Last month, we reported on a brand new Kickstarter project for Colors Live, a new entry into the digital art software series that rose to fame on Nintendo 3DS.
The 3DS app was pretty great in its own right, but this latest effort seems to be taking things up a notch, largely thanks to the addition of the Colors SonarPen. The pen allows for pressure-sensitive strokes on your Switch's screen, meaning you can apply different amounts of pressure when drawing just like you would with a real pen, and it does so by plugging into to Switch's audio jack.
As you'll know, the Switch's screen can't understand different levels of pressure when using any ordinary stylus or just your finger, so how exactly does it all work? We'd like to simply say 'magic' because that's what it sounds like, but here's a proper explanation from the app's creator, Jens Andersson, in conversation with the eShop Action Committee podcast:
"It is a half-meter cable that plugs into the audio jack, and technically it pretends to be a headset. So, in Colors, it actually plays a tone through the audio. A tone of about 8000 hertz goes through the cable to the tip of the pen. There is a resistor in there as well that dampens the tone depending on the amount of pressure that is applied to the tip of the pen. This vibration goes back to the Switch through the internal microphone of the pen, which measures the volume of the sound. That calculates the pressure used on the screen. So the touch is recorded by the screen as normal, but the pressure goes through that thing. It is an ingenious idea.
It sounds weird explaining it, but it really works. Elton, the person who created this is really clever and the pen works really well. The precision you get out of it is basically analogue. The levels of precision makes it feel very much like a Wacom pen. It's so cool and there are no batteries in there either. It is durable and fairly cheap to produce. Especially compared to the Apple Pen which is almost a hundred bucks."
At the time of writing, the Colors Live Kickstarter has just three days to go. It's already smashed its near-£13,000 goal, generating almost £100,000 so far.
[source nintendaan.com, via nintendoworldreport.com, gonintendo.com]
Comments 22
If we can get something that approach the precision of the stylus on the DS/Wii U, it would be a game changer in terms of potential touch based gaming.
Sounds like clever technology, but if the Switch screen isn't made to be pressure sensitive to begin with, could using a stylus too firmly damage the screen?
@Not_Soos No, the screen is plastic? I don’t see how it could be damaged, especially considering someone dropped a Switch 1000 feet onto concrete and the screen was fine.
I Know it’s a lot more expensive, but if you’re really planning on digitally drawing I’d just skip these kind of investments and get an ipad, some are around 350, 300 when on sale even and the Apple Pencil is just great on them.
But if you have kids this might be fun... but repetitively stroking the screen probably requires the use of a screenprotector which is glass
@ferryb001
If you're planning spending that much money then you should probably just get a decent Wacom or similar.
Using audio like that is an absolutely genius idea. If they've patented it then it could have many more applications than just being used on the Switch. It sounds like a much cheaper way of producing a high-quality graphics tablet than is being used currently.
@Not_Soos
A well made stylus pen shouldn't scratch any screens.
It got me wondering just now, and I tried pressing my Wacom intuos tablet stylus on my Switch's screen, and it felt good.
Of course it didn't do anything because the Switch uses a capacitive touch screen, and this stylus is not that, but it didn't leave a scratch. Of course a screen protect is always a good idea.
It's great though because it provides proper pressure sensitivity for a capacity touch screen.
Back when Colors was nothing more than a homebrew software for the Nintendo DS, it claimed to have pressure sensitivity for its resistive touch screen somehow. I never found it to work though.
Have they patented this implementation of a pressure-sensitive touch screen pen? It truly is quite ingenious.
@DevlinMandrake well Wacom Cintiq is priced around 640€ and also requires a desktop attached to it. I’m trying to say that I also use to have cheaper Wacom tablets (without display) and generally only used them for a few months before deciding I wanted something of a higher quality and with less restrictions.
But hey, the pen being 36€ and including the software is a great deal, colors has always been amazing software and is probably fun for a bit to play around with . @westman98 You can try the sonarpen today as well if you like the tech: https://www.sonarpen.com/
I’ve always wanted a Switch stylus.
Forget iPads and the Galaxy Note, my everyday drawing tablet is THE NINTENDO SWITCH.
(this isn't a bad idea, it's just so strange, this thing doesn't even have Netflix, yet it has a drawing app and pen)
@SimplyCinnamon53 it can get scratched...
@SimplyCinnamon53 https://img-cdn.tnwcdn.com/image?fit=1280%2C720&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2019%2F09%2FSnag_2d131ca2.png&signature=f8989ce51d834d34e86cb04a38f74221
Nintendo needs to step up with their Art Academy series.
This seems really cool. I used the 3DS app a ton back in the day and remember making a lot of friends within the app and from NL. Looking forward to this
@Muddy_4_Ever sick icon brotendo
Is this still in kick starter? Looks like it would be brilliant
From the Kickstarter page:
"It is safe to use the Colors SonarPen on the Nintendo Switch screen. The tip of the pen has is a disc-type nib which makes it soft and gentle with the screen. However, in general, it is always good to protect your Nintendo Switch screen with a protector glass of high quality and the Colors SonarPen should work fine with any screen protector."
My first Kickstarter backing!
im very excited for this. colors! on the 3ds was a mere $7 and i got hundreds of hours of use of it as a kid, and it's inspired me to keep drawing and buy my own drawing tablet. and the online gallery was one of my first exposures to an actual community
i dunno what ferry is going on about up there saying to just invest in an ipad instead. if you already have a switch just try out colors for significantly cheaper to see if you even want to do art long term, and expand from there
It was called the JaJa HEX3.
https://techcrunch.com/2012/10/26/review-hex3-jaja-stylus-ipad-pressure-sensitive/
Sound was how they brought pressure sensitivity to the iPad back in 2012 before the Apple Pencil.
It was also a kickstarter.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jonatherton/jaja-worlds-first-pressure-sensitive-stylus-for-ip
only on Ipad it did not need that wire. Anyway, it does work.
It also seem to have the exact same tip design. It never scratch my iPad. The disc just glides over the screen.
So...would it work with any touchscreen device with a headphone jack?
@nopowerinthevers the hardware side works with any device with a capacitive touchscreen and a headphone jack.
however the app you're using needs to specifically support this stylus, currently only a few android and ios apps support the stylus.
if you're not using compatible software it doesn't matter whether the stylus is plugged in or not, the stylus will act like any other capacitive stylus without pressure sensitivity.
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