Wacom Graphics Tablet GRAPHIRE3 CLASSIC
Another birthday had come around - and they do seem to come around very quickly these days - and my wife asked me what I thought I would like. "Dunno," I replied. "Let's go and look in the computer shop."
After being dragged away from the latest and fastest PC's with sleek TFT monitors, my better-half directed my attention to a range of graphic tablets. I had toyed with idea of getting one before when I'd seen them magazines, but now seeing them "in the flesh" the prospect looked even more inviting.
Great! I thought, no more fiddling around doing intricate adjustments to my photos with an unwieldy mouse! I couldn't wait to get it home and try it out. But I was to be disappointed. I was to wait 2 days for my birthday to arrive! Oh well, fair's fair.
In the box was the graphic tablet itself together with a wireless pen and cordless mouse - the latter of which was a little on the small side, but seeing I already had, on a previous birthday, a large tracker-ball mouse, I wasn't particularly worried.
Two CDs were also supplied, one with the driver for the graphics tablet and the other contained an art program called Procreate Painter Classic together with Acrobat Reader in case you didn't already have it loaded on the computer.
I plugged the graphic tablet into my USB port and was amazed when both the mouse and pen moved the pointer around the screen without loading the driver disk. But I do have Windows XP and it seemed to recognise the hardware. However, I put the driver disk in anyway and it auto started. After following on-screen instructions, another window popped up telling me the driver was loaded. The pen and the Wacom mouse worked fine, but the mouse only worked when placed on the tablet (it suppose to do that). It also felt very small in my hand but does have the conventional two buttons and a central wheel. Preferring my own mouse it was put back in the box and hasn't been used since.
The pen is good. It fits comfortably between the fingers like a fat fountain pen and it is easy to use because there are no cables or wires hanging from it to get in the way. It is also touch sensitive - drawing with a lighter touch, produces finer lines and press a little harder and you get thicker ones - just like an ordinary pen, pencil or crayon. Another use for the pen that I hadn't thought of, was that of signing your signature (in "real" writing) saving it as a jpeg/tiff file, that could then be inserted into an e-mail or other word processor document.
The buttons on the pen work similar to that of an ordinary mouse but are a little small and fiddly, but after using it for a while I soon got used to them. One problem I found though was that whilst you could access the menus at the top of a document, the pointer moved very slowly - but really it has to, because it is to be used for smaller intricate work. My roller-ball mouse is permanently connected, so I tend to access all menu functions with that.
Another thing that takes a bit of getting used to, is the way the pointer moves around the work area - this could be a photo or blank canvass. You have to position the pointer where you want it on the item you are working on by moving it across the pad, then lift the pen completely off and move it above where you want it on the pad, before touching down - this gives you more room on the pad to manoeuvre when working. This is because the pad is so much smaller than the screen you are working on. A little bit of experimentation and practice and I was using it like a master.
At the top of the pad, clips a pen-holder which I got no end of problems with because I kept knocking the pen out of it, so I tended to lay it flat on the pad when I wasn't using it. But that's my own clumsiness I think.
At the other end of the pen itself is what looks like an eraser but it's plastic, and that's exactly what it does when you turn the pen upside down - it erases any mistakes you have made.
Procreate Painter Classic (by Corel)
Available from Amazon the Graphire comes packed with Software (procreate Painter Classic by Corel and it is worth giving this software a mention.
Installing the program was easy by just putting the CD in the drive, and following the instructions. At the end of the installation, you can register the software on line to receive hints/tips and upgrades etc. But seeing I am no artist and wouldn't be using it very often, I clicked on "Remind me later" - not wanting to close all my options.
On opening the program, I was faced with a grey, blank screen with the usual menu functions at the top. I then went into "File" then "New" and another smaller window popped up defaulted to 500 X 500 pixels and 720dpi, paper colour white, each of chich could be altered by clicking in the respective box. I just clicked OK and up popped a white canvass, which I could draw on with the pen.
Across the top was all the menu commands - File, Edit, Effects, Canvass, Select, Window and Help. I moved across to Window and selected - Brushes. This opened another small window. (All open windows could be moved wherever I wanted it for convenience). I clicked on the "pen" icon, and did a bit of scribbling, and save it as a jpeg which I have included below. You can also load an ordinary photograph into this program.
This got me wondering if the pen would work in my Photo program, so I loaded that and opened a blank page and sure enough, the pen would draw and erase in exactly the same way as it had in Procreate Painter Classic.
Finally, there is one more problem. There is no fat, hard copy user manual with the equipment, just a "quick start" booklet. But there is a very extensive manual if you select Help from the Procreate Painter Classic menu.
Since I got the graphic tablet in October (2004) I have used it about a dozen times, when I've needed to do intricate work with my photographs, such as removing red-eye, or using it to select small areas that needed lightening or darkening. Whether that little use justifies the cost of the price tag it carries (£49.96 at the time of writing), is a matter of individual choice, but if you are artistic and interested in creating clip art or something similar, I would say the tablet is a great gadget to own.
If you have any questions about any products on this site, please to email me and I will do my best to help you.
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