Steam Deck as a drawing and 3D art tool

[@R+5]

Please include an official "steam pen" to take advantage of the touch screen; maybe improve the deck to be more modular, so we would be able to upgrade it using specific parts (ie a better touch screen, with better glass; official nvme to support valve and steam, etc).

[Zoot]

y tho

[@R+5]

why not? its a powerful machine, and even the nvidia shield offered the possibility. Also, we can easily install Blender from the steam store, and Krita is also available. Gimp also is a great tool, even if it doesnt include the 3d gimmicks that photoshop has.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h8k5LLK0jI

[@R+5]

Also, is more pleasant and easier to draw and edit photos when you are looking direct results over the surface you are using, than using a small tablet and looking to an external screen.

[Zoot]

Form factor / shape doesn't seem at all comfortable for drawing on the screen to me but to each their own I guess.

[retrogunner]

This will wholly depend on your type of touch-stylus needs and your comfort level of getting under the hood.

If you have no need for pressure sensitivity to control paint flow, chisel, or brush strokes, it's just a matter of finding your preferred passive pen. This may be adequate for various Steam modeling apps.

If you want more, Linux has no problem supporting pressure pens. For example, Gimp supports ABS_PRESSURE .

But, you'll need a stylus that supports pressure, given the Deck is not a Samsung "S" Tablet or Wacom, it will need to be an "active" Bluetooth pen (button & pressure) with capacitive tip -- so it will likely need to use hearing-aid batteries. That so sucks. I do not have any pen models to recommend as the slates we have are Wacom & LCD Wacom-style.

Alternatively, if you have a Wacom or like-model drawing slate, you should have no problem plugging it in while in Desktop mode to use Gimp or with Steam available utils (like Aseprite).

This blog post might be a good first look into it active pressure - not noob friendly.
https://gerev.github.io/laptop-cintiq/

[Darzai]

I could see how a stylus could be an interesting accessory. But not really for drawing because of the low resolution of the screen.

Also, I agree with @retrogunner that a drawing slate would be more useful for drawing then using a stylus straight on the screen.

[@R+5]

Escrito originalmente por Zoot:

Form factor / shape doesn't seem at all comfortable for drawing on the screen to me but to each their own I guess.

its a glorified tablet. if its too heavy to use with one hand, then and external accessory could help to support it. in most cases, even with a tablet, you will prefer to draw in a stable surface. it could work great while travelling in plane or train. could be nice to use it outside a room.

[@R+5]

Escrito originalmente por Darzai:

I could see how a stylus could be an interesting accessory. But not really for drawing because of the low resolution of the screen.

for some things like sketching fast it could work ok, but for detailed work i think only if valve offered an option to upgrade the screen could help. i think that could be a nice feature for some users.

[Pyrocitor]

I could actually see a stylus (with a bindable button on it too) being a useful accessory for playing strategy games and other mouse-heavy games that might gain a lot from it, which might be more comfortable than either the touch screen or the pads. One hand on a grip, the other holding the stylus.

Maybe even just an unpowered one. I'm thinking back to memories of playing Pikmin 3 on the Wii U with the stylus, with that being the most comfortable way to play for me.

Concern is that the Wii U tablet was super lightweight, maybe this would be too heavy to comfortably use one handed while poking at it with the other, idk

Without an actual stylus holster slot in the shell, maybe a stylus with a pivoting/pop-out USB-C jack on the back end that just clips to the top port of the deck to store it while in handheld use. Depending on the screen this might just be doable by a third party and an unpowered stylus, and using the rear buttons on the deck as right-click modifiers and all that.

Probably overthinking, idk ...

[ShelLuser]

So buy a stylus and go wild?

I really doubt they'd go here because... it'd be a waste. No way that any serious artist would want to work with this when it comes to 3D design. Running Blender (my favorite is ZBrush / Daz Studio though) on that tin can? Good luck with that!

I can't help shudder at the thought of how long a decent render would take, and how quickly it'd drain the batteries completely ;)

[@R+5]

Escrito originalmente por Pyrocitor:

Without an actual stylus holster slot in the shell, maybe a stylus with a pivoting/pop-out USB-C jack on the back end that just clips to the top port of the deck to store it while in handheld use.

Maybe valve could offer an official accessory that attached to the back of the deck to place the stylus, along with the stylus. that way most users could ignore it, and those who want to play or do stuff with the stylus could buy it as a separate kit. that could also give valve a pretext to make a stylus optimized category for games, and also maybe to create a new game.

[@R+5]

Escrito originalmente por ShelLuser:

Running Blender (my favorite is ZBrush / Daz Studio though) on that tin can? Good luck with that!

it would be great if zbrush had a native version for linux, but for doing basic stuff in blender, or learning, i think its good enough. obv not good or powerful enough for rendering, but for modelling basic stuff or trying things it should be fine.

for sketching stuff krita is very good, and gimp offers a lot of options too. maybe the deck isnt powerful enough to make big compositions, but to sketch and design concept art (without "going wild"), the deck should be fine. Imo, the real issue is if the deck is too heavy to draw without additional support. For playing it may and doing things that may not need the same level of precision it might work.

[Haruspex]

When I was shopping for a laptop a while back, a specific requirement was a transformable laptop that did not cost $1000 with an active, pressure sensitive pen. Found it in the Lenovo Flex 14, and it's been great.

For the Deck, while I wouldn't reject the option of an active pen, and I'm sure plenty would find it useful, I don't think it's the best use case scenario for a device of this form factor.

Still, there have been people asking about the Deck for use with content creation and art. I suspect some folks are just in the market for a device for that purpose, and now the Deck is announced and they want it, but they don't see it in the budget for a creative device and a Steam Deck, so they're working out how to get all that functionality out of the Deck alone. I guess it's doable, but far from ideal.

The best setup for using the Deck as a creative solution I think would be to use it docked with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Add an inexpensive USB pen tablet and now you have a very functional creative desktop workstation that you can also pick up and take with you for some portable gaming.

[@R+5]

i think if the screen could be changed for a better one, using modular design, that would be great. i think thats the only thing that could actually make even better the deck. if the deck was something more or less like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rkTgPt3M4k

[Nemesis]

No sane digital artist uses a touchscreen xD so no