Pixar, the studio that created some of iconic animated movies like Toy Story, Cars, and Monsters Inc., tried out the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. Safe to say that Apple was pleased with the feedback they received.
Lovely of our friends from Apple to stop by to let us take iPad Pro & Pencil for a test drive: pic.twitter.com/t3LGw7xcMD
— Michael B. Johnson (@drwave) September 28, 2015
Michael B. Johnson, head of the department in Pixar responsible for giving artists the tools they need to create animated masterpieces, remarked that the iPad Pro and its accessory, the Apple Pencil, feature perfect palm rejection. Basically, this feature prevents your palm or wrist from accidentally blotting sketches and drawings and enable the device to only recognize the stylus.
Johnson later added in a tweet that he can’t wait to get his hands on the device and start creating apps and software for it. We assume this will be reserved for Pixar artists.
Can hardly wait to get my own iPad Pro and Pencil to both use it and start writing software for it. Big thumbs up.
— Michael B. Johnson (@drwave) September 28, 2015
Several Pixar artists also raved about the iPad Pro’s capabilities.
Artist Don Shank said that he would classify it as a pro tool rather than a plaything. He also added that pressure sensitivity is great and the shading using the side of the Pencil was “awesome” as well.
The iPad Pro is geared towards a professional market, particularly those who are working on architecture and art fields. The question is though, can we believe that the Pixar employees are giving their honest opinions? After all, the late Apple founder Steve Jobs was once the CEO of Pixar. I think so – after all, it was Jobs who owned Pixar, not Apple.
It is primed to go head to head against devices with similar features and capabilities, notably the Wacom Cintiq and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 which matches up well. What’s really cool for the Apple Pencil, though, is that it has this kind of endorsement from big time animators – if the Apple Pencil can capture that type of niche (the animator) and it becomes the definitive tool, then that’s a major boon.
Apple is set to release the 12.9-inch tablet on November. Apple has opened the device up for developers, who in turn are expected to create applications which support the Apple Pencil and the iPad Pro’s wide array of features.
