Product Review: Page (1) of 2 - 04/10/12

NAB Professional Gear: Wacom

Wacom's Intuos5: Get in touch with your designs By Ko Maruyama

For years, Wacom tablets have dominated the professional market; their name synonymous with responsive, accurate results. The new Intuos5 tablet heralds a new definition for what tablets can be. Not only is this pressure sensitive for your designer needs, but it also boasts a touch capability. Now more than ever, you'll find yourself with your Wacom all day long.

I've been using Wacom tablets and products since my first job as a designer/animator in a professional post production studio, before the Intuos line was launched. I started on a Quantel Hal - a computer that painted and edited video. I later moved up to Quantel Henry, Autodesk Inferno, and finally moved to a desktop supercharged Mac Pro. As computer hardware and software changed, and gave way to more powerful applications, the one thing that remained constant was the Wacom tablet.

Wacom's latest offering is the next generation of tablets for professionals, enthusiasts, and anyone who expects the highest quality of interaction while using a tablet and stylus. Moreover, Wacom has added the ability to use your fingers to drive the cursor, and, with it, multitouch. In addition to touch commands that existed on previous tablets, the Intuos5 offers multitouch commands that are unique to this tablet series.

The importance of the new Wacom Intuos5 is primarily the surface. As with it's predecessor, 2048 levels of pen-pressure sensitivity, the Intuos5 gives designers the range of brush strokes that are needed to create artwork with the fine granular definition that is so important

The last version, the Intuos 4, included a multi-function touch ring which allowed for many more options than the standard express keys, but the ring on the new tablet seems more responsive - or perhaps I'm finally using it correctly. The Intuos5 has an evolved set of express keys. As part of the surface, the area designated for these function keys are now cleanly hidden as subtle indentations.

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