Wacom's WILL wants you to draw on any screen

Wacom, the specialists in gadgets for digital artists and designers, invents a system for drawing on phones, tablets, or computers.

(Credit: Wacom)

Where there's a WILL there's a Wacom. WILL, or Wacom Ink Layer Language, was announced Wednesday by the specialists in digital art devices to create a standard language for drawing on the screens of phones, tablets, laptops, or any digital devices.

WILL is an abstract language that records brush strokes in a consistent format regardless of how they were drawn, whether it was by a stylus, digital pen, or a good old-fashioned finger.

Wacom has created an SDK (software development kit) and API (application programming interface) so manufacturers can add the technology into devices, software, ecosystems, or enterprise infrastructure. That will allow you to draw on the screen of any device the same you can on the display of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with its S Pen stylus.

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WILL adds a 'variety of graphical tools and features' that are available across different devices and platforms. And it'll work outside of drawing apps too, so you can scrawl notes and doodle pictures in other apps -- for example drawing directions on maps in the map app on your device.

Beneath the screen, WILL adds metadata to your scribblings. That can include security certificates or useful data for collaboration.

Wacom is the first choice for digital artists and graphic pros for graphics tablets and smart pens, led by the professional Cintiq -- basically a monitor that you draw on. Wacom more recently went mobile with the Cintiq Companion, a Windows 8 or Android tablet on the screen of which you can draw and write.