Apple just made the quality of these products a reality.
Have you ever seen a stunning painting on a wall and wished you could capture the colours for your own artwork? Sure, you could take a Pantone colour book with you wherever… Alternatively, if Apple had its way, you might just tap your Apple Pencil on the mural to record its colour, much like an eyedropper tool in real life. Apple has submitted a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a next-generation Apple Pencil with built-in optical sensors that record not only colours but also textures.
Apple Patents Next-Gen pencil
A complex array of technology integrated into the Apple Pencil’s tip would enable it to become more than simply a pen. Instead of only being a note-taking and art-creation tool, the pencil would now assist you in gathering inspiration by allowing you to create your own bank of colours and textures to utilize as reference material in your work.
According to the patent drawings, a light sensor and a light emitter are housed within the pen tip of the new Apple Pencil. When you touch the pencil on any surface, the emitter and sensor work together to sample colours and textures. It functions in the same manner as your mouse does, using a light emitter and an optical sensor to register movement. The only difference is that the Pencil accomplishes that while also acting as a stylus for your iPad.
The patent was uncovered by Patently Apple, who also noted that this technique might be used to detect measures in addition to colour and texture. It’s unclear how this would work—would you need to have the iPad nearby while utilizing the Apple Pencil’s sample feature? Where would all of the data be stored? Because you need to tap the Pencil on the iPad’s display to use it as a stylus, how would you toggle the feature?
For the time being, this next-generation feature exists just as a patent, and it’s unknown whether Apple intends to completely rebuild the pencil, despite the fact that it’s been almost 4 years since Apple launched the Pencil Gen 2. Apple has already registered many Pencil-related innovations, including an early 2021 patent for removable custom nibs that offer your Pencil a more creative approach, as well as a recent patent for a Pencil with a rotational element on top and several touch-sensitive locations on its body. Which new feature do you wish to see in the next-generation Apple Pencil?
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via Patently Apple
