malaysian drivers in big city like KL has to face every day…traffic jam! If I were to drive to KL from Shah Alam using Federal Highway, it will take me only about 20 minutes, BUT, I can only do that after 12 midnight when most of the people are having nightmares about traffic while they are sleeping. If I go out of home at 7 am using Federal Highway, probably it will take me 2 hours to reach KL. It won’t be much different if I were to use other roads either.

Hmmm…what choice do I have? What choice do we have? Yup! Not much! Life goes on and we still need to go to work to have a decent life. Hopefully one day our car can fly!

Using tolled-highways may not be a solution to have a smooth drive (anyway, do we have non-tolled highways?). Most of us have to use tolled-highways to minimize the risk of having caught in a worse traffic. In Malaysia, you pay toll to get “stucked” in traffic, and worst still, you will be caught in bad traffic before and after you pay toll. That’s great isn’t it?

Most of city drivers used GPS like Papago and Garmin previously to avoid bad traffics but most of the “dedicated” GPS mentioned are paid GPS and it is not cheap to buy. The good thing is only that it can be used in offline mode as well. That is why most Malaysians are turning into Waze GPS which is an online GPS application which helps not only to show direction, but also to avoid traffic jam and shortest distance to the desired destination. It can prompt you on any road hazards and accidents few miles upfront and also if there is a police in front!

According to Wikipedia, Waze formerly "Freemap", is GPS based geographical navigation application program for smartphones with GPS support and display screens which provides turn-by-turn information and user-submitted travel times and route details, downloading location-dependent information over mobile networks. Waze was developed in Israel, funded by early-stage American venture capital firm Bluerun Ventures, and was acquired by Google in 2013.

Waze uses the information from your journey to calculate average speed, check for errors, improve road layout and learn road and turn direction. There is no need to make special trips with Waze. In fact, Waze works best on your regular trips and commuting.

The maps and navigation are powered by users. The more people drive with Waze open, the better the navigation.

According to Google, in order for Waze to accurately give you the fastest or shortest route, depending on your settings, it needs to have accurate data for all neighboring segments and routes. Waze collects data for every road driven with the app open.  Next time a specific road is driven, Waze will know to compare data between each possible route and will know better to suggest the optimal route based on your preferences.

However, sometimes there are better routes than the one suggested by Waze.  Routing issues like this happen because the system works on real time and average statistics. Google suggests that you take the suggested route a few times so that Waze can collect and start to use the new data in its routing algorithms.

If, in your estimation, Waze doesn't give you the best route, it may be due to the following:

• A map error somewhere along your preferred route.
• A lack of correct speed/traffic data for that route.
• A lack or correct speed/traffic data on the route it is trying to send you on.

Waze was built assuming a data network connection would be present all, or at least most, of the time. For all aspects of Waze to operate, you must have an active data connection on your mobile device. This connection enriches Waze with real-time traffic related information and ensures an up-to-date map. Without an internet connection, you won't be able to locate or navigate a route.

Another best thing I like about Waze is the estimated time arrival (ETA) where you will know how long it will take for you to reach the destination and you can plan your travel ahead.