Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet
posted Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 by Jason Eaton
When it comes to input devices, it’s hard to be sexy and even harder to be innovative. And while some companies have focused on delivering mice in every form factor from the sublime to the bizarre, only one input company has focused exclusively on the highly specialized, but vital to those who need one, graphics tablet: Wacom Technology.
I just finished taking Wacom’s latest professional-grade graphics tablet for a test drive – the Intuos3 widescreen tablet. And I’m here to tell you it’s hard to imagine a better input device for a graphic artist.
Specifications. The whole point of a graphics tablet is to simulate, as close as possible, the experience of putting pencil to paper or brush to canvas. And while the Intuos3 still can’t recreate the smell of oil-based pigments, in all the ways that count this graphics tablet delivers the most realistic feel for direct input of freehand art I’ve ever experienced.
The tablet I tested measured 16.5 x 10.3 x 0.6 inches with an active input area of 6 x 11 inches, encased in a delightful bluish graphite plastic shell. The Intuos3 comes in sizes ranging from 4 x 6 inches to a massive 12 x 19 inches.
The tablet feels wonderful to the touch, and looks flat-out sexy on the desk (admit it – this is important to you). For the bulk of my tests, the Intuos3 was plugged into a 12-inch G4 Powerbook, but also spent a week hooked up to a dual-core G5. Of course, I prefer the G5 rig, but the tablet worked amazingly well with my good ‘ole Powerbook.
The Intuos3 ships with a pen and mouse. The mouse seems to work like a mouse should, but for my test drive I focused on the pen.
The pen boasts 1,024 pressure levels and resolution of 5,080 lines per inch, with a data rate of 200 pps, a tilt range of plus or minus 60 degrees. It also offers accuracy of plus or minus .01 inches, for those androids in our audience who can actually discern such miniscule differences.
For the rest of us, all that data adds up to a pen that is perfectly precise, can take advantage of a whole range of motions from the hand or wrist, and, depending on how hard you bear down, mimics brushes, pencils, and pens when you draw or paint.
Intuition. Loading the software was a breeze, and the brushes I used in Adobe Photoshop CS2 proved to be a satisfying experience, with many variations to choose from. Although for our tests we didn’t try Corel Painter, the Intuos3 proved to be very intuitive within Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator CS2.
Which brings me to an important point: I have been a professional graphic designer for almost ten years. In that time, I’ve used a graphic tablet on a handful of occasions but for the most part have stuck to the mouse (or laptop trackpad when “roughing it.”) I’ve hand-drawn or painted art that was later scanned into the computer for further manipulation. Having used the Intuos3 for the last month, I can now see myself moving to an exclusively digital environment with minimal fuss.
I was really impressed with how well the pen responds to hand movements and how it “knew” what I wanted it to do. Flip the pen over for an eraser (clever!), and use the rocker buttons on the side for shortcuts. Speaking of which, there are three programmable buttons and a scroll-strip on each side of the tablet’s working area, which I found immediately useful.
No matter how fast I worked the pen, mouse, buttons, and tablet itself kept up. There was no lag time, no skipping, and no moments of unresponsiveness that would indicate a loss of sensitivity. Sure, it takes getting used to, coming from a traditional work environment with brush and paper. But once your hand and brain get acclimated to looking at the screen as your hand draws on the tablet, and once you get the hang of the pen’s controls, you’ll find that working with the Intous3 is second nature – the mark of a truly great tool. Working on an Intuos3 is time well spent, with no wasted effort in getting hardware to perform. It just works.
Once I got the tablet configured, I could connect, disconnect and reconnect it without a hitch. I can see switching over to the tablet and doing away with a mouse completely, as my clicking, double-clicking, and dragging and dropping skills (with the pen) improve. I was recently in Japan (see American Otaku) and spent the day with an artist who does just that. His Wacom tablet and a keyboard are his sole input devices; he uses Painter and Photoshop to do all of his work. Watching him navigate through layers of nested files with the speed of a mouse user demonstrated to me just how powerful an input device the Wacom Intuos3 truly is, once you get the hang of it.
Geek-o-Meter: If you’re a graphic artist, I highly recommend picking an Intuos3 in whatever size fits your needs. It is a completely viable, rock-solid, and versatile tool. I’m always looking for the “next great important creative tool” to add to my computer arsenal, and the Intuos3 is here to stay! I give it a 9 on the Geek-o-Meter.
Street Price: $369.95
The Specs
- Tablet dimensions: 16.5″ x 10.3″ x .6″
- Active area: 6″ x 11″
- Pressure levels: 1024
- Resolution: 5080 lpi
- Max. data rate: 200 pps
- Accuracy: +- .01″
- Tilt range: +-60º
For More Information
