Wacom Graphire

A mouse is sometimes inadequate (or creating artwork in programs like Photoshop or Painter. A pen is a more natural fit, especially for anyone with classical art training. The pressure sensitivity that most pens offer allows for more natural drawing motions and allows lines to vary in width as you press with varying pressure.
Wacom’s Graphire tablet aims to be a full mouse replacement system. It includes a pressure-sensitive pen, a mouse with two buttons and a scrollwheel as a third button. Both the pen and mouse are cordless, making them light and easy to use. The supplied mouse never needs cleaning because there is no ball to pick up dust. The three buttons are fully configurable and can easily be set up for left or right-handed use.
The tablet provides an adequate active drawing area of 10 by 13cm and has a clear plastic overlay, which allows you to easily trace from a paper original. It uses a USB interface to connect to the host computer and as a source of power.
The pen has a pressure-sensitive tip, which has 512 levels of pressure, as well as two side buttons and a pressure-sensitive eraser. With the right software, this means you can use your tablet and pen like a conventional pencil with an eraser end.
Installation was easy. It plugged into a USB port, the software was installed and it
worked. Wacom’s drivers and control panels allow full configuration of the tablet, pen and mouse. Wacom also supplies plug-ins for Photoshop and compatible applications called PenToois, which provide extra drawing functions.
MetaCreations’ Painter Classic is also supplied with the tablet, as is ParaGraph’s PenOffice SE for Windows, which has the ability to handwrite and draw notes and diagrams, mark up Microsoft Word documents and create handwritten ‘sticky’ notes.
The USB Wacom Graphire supports both Mac and Windows. A serial version is also available, which can only be connected to Windows PCs.