« Seattle Weblog Meetup February 2004 | Main | BBQ Enterprises, Inc. Is Relocating »
Review : Wacom Graphire Tablets
I am a graphic designer and technical illustrator by trade and one device that I will always have connected to every computer I own until the day I die is a good Wacom Graphics tablet. I own a Wacom Graphire Tablet that set me back a hundred bucks and it just plugs into my USB hub.
A pen based graphics tablet is a mesh of super low powered magnetic sensors in a digital drawing pad that can detect the position, movement and pressure of a pen like stylus. One time I was using one and my little niece asked me if that was my super magical drawing pen. I look at her and told her with confidence "Yes, it is my super magical drawing pen."
As soon as I saw one of these in Jr. High I knew I must have one. I had to sell my Sega CD to save up for an old Macintosh ADB Wacom graphics tablet but the endless time that I spent with it drawing in SuperPaint, Fractal Design Painter and Adobe Photoshop on our massively underpowered Mac LC cemented a life long love of computer graphics and digital art.
What most people do not understand about a graphics tablet is that they are pressure sensitive and you can quickly produce realistic lines and strokes with mind numbing accuracy. With a digital paint program like Painter you can use your tablet and stylus to emulate almost any painting tool an artist could ever want all with the speed of digital images and an undo key. If I had to choose between a set of top of the line acrylic paints and a Wacom tablet I would pick the tablet any day.
This makes drawing complex masks in Photoshop a cinch and once you get used to them you will realize that trying to draw with a mouse is like trying to write a letter with a block of soap. Tablets like there are an essential tool for creating textures and art for PC and video games. Strangely enough BBQ does not like them at all and prefers to draw with a mouse. But this is not the first thing about BBQ that puzzles me.
The technology used to be called digitizer pens because back before the day of photo scanners the only way to get graphical data into a computer was to manually trace it with a digitizer pen. Back in a previous time of employment I used to use a very large Wacom tablet to trace in 2d drawn cartoon art into a PC so it can be reproduced by a laser when I was a laser animator.
There is some very good GUI interface work being done with pen based interfaces such as Tablet PCs, PDAs, special GUI research projects like DENIM, and even pen based handwriting recognition in Mac OSX.
Now it takes a bit of getting used to how you can move the cursor with a pen and you have to draw and not look at the pen as you make your stroke. Wacom tablets deliver pretty good for ergonomics and the software drivers for Wacom tablets have really improved. They automatically scale the aspect ratio and resolutions represented by the tablet to make working with a variety of resolutions and applications seamless.
The entry level Graphire tablet is a respectable hundred bucks and it will last you years. Just throw out the worthless tablet mouse and makes sure you keep good track of the stylus. They are quite a hassle to replace.
There is no real competition for Wacom because they make such a quality product. You can have my Wacom stylus when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
Jake at February 19, 2004 
Reviews
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/cgi-bin/mtype/mt-tb.cgi/540
Comments
Damn right. Ever since I switched to a tablet a year ago, I can never go back to a mouse. And not just for Photoshop and the like, but for every day use -- the only problem is that it's not ideal for FPSes, but I don't play those on the PC anyway and the stylus is perfect for Civ3 and SimCity and the like.
Posted by: n0wak at February 19, 2004 6:19 AM
You are so right about replacing the stylus! mine disappeared when I was moving back to Capitol Hill from West Seattle so now I use the crappy mouse you dislike. I liked having the tablet on my home machine to get a break from using a mouse at work (RSI prevention).
Posted by: Anita Rowland at February 19, 2004 7:43 AM
Tablets are awesome. I have a 12x9 Aiptek Hyperpen ($150) and I love it. Takes so much stress off your wrists.
Posted by: Jay at February 19, 2004 10:34 AM
I was drawin' cartoons with a mouse when your mama was in diapers ya little whippersnapper!
Besides if I need something REALLY precise I'll just draw it on paper and scan it.
Posted by: BBQ at February 19, 2004 5:03 PM
When I first started drawing with a mouse it was really awkward. Eventually I adapted but always wanted to try a tablet.
Although, like BBQ, if I need something very precise I do it on paper and scan it as well. Still like to try one though.
Posted by: jessica at February 20, 2004 7:22 AM
Gawd I've had my tab for a long long time... I use it as a lunch tray, a coffee cup holder, a place to do my homework... a wrist rest when typing on my keyboard, .. Ohh, and I draw with it too!!!
(Wacom Intuos 9x12 Special Edition Refurb XTREME)
Its not about how big it is, its how you can use it.
Posted by: Taij at February 26, 2004 11:33 PM
