subject: Benefits of Wacom Tablets – the Alternative to a Mouse [print this page] If you're a graphic designer working on a program like Photoshop and you're not using a tablet well, then, what exactly are you designing?
Learn this term: Wacom pen and tablet.
Okay, maybe we're being a little harsh. But Wacom tablets are great tools for graphic designers. There are three different tablets that Wacom offers: Bamboo tablets and then the Intuos4 line and Cintiq line. Bamboo tablets are great for home use or office work. The Intuos3 or Intuos4 tablets are best for professional designers using Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. The Cintiq line, the highest end tablet Wacom offers actually has a video display within the tablet itself.
Wacom tablets are great ergonomic alternatives to using a mouse. Tablets can quickly and easily zoom in on a picture, make it smaller, or move through photo albums. Basically, anything you can do on a touchpad with an apple computer or iphone, you can do on Bamboo tablets, except the area of the pad is much larger.
Although you can use a Bamboo pen for basic computer functions, Wacom tablets were designed primarily to be a graphic designer's best friend. The first thing that you're going to notice with Wacom tablets is how sensitive it is to your touch. In fact, they can recognize over 500 levels of pressure sensitivity. If you were drawing in a professional program with a mouse, and wanted to change the opacity levels or thickness of the line you're drawing you'd have to change it with every mouse stroke.However, with Bamboo tablets, all you have to do is vary the pressure of your pen to the pad.
Another great benefit to Wacom tablets is the additional shortcuts you can program into the Wacom pen and tablet. There are programmable buttons on both the pen and tablet, so if you want to preset a certain pen size, invert your colors quickly, or change back to your previous opacity level you can do that!
Wacom Intuos4 tablets were designed to make a graphic designer's job easier and more enjoyable. Nobody wants to draw, then stop and change the computer settings, and then draw for another stroke or two. With these tablets, all you have to do is focus on being creative. And on top of everything else, they are great ergonomic alternatives to a mouse, so you won't have to worry about wrist injury after hours of intense use.
Benefits of Wacom Tablets the Alternative to a Mouse
