My favorite toy.
Written: Mar 18 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Powerful, flexible, intuitive, fun.
Cons: None I've noticed.
The Bottom Line: If you like drawing, and you like computers: get this tablet.
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| xuvetyn's Full Review: Wacom Intuos Tablet Series |
I call it a "toy" in the opinion title only because I play with it so much, not because it's a dinky child's plaything. It's definitely more than that: its precision, versatility and ease of use means that I would recommend it to a professional as well as someone just wanting some fun (and willing to pay the price.)
How I got my tablet: I went out to Fry's Electronics to buy myself a birthday present. I hadn't the slightest idea what, though, until my fiance suggested a graphics tablet. I'd tossed the idea around of buying one in the past but it had escaped my mind.
I'm an amateur artist. I can draw but I rarely do, for some reason. Since I spend most of my time on my computer, a graphics tablet would be a great way for me to start drawing more often, and mess around with painting which I've never done. And although I wouldn't have the pleasure of creating a tactile, physical drawing or painting, I would at least save a bundle on paints and paper.
Fry's didn't have a large number of options, but of those presented, the Wacom Intuos USB 4x5 tablet seemed best. It offered the most pressure sensitivity (1,024 levels) and was small enough to work with my limited desk space at home. The price was $179. That's also the price currently listed on the Wacom website, so I imagine with some digging it could be had for less.
I took it home and installed it quickly with no glitches. It probably took about .05 milliseconds. Ok, a little longer, but not by much. It also came with software to configure, among other things, its pressure sensitivity (it does this in a smart way, by having you draw in a small square at your natural pressure then adjusting itself to work with you), what the switch on the pen does, what the "QuickPoint" areas on the tablet do, etc. It also came bundled with Corel's Painter Classic which is a limited version of Painter (used to be Fractal Design Painter), and a set of PhotoShop/Painter plug-ins called PenTools, which include an airbrush, a chiseler, and other nice tools.
I was hit with a hurdle when Painter Classic would freeze right after opening, although I did get it to work later. That's ok, I have Photoshop and a couple other graphics programs. I took the tablet in there, and started scribbling away. I think I was using it for several hours without pause. The word for it, I think, is FUN. It is so immensely enjoyable to be able to switch colors, opacity and pen/brush sizes and apply filters easily and quickly. The headaches of working with a physical medium are simply gone. If I want to erase something, I can make the pen into an eraser the exact size I want, and erase the exact amount that I want. Unbelieveable after spending so much time wrestling with a clunky mouse.
The pen isn't as ergonomically thrilling as they claim on the packaging, but it's solid and nice enough. I still haven't found a good use for the 2-button "DuoSwitch" on the body of the pen, near the nib. It feels a little too loose, and I often hit it accidentally. No complaints with the feel other than that DuoSwitch. It comes with a solid little stand to rest it in. I do like the eraser function, where you can turn the pen around and use the other end as an eraser. Some graphics programs will immediately recognize that it's an eraser - in others, like Painter Classic, it will just treat it as if it were a second pen and save whatever function you last had it assigned as. So you could have the regular nib end be an oil paintbrush, then flip it around and have the eraser end be a charcoal pencil.
As for the tablet itself, the size is perfect for me. If I need to work on something in more detail than the 4x5 size will allow, I just zoom in with the program. I use it in conjunction with a laptop, and it is light enough to rest on top of the laptop keyboard without depressing any keys, yet does not feel cheap or flimsy at all. The tablet has built-in "QuickPoint" areas, which are defined by a row of drawn-in function keys at the top. You know, F1, F2, F3, so forth. You can use the Tablet software to set what each of those do. I rather like this - I have one area set for "Undo" and another for "Redo" - I use these quite a lot! You can also use the regular mouse (or in my case, the trackpoint) while the tablet is plugged in.
You can see a sampling of what I've created using the Intuos tablet on my webpage: http://www.sixthsun.com/~maya/scribbles.html. Since I'm no professional, it probably isn't the best thing for showing you what the tablet can do. But I think you can at least see there how much the products of the Intuos tablet and the Painter software resemble real paints and pencils. Despite the fact that a pen will never feel like a large sable brush loaded with creamy paints, or a piece of gritty black charcoal, its pressure-sensitivity creates an amazing tactile feel nevertheless. When using it in pen or pencil mode, it's hard to tell the experience from the real thing.
The price I paid for this tablet is nothing compared to what I get out of it. I draw a LOT more than I did before I got it, and it's even inspired me to start painting with real oils and canvas because I liked the results on my computer screen. I feel confident that it's not going to break on me anytime soon, and I'll get many hours of use out of it in the future.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 179
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Epinions.com ID:
xuvetyn
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Location: Portland, OR
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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