A Tablet for the Rest of Us
by Alan Zisman (c) 2001
First published in The
Computer
Paper, December 2001
Affordable Graphire 2 provides
pressure-sensitive drawing tools
While you can create digital artwork from scratch
using software like
Adobe Photoshop, drawing with your mouse on a computer screen lacks the
expressiveness of natural media--of pens and pencils, paintbrushes, and
chalk on real, textured paper. Even software that tries to simulate
natural
media--Procreate Painter, for example--comes up short when used with a
mouse.
Wacom
Graphire2
From: Wacom
www.wacom.com
System requirements: USB-capable PC (Windows 98 or
later) or Mac
(OS 8.5 or later)
Price: $150
If you want to create art on a computer screen, you
really need to throw
away your mouse and replace it with a graphics tablet. Because these
peripherals
are pressure-sensitive, they allow you to draw lines that change over
their
length, just like ink on paper. No more sterile, perfect computer
shapes.
These tablets aren't new; companies like Wacom have
been making them
for more than a decade, with pens for freehand drawing, pucks for
tracing,
and yes, even mice. They've been connected to PCs, Macs, Amigas, Unix
workstations,
and more for artwork and precision computer aided design (CAD)
work.
But for the most part, these were high-end,
professional tools, sold
to a limited audience for a high-end price.
Wacom's new Graphire2 would like to be the graphics
tablet for the rest
of us.
It has an affordable price, and comes in a choice of
iMac-like colours.
Connecting to a computer through a powered USB port, it's compatible
with
recent PCs (Windows 98 or later) and Macs (OS 8.5 through 10.1). Owners
of older Macs and PCs may still be able to find the original
serial-port
model. It includes a cordless, battery-less pressure-sensitive pen
(complete
with digital eraser) and mouse, and comes bundled with PC and Mac
versions
of Adobe Photoshop LE and Corel Painter Classic, so users can plunge
right
into freeing up their artistic souls.
It will also work with any other graphic software,
particularly products
that support pressure sensitivity, a feature that mouse users never
knew
was there. All the Painter tools are pressure sensitive, but so are
several
Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, and CorelDraw tools. In Photoshop, for
instance,
more pressure produces a darker rubber stamp or a fatter stroke. Like
in
the real world, a light touch results in lighter, almost transparent
lines.
While you can
get the same effects by mousing around, the process is hardly
intuitive.
With a graphics tablet and pen, you just draw.
Graphics tablets like the Graphire2 can also be used
with some business
applications. Microsoft's Office XP suite, for example, supports
handwriting
recognition, letting you write with the Graphire's pen onto the tablet
into the new versions of Word and Excel. In PowerPoint, you can write
right
onto presentation slides. Similarly, the latest revision of Adobe
Acrobat
allows for electronic ink on so-called ePaper. With this technology,
you
can mark up
Acrobat documents with Wacom's digital pen.
The tablet's transparent overlay is easily used for
tracing--put a photo
under the cover, trace the outlines, and you're well on your way to
instant
art. The mouse, with three programmable buttons, and a scroll wheel is
a precise, optical model, and connects to the Graphire (and the
computer)
wirelessly, making it the match of standalone models from the likes of
Microsoft and Logitech.
While featuring precise, 1,015 dots per inch (dpi)
resolution, Wacom's
popularly priced Graphire is aimed more at home users and hobbyists
than
at professional artists and CAD-users. That's because of its size: it's
active area of 9.2x12.8 cm (3.65x5 in.) is more like working with a
snapshot
than a full-sized piece of paper.
Of course, Wacom would be happy to help users who need
more. Its Intuos2
product line offers twice the pressure sensitivity (1,024 levels) and
tablets
with active areas ranging from 10x12.7 cm (4x5 in.) to a massive
30.5x45.7
cm (12x18 in.), at prices ranging from $300 to $1,000. Or there's
Cintiq,
which combines an LCD monitor with a graphics tablet--yours for about
$2,900.
But given its limited size, the Graphire2's affordable
price, easy installation,
range of features, and bundled software should make it a fun tool to
help
unlock the inner artist in all of
us..