Macbooks have all been equipped with a highly sensitive trackpad for some time now. It offers surprisingly precise finger-based control, but it is capable of much more. An app named Inklet takes advantage of the hardware, allowing owners of Apple laptops to use the trackpad as a mini graphics tablet. Now, the app has been updated to take advantage of the pressure-sensitive Force Touch trackpad on the new Macbook and Macbook Pro.
The added sensitivity means that users of Inklet 1.6 — the new version — can adjust the boldness of brushstrokes in Photoshop, for instance, by increasing or decreasing the pressure they apply to the trackpad. Exactly how it reacts to your movements can be tweaked in the settings, and there are several gesture-based controls which can be switched on, such as two-fingered rotate and zoom.
Obviously, trying to map an entire screen to a trackpad-sized surface would be disastrous. Instead, Inklet lets you highlight the small area of the screen where you would like to work. It is a neat solution, and it means you have good, if slightly laggy, control.
The other nice thing about the app for owners of Apple’s latest machines is that any iPad-type stylus will work with the Force Touch trackpad. Owners of older laptops have the alternative of holding down the spacebar to adjust line thickness.
While no-one is going to do their very best work with this setup, Inklet provides a nice way to do a rough sketch. At $25 for the full version, it isn’t cheap, but committed designers who are always on the road may appreciate the option of leaving their graphics tablet behind.
You can purchase Inklet or download a free demo from the official website.
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