With the end of the year fast approaching, we hope you can look forward to enjoying the holiday season.
For us, the end of the year resembles the curve of a parabola. Things will gradually slow down for a well-earned rest, until midnight on the 31st of December when everyone is holding their breath to welcome 2017. In the new year, everything will be picking up speed once more with renewed enthusiasm.
Plans for 2017
We are pleased to let you know that the GraphGrid accessory set for the TactiPad has been extended with three additional tools. These allow you to draw perfect parabolas, hyperbolas and concave or convex lenses.
But more on that later – for now, we want to wish you a merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!
At Thinkable, we are constantly busy developing new innovations for our blind and visually impaired users. We are excited to introduce our latest product concept: the Motorised Drawing Arm (MDA).
To get a hands-on experience of the new MDA, visit us from May 18 to 20 at SightCity Frankfurt, the world’s largest annual exhibition for the blind and visually impaired. You can find us in booth D1, right beside the entrance of the main exhibition hall. Or pay us a virtual visit on the MDA page.
Motorised Drawing Arm
The new MDA by Thinkable is a concept for a computer-driven motorised arm that draws tactile graphics by mechanically moving a ballpoint pen across the surface of our tactile drawing board. It aims to combine the accuracy of the digital tactile graphics from the TactileView software with the versatility of drawing by hand on the TactiPad drawing board.
This way, the MDA opens up unique interactive ways of making tactile graphics easily accessible. Being a low-cost alternative for creating tactile graphics, it will allow you to create tactile images in one go or even expand a drawing in multiple steps by adding successive digital and/or manual elements.
In this newsletter, we would like to announce that Thinkable will shortly release a new version of TactileView, the most powerful tactile graphics editor available on the market. In this version, the emphasis lays on new convenient tools that will help you with accurate alignment of texts and objects in your design. With these, getting the right page layout has never been easier.
Introducing the braille grid and measurements grid
In the upcoming version of the TactileView software, the new braille grid and revised measurements grid will be introduced. These are great tools that help you to manage the layout of your design by easily aligning and placing text labels and graphic elements.
The braille grid is primarily used to align text labels in a regular grid and conform to certain layout guidelines, whereas the measurements grid is mostly used to align objects and visualize their size.
Using these grids, you can easily:
Manage the size of inserted objects (measurements grid)
Control distances between elements (measurements grid)
Place text labels in a regular grid or on the same row/column (braille grid)
Align objects with text labels (subsequently using both alignment grids)
Hands-on demonstration at the ATIA
Held on February 3-6 in Orlando, Florida, the ATIA conference is one of the largest international conferences on assistive technology. To get a hands-on demonstration of the TactiPad drawing board and TactileView software, including the new features in the upcoming release version, visit Irie-AT in booth 804 at the ATIA.
In our previous newsletter, the TactileView manual page and tutorial section were introduced. This richly illustrated user guide allows you to look up any software functionality you might need. From installation and setting up to creating and printing your very own tactile graphics – it’s all in there.
By popular demand, this software manual is now also available in a downloadable PDF version! This way, you can always keep the user guide at hand on your mobile device or save it on your computer for offline use.
Recently, we were contacted by Emily Schlenker, a blind pre-medical student at Wichita State University. She was born without sight, but that hasn’t slowed down her fascination with organic chemistry. For us at Thinkable, it’s stories like hers that drive our passion for tactile graphics. We are excited to share it with you as end-of-year inspiration.
Blind ‘visual learner’
Emily says: “The TactiPad has been instrumental in my transformation from a fearful and anxious student who lacked the confidence to speak up in class or go to my professor in private with my questions, into a strong participant in lectures and study sessions who is often right on the money with the answers.”
Another intriguing aspect of her story is that she describes herself as being a visual learner, regardless of her visual impairment. “My brain thrives on pictures,” she says, “my mental acuity and ability to do organic chemistry in my head from memory has improved exponentially. If I can draw, I can remember.”
Aid for assignments and exams
Despite the initially steep learning curve, she has rapidly become very skilful in making tactile drawings that enable her to get the most out of her participation in the academic world. “After working with the TactiPad, I am now confident enough to present my pictures as visual aids for my questions or as parts of assignments. Hearts and happy faces are alright, but this thing is life altering. Without it, I would not be preparing to take the MCAT exam next summer.”
For us, it certainly was heart-warming to read Emily’s personal story. If you too have experience with the Thinkable products that you wish to share with other (future) users, do not hesitate to contact us!
We wish you a wonderful holiday season from us at Thinkable and all the best in 2018!
Are you producing tactile images and other materials for blind readers, or planning to do so? And would you like to discover how TactileView can help you to create outstanding tactile graphics with minimal effort?
Then our manual page and newly added tutorial section might be the ideal place for you to start. Our first tutorial covers how to find a suitable image on the internet and which software functions to use to convert it into a tactile diagram. With either the step by step guide or the included video, you will find out how easy it can be to produce your very own high quality tactile graphics.
The tutorials will show you the process of creating tactile graphics, whereas the manual section explains each software function separately and more extensively. If you wish to discover more about any of the software functions that are used in the tutorial, simply follow the links in the tutorial, which will bring you to the various richly illustrated manual sections that will cover them in more detail.
Windows 10 supported
Microsoft has recently released their latest version of their operating system – Windows 10. For those that wish to upgrade we have good news: support for TactileView v2.200 also includes Windows 10.
In case you are using printer drivers for your printer or embosser that where supplied from the manufacturer, you may have to check the producer’s website to make sure they are compatible with Windows 10.
In recent months, we have made major progress again in the development of the Motorised Drawing Arm (MDA). In this newsletter, we are excited to share the latest developments. We also invite you to come and see the device in action at the TifloInnova exhibition on 17-19 November in Madrid (for further details, see below).
MDA prototype 2
The first important improvement in the second MDA prototype is the use of a new type of motor that applies pressure to the pen. The new setup will ensure that the pen can move over the height of the 8 TactiPad buttons irrespective of their positions. Also, the new motor better accommodates the slight variations in height across the TactiPad. This results in a consistent quality of the tactile lines across the entire drawing surface.
In the following video, you can see the remarkable speed and precision of the new prototype is if you selected an image from the catalog and pressed the sketch button:
USB connection and WIFI access
Besides connecting the MDA via USB directly to the computer, it can now also be connected wirelessly via Wifi because of the addition of a Raspberry Pi to the system. This way, it can even be operated using your mobile phone or any other mobile device! This offers brand new ways for students and teachers to work with educational graphics.
MDA catalog
Currently, the TactileView software includes a catalog with thousands of ready-to-use tactile graphics. We plan to set up a similar catalog of images specifically for sketching on the MDA.
You can already visit our demo version of the MDA catalog, which includes a first set of designs as an example. In the future, you can directly drive your MDA from this online catalog from any browser on your pc, mobile phone or tablet.
Your suggestions
We are very interested to hear which content you would like to produce when you would have an MDA on your desk. When visiting the MDA catalog page, we welcome you to think about which categories or which specific pre-made graphics you would like to find in the catalog. Or even better, send us your ideas or images that you would like to see produced on the MDA!
TifloInnova exhibition in Madrid
Jaap and Niels from Thinkable will be present at the TifloInnova exhibition, giving a hands-on demonstration of the TactiPad drawing board, TactileView software and of course the new MDA prototype.
The exhibition is held from 17-19 November in the ONCE Sports and Cultural Centre in the north of Madrid. Admission is free for all visitors. When you are there, we invite you to pay us a visit in booth 4. For further details, see the TifloInnova website.
We proudly announce the new release of the TactileView design and production software: version 2.200!
Once again, the software has been extended with new and improved features and the overall efficiency has increased. A lot of improvements have been made based on feedback from you. We want to thank all of you for your contributions!
A few eye-catching (or should we say fingertip-catching?) changes in version 2.200:
In the release notes on our website, you can find the full list of exciting new features. In the following newsletters, we will highlight some of the other new additions and improvements in TactileView.
So feel free to download version 2.200 and update your registered version free of charge, or run it in demo mode before you decide to buy a software licence. You can purchase a software licence in the Thinkable webshop.
P.S. Some of the articles that are linked to above will give you a sneak preview of the new extensive online user guide that we are currently creating for TactileView.
On May 20-22, Germany’s biggest annual exhibition in the field of specialized aids for the blind and visually impaired – SightCity 2015 – will be held in the Sheraton Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany.
This year we will join our German distributor, Blista Brailletec, in booth D1 in the main exhibition hall. Visit us to get a hands-on demonstration of the TactiPad drawing board or get a feel of the possibilities of tactile graphics with TactileView.
In recent months, we have made major progress again in the development of the Motorised Drawing Arm (MDA). In this newsletter, we are excited to share the latest developments. We also invite you to come and see the device in action at the TifloInnova exhibition on 17-19 November in Madrid (for further details, see below).
MDA prototype 2
The first important improvement in the second MDA prototype is the use of a new type of motor that applies pressure to the pen. The new setup will ensure that the pen can move over the height of the 8 TactiPad buttons irrespective of their positions. Also, the new motor better accommodates the slight variations in height across the TactiPad. This results in a consistent quality of the tactile lines across the entire drawing surface.
In the following video, you can see the remarkable speed and precision of the new prototype is if you selected an image from the catalog and pressed the sketch button:
USB connection and WIFI access
Besides connecting the MDA via USB directly to the computer, it can now also be connected wirelessly via Wifi because of the addition of a Raspberry Pi to the system. This way, it can even be operated using your mobile phone or any other mobile device! This offers brand new ways for students and teachers to work with educational graphics.
MDA catalog
Currently, the TactileView software includes a catalog with thousands of ready-to-use tactile graphics. We plan to set up a similar catalog of images specifically for sketching on the MDA.
You can already visit our demo version of the MDA catalog, which includes a first set of designs as an example. In the future, you can directly drive your MDA from this online catalog from any browser on your pc, mobile phone or tablet.
Your suggestions
We are very interested to hear which content you would like to produce when you would have an MDA on your desk. When visiting the MDA catalog page, we welcome you to think about which categories or which specific pre-made graphics you would like to find in the catalog. Or even better, send us your ideas or images that you would like to see produced on the MDA!
TifloInnova exhibition in Madrid
Jaap and Niels from Thinkable will be present at the TifloInnova exhibition, giving a hands-on demonstration of the TactiPad drawing board, TactileView software and of course the new MDA prototype.
The exhibition is held from 17-19 November in the ONCE Sports and Cultural Centre in the north of Madrid. Admission is free for all visitors. When you are there, we invite you to pay us a visit in booth 4. For further details, see the TifloInnova website.
