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Wacom Technologies - Pen Tablets
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December
15, 2005 - Review
Making the Switch
from Apple Mouse to Wacom Tablet.
Featuring the Wacom
Graphire Bluetooth -
wireless pen tablet
http://wacom.com
 This has been a
relatively difficult process for me. It's not that I
haven't ever used a graphics tablet before but the challenge was to
convert to the tablet exclusively and finally toss that one-button
mouse. We all get attached to certain devices and I had been using the
same mouse for the last six years. I know it's hard to believe but I
had gotten real comfortable with an iCatch enhanced mouse that came
with a blue&white G3 desktop PowerMac (the computer was abandoned
years ago). It fit my hand real well and
has only started acting up in the last couple of weeks.
So when a friend told me that he had switched to the Graphire
Bluetooth wireless pen tablet exclusively and ditched his Apple mouse,
I took it as a personal
challenge and decided to try and do the same. A few weeks later I
attended a Just
Show Me How Digital Workflow Seminar in Boston and the seminar
presenter Kevin James, also mentioned
that he had switched to using a pen tablet exclusively. In his case it
was the Intuos3 tablet but the writing seemed to be on the wall.
So when the Graphire Bluetooth tablet arrived, I immediately pulled it
out of it's box and
set it up. The package contains a 10.13 x 11.03 inch tablet with a 5.94
x 8.22 inch active area. It also includes a pen, pen stand, mouse,
rechargeable battery, and a universal power supply. The instructions,
driver installer and
additional software come on two CDs. Bundled software for the Graphire
Bluetooth includes Adobe Photoshop Elements, Corel Painter
Essentials and nik Color Efex Pro.
Wacom
Graphire Bluetooth 6x8 Tablet
Buy New: $203.99
Getting used to a
new mouse
On
my first attempt I installed the Wacom driver software with no problems
but the mouse didn't feel right, the pen was slippery in my hand and
the cursor was jumping all over the place. I knew that this was mostly
do to my having used one mouse for a long time and that it would take
some effort to change to a new tool, but I had a lot of work to do at
the time, so I put the tablet back in it's box and kept working with my
antique Apple mouse.
A few weeks later my Apple mouse went into cardiac arrest, so I
opened the Wacom tablet box again and decided it was time for us to get
to know each other better. Once I had the equipment set up I googled on
Wacom tablet reviews for some help. I found that one reviewer had run
into the same problem as myself with the slippery pen and his solution
had been
to upgrade to the Intuos tablet which comes with a pen that has a
rubber grip.
Well I have been using rubber grip writing pens for a long time because
I find it difficult to write with smooth plastic pens, so this made
sense to me. I took a
close look at the Wacom pen and then took a look at my collection of
Pilot and BIC writing pens. One of the Pilot pens had run out of ink so
I removed the rubber grip from it and spent the next half hour pulling,
pushing and cutting the grip into place on the Wacom pen. The
procedure made the pen easier for me to hold and a bit heavier which
works well for me. Photoshop retouching now feels pretty good to me
with the
modified pen and I'm sure it will only get better with time.
In time I may also get used to using the pen for everything else, but
since I use two monitors and tend to mouse almost everything (as
opposed to keyboard shortcuts), I have problems controlling cascading
menus, dragging and dropping files from one folder to another, etc.
with the pen. So I
needed to get the Wacom tablet mouse to work for me. Unfortunately the
mouse just didn't feel right to me and I couldn't use it for more than
a few minutes without getting a cramp in my hand. I tried googling the
reviews again but very little was said by any reviewer about using the
mouse, only short comments about the fact that the tablet comes with
one.
Not wanting to give up that quickly I decided to first turn it into a
one button Mac mouse by changing the function of both buttons to
single click. Funny enough this did the trick immediately because I was
no longer
forced into using the left hand button with my index finger and my
hand automatically repositioned the mouse about 40 degrees
counter-clockwise and it fit perfectly. My index finger is now
positioned dead center over the right hand mouse button and the mouse
works as well for me as any other mouse I have ever owned. The scroll wheel between the two buttons also feels very
natural from that position.
In the future
I will probably assign another action to the left hand button but for
right now I am thrilled to have my mouse, mouse pad, tablet and pen all
in one comfortable location.
Mouse, tablet, pen -
It's all wireless
I don't know about you but I have always had a non-stop battle with my
mouse cords. They have always been in my way when I was drawing or
dragging something. The worst thing for me is when I would bump into
the cord while
dragging a long list of files to another folder, and lose all the files
to the wrong folder. I have of course tried a few wireless mouse
devices and consider the Apple wireless mouse among the best, but I can
honestly say that the Graphire
Bluetooth wireless pen tablet is now my favorite.
A review of the Graphire
Bluetooth wireless pen tablet in use with the bundled software
packages, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Corel
Painter
Essentials and nik Color Efex Pro is coming soon. |
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November 15,
2005
Wacom’s Graphire Bluetooth Wireless Pen Tablet for Photo and Art
Enthusiasts Now Includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 and More
 Vancouver, WA -
Nov. 15, 2005 - Wacom®
Technology today announced
the
inclusion of several additional software programs with its
Graphire®
Bluetooth® wireless pen tablet. Featuring the control and comfort
of
Wacom’s patented cordless, battery-free pen and mouse, as well as the
freedom of a wireless device, the Graphire Bluetooth offers a 6” x 8”
active area and is priced at $249.99. With the addition of Adobe®
Photoshop® Elements 3 and PC digital inking programs, Graphire
Bluetooth users now can experience even more control and performance.
In addition to being a favorite of photo enthusiasts and aspiring
digital artists, mobile office workers, educators and students
appreciate the variety of tasks they can easily accomplish with the
Graphire Bluetooth.
“Some things just look good, feel right
and work well. The Graphire
Bluetooth falls into that category. My advice is simple – Get one!”
Eric Martin – Photoshopsupport.com
Software for Enhancing Photos with
Pen
Control
The control
of the Graphire Bluetooth pen and the included copy of Adobe®
Photoshop® Elements 3 make it possible to quickly and easily edit
and
organize digital photos. Nineteen pressure-sensitive tools deliver
dynamic control of important tool attributes such as size, opacity and
color. When used with a Wacom pen, tools such as the Healing Brush
allow users to selectively alter images and precisely remove
photographic flaws. The freedom of Graphire Bluetooth wireless
technology and Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 make digital editing easier
and more fun than ever before!
“Whether you’re a budding graphic
designer or you’re just looking for a
comfortable alternative to a traditional mouse, you’ll find the
Graphire Bluetooth an enjoyable tool to use.” Paul Fatula – About This
Particular Mac
New Software for Jotting Notes,
Annotating Documents and More
On a PC, JustWrite Office™ 4 offers the ability to annotate
Microsoft®
Office documents. EverNote Plus™ makes it possible to jot instantly
retrievable notes and organize all types of information on a PC.
Additionally, it makes managing personal information easy by providing
handwriting recognition, shape recognition, a timeline view of notes,
instantaneous note searching, web page cataloging, customizable
categories and more. Also for PC users, ritePen® 2.5 provides
advanced
handwriting recognition, automatically converting handwriting into text
within any Windows® application.
Other Valuable Software Tools
Included
with Graphire Bluetooth
Also included with every Graphire Bluetooth pen tablet
are Corel®
Painter™ Essentials 2 for creating natural media art and organic
effects and nik Color Efex Pro™ 2 GE for selectively applying
photographic enhancements. Additionally, Graphire Bluetooth customers
using Adobe’s free downloadable Acrobat® 7 Reader can mark up
Acrobat
documents with digital ink, if the “Enable for commenting in Acrobat
Reader” feature was turned on when the document was created.
“The Graphire Bluetooth’s new software
is designed to augment the
flexibility and control of our wireless pen tablet,” said Mark Mehall,
Senior Product Manager with Wacom. “Now, Graphire Bluetooth users can
experience the freedom of a wireless device and a great mix of new
applications geared to expand pen input options and make the computer
experience fun, natural and easy.”
Wacom
Graphire Bluetooth 6x8 Tablet
Buy New: $203.99
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November 1, 2005
Wacom® Presents
World’s First Wide-Format Pen Tablet
New Intuos®3 6x11 is Designed for Use with Widescreen Displays and
Dual
Monitors
 Vancouver, WA, Nov. 1, 2005 – Wacom
Technology Corporation’s new
Intuos3 6x11 pen tablet is specifically designed for photographers,
designers and artists who are using multiple monitors or a widescreen
display like the 23” Apple® Cinema HD display. The Intuos3 6x11
features an active area with an aspect ratio (height-towidth) that is a
great match to the screen aspect ratio of either a widescreen display
or two standard displays used together. This provides optimal pen
control and efficient use of the entire tablet.
“With as much as 50% of the creative
community soon using either
widescreens or dual monitors, we’re confident that the Intuos3 6x11 is
going to be very popular,” said Michael Marcum, Wacom’s Director of
Product Management. “The Intuos3 6x11 is really a demonstration of the
importance we place on identifying emerging customer needs and
providing products in a timely way to meet those needs.”
Creative Controls for the Seriously
Creative
The Intuos3
6x11 comes with all the features that have made the Intuos3 line of pen
tablets the de facto standard for the serious photographer, designer
and artist. Intuos3 turns on the full power of Adobe®
Photoshop®,
Corel® Painter™ and over 100 other leading software applications
with
its intuitive controls. Programmable ExpressKeys™ and Touch Strips are
within easy reach for modifier keys, keyboard shortcuts, scrolling,
zooming, controlling brush size and more. The comfortable cordless,
battery-free Grip Pen offers 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity for
superior creative input and, when used alternately with the ergonomic
five-button Intuos3 mouse, reduces repetitive motion. The Intuos3 6x11
has a suggested retail price of $389.95.
Perfect Companion for the Wacom
Cintiq® 21UX
The Cintiq 21UX
interactive pen display (priced at $2499) combines the advantages of an
LCD monitor with the control, comfort, and productivity of Wacom's most
sophisticated patented cordless, battery-free tablet technology. Users
report that working with the pen directly on the screen yields
significant productivity gains. Using the new Intuos3 6x11 with the
Cintiq 21UX lets users navigate seamlessly across multiple monitors
(including the Cintiq) with a single pen.
Valuable Software Included
All Intuos3 pen tablets include
Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 for digital photo editing, Corel Painter
Essentials 2 for creating natural media art, nik Color Efex Pro™ 2 IE
for selectively applying photographic enhancements, and Wacom Brushes 2
for even more brush choices in recent versions of Photoshop and
Photoshop Elements.
|
September 12, 2003
Wacom Intuos2
Tablet
Wacom
Tablets and Adobe Photoshop CS
 There
have been some radical improvements in the Wacom tablet
technology since the last time I owned one. I am at the moment testing
the intuos2
9x12 inch tablet. It is one of those wicked looking 'deep purple'
things.
The overall design of the tablet, the functions, the incredibly precise
and smooth pen, that strange wireless and unpowered mouse, all the new
software functions. I think it could take a long time just to get to
know all the
functions of this device. It sure isn't the
graphics tablet of yesterday.
I tried some free-hand drawing with the tablet and Photoshop CS today
and I was astounded. I think with a little bit of practice any artist
can
get the same feel out of this device as he gets from a pencil and
paper,
there is even a very nifty eraser function on
the end of the pen that allows you to erase just like you would with a
real world eraser. I had not realized that Wacom tablets had changed so
much.
The Wacom tablet I am using at the moment is the 9x12 inch model. At
first I thought it was kind of big, with what seems like a very large
border around the active area but once you get used to it, you
understand why the extra real estate is necessary, it just makes it
more comfortable to use. You can really lean into it just like working
on a drafting table and have a place to overhang and tape your artwork
for tracing.
The 9x12 area is ideal for a 17" monitor and even with the wide screen
of the 17" PowerBook I never seem to run out of room. The mouse has
over 1000 increments of seamless pressure and the overall
responsiveness and accuracy of the tablet has to be experienced to be
appreciated.
I won't go into technical details here (you can find that on the
internet at www.wacom.com) but have to mention that for DSLR
photographers this tablet and Photoshop CS make the job of getting rid
of blemishes, unwanted bits and bobs, and those pesky CCD dust spots a
breeze.
Wacom - http://www.wacom.com |
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