Take Two Tablets and Call Me in the Morning... by Peter Gold
A computer mouse, whether it uses the rolling ball or an optical sensor, is still a crude tool to use when you want to retouch photographs in Photoshop or do freehand artwork in Corel Painter, for instance. When you think about it, in order to get the mouse to move, you are using a variety of muscle groups from your upper arm to your fingers. When you need precision movements, this doesn’t quite work efficiently.
Wacom tablets have been around for close to twenty years and offers the best solution to the above problems. Instead of a mouse, the tablet uses a patented tool shaped like a pen that is held and operated like a pen on the tablet which is mapped out with millions of points corresponding to the points on the computer screen. As you draw on the tablet, you see the exact movement on the screen.
You can achieve much finer movements using the pen which you hold exactly like a pen or a brush. Now it’s wrist movement instead of total arm movement.
If you are retouching an image and you need to do precise work around someone’s eyes, the pen can perform these delicate movements. To compare the precision of the pen to that of the mouse, visualize trying to sign your name with a pen and then with a bar of soap. Which do you think offers the most accuracy? The new Intuos tablets come in four sizes with varying work areas.
They also offer more than ten different buttons that can be programmed to duplicate key strokes, functions, etc. The same buttons can be set to different functions for different programs. If the program allows, the tablet is pressure sensitive, meaning the pen stroke can vary in width depending on the pressure you apply with the pen. If you want to create art with Corel Painter, which offers you unlimited brush dynamics, textures, and color palettes, the pressure sensitivity works well.
Wacom also offers two sizes of Cintiq tablets. These differ dramatically with the Intuos tablets in that the Cintiq tablet is actually a full color LCD computer screen. You work directly on the image. The Cintiq can stand on your desk or sit in your lap. Whatever is more comfortable for you. You actually should try out both the Intuos and the Cintiq tablets before you make your final choice. At The Camera Store in Calgary, we have both styles set up and ready to test out.
You owe it to yourself to check them out. Once you use a tablet, you will wonder how you were able to work on images without one.
Click here to view our selection of tablets.
