7

Line-us

REVIEW

he overwhelming majority of

graphical output from computers

is rasterized, where images are

converted to a series of dots that are

displayed as light or ink. With small

enough dots, our eyes can be tricked

into thinking that these dots represent real curves

or other shapes, but it’s always a lie. Look closely

enough and the dots always expose themselves.

There are, however, a few hold-outs – products

that refuse to buy into this discrete world of

points, and live in the world of lines. Line-us is one

such product.

Two servos control arms that move a pen in two

dimensions, and a third lifts the pen off the paper

when it’s not drawing. The simple arm arrangement

has quite a limited drawing area that’s in the shape

of half an ellipse, with a chunk missing. This is due

to the radial arm arrangement, and the body of the

machine limiting access to part of the drawing area.

It’s approximately 16 cm at its longest point, and

7 cm at the widest. You can access the full area by

using the API (see below), but only a rectangular

portion of this if you use the app.

The device comes with a steel backing plate. You

place your paper on the plate, then the magnets in

the Line-us snap down, holding everything in place

while it draws. When you’re done, everything comes

apart again. With this setup, you can draw on a

sheet of paper, a page in a sketchbook, or anything

else that the robot can fit on. Although the drawing

area is quite small, this setup means you can place

it on a much larger sheet of paper (and it can be

moved round to the place you want it).

The Line-us can use any pen with a diameter

less than 13 mm. However, you can’t change pens

mid-print, at least not automatically – there’s nothing

to stop you having different sketches representing

different colours, but you will need to manually

change and calibrate the pen each time.

The easiest way to get started with Line-us is via

the app (which is available for Windows, OS X, iOS,

and Android). This gives you a sketch area to draw

your designs, and access to the cloud, where you

can store your designs or share them with others.

This connects to the device over WiFi (a Line-us

can create its own WiFi network if there’s not one

already available), so there are no wires to get in the

way, or to limit the places you can put the Line-us.

As yet, there are no public sketchbooks (or the

ability to share with the world at large), though the

FAQ claims that this ‘will be added to the software

very soon’. These would make it much easier for the

more artistically inept of us to get started with the

technology, and learn what’s possible with it.

T

Line-us

By Ben Everard ben_everard

Add real-world images and words to your projects

LINE-US £89 line-us.com

Below

The drawing quality

is exactly what is

shown on the packet

• wobbly, but with a
  certain charm