I recently had the opportunity to try out a Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet, having purchased one for my Dad this holiday season. Dad is not a graphics guy by any means, but I use my Wacom tablets for so much more than just drawing and graphics applications - and love it so much - that I thought the Bamboo was a perfect accessory for another ardent computer geek.
In short, the Bamboo is a great entry-level tablet for casual users, but graphic artists will want to seriously consider investing in one of the pricier, but more fully-featured Intuos3 models. Read on for full details.
Continue reading 'Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet: Nice Entry-Level Tool, But Limited'
by George Coghill -
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Although I don’t yet own one, the Wacom Cintiq flat-screen graphics tablets are exceedingly drool-worthy and I will own one in the near future. Everytime I talk to a Cintiq user or read an artist’s blog raving about one it only makes the waiting more difficult.
For those unaware, the Cintiq is a fusion of Wacom’s phenomenal graphics tablets with a flat-screen monitor — allowing one to draw right on the screen. Awesome.
Continue reading 'Wacom Expands Cintiq Line With New (Smaller, Cheaper) Flat Screen Tablets'
by George Coghill -
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Graphics tablet manufacturer Wacom has just released graphics tablet driver Mac OS X software update 6.05-2 for the Intuos, Cintique and Graphire products lines. The new feature included is support for the as-yet unreleased Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, due out in October, as well as other unlisted bug fixes.
Windows driver 6.05-7 update is available for Windows Vista, XP & 2000.
Continue reading 'Wacom Intuos, Cintique & Graphire Driver Updates Released'
by George Coghill -
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Pantone just released a brand new color matching system, touted as a “complement” to the PMS system they’ve used for 45 years. Once Adobe gives it the OK, PMS colors will be out the window. This has been in the works for about 4 years, so it predates the X-Rite buyout.
Supposedly the new numbering system is much more logical and expandable. It even comes with it’s own software now — even those who just opt for the standard fan books. Adobe hasn’t yet embraced the new system, but I can’t see why that won’t happen eventually.
Continue reading 'Pantone Announces New “Goe” Color Matching System'
by George Coghill -
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If any of you are still in the market for a Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet, the company has just announced a special limited edition 25th anniversary lineup. The “special” features are as follows:
• Sophisticated metallic black and gun metal gray color scheme
• Classic Pen in addition to the Intuos3 Grip Pen ($49.95 value )
• Transparent Overlay in addition to the Gray Overlay ($14.00 - $25.00 value; depending on size)
• Professional Accessory Kit ($19.95 value; 5 Standard nibs, 5 felt nibs, 5 Stroke nibs, 5 Flex nibs, an. alternate Pen Grip without side switch holes, 1 nib removal tool, and 1 replacement side switch)
No word on pricing, but you can sign up to get on the list. Ships September 13, 2007. Hard to know if this is a deal, or just a more expensive version with bundled accessories and a different color scheme. Does look cool though.
Personally, I think the new logo is more exciting:
by George Coghill -
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A simple concept: Photoshop keyboard commands & shortcuts printed right on to a super-flexible rubber keyboard protector.
An ingenious idea inspired no doubt by those fancy-schmancy video editing keyboards you see video editors using on the movie behind-the-scenes DVD extras.
Continue reading 'Keyboard Protective Cover With Photoshop Shortcuts'
by George Coghill -
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Wacom has just updated their graphics tablet driver software for Macintosh and the release notes PDF tells us that a new feature has been introduced, “Scroll Click” (my nickname for it). This is an awesome new feature that allows the user to set a pen button to the “scroll click”, and then when pressing that button, you can drag the pen on the tablet to activate scrolling. In addition to this being very cool, it’s a feature that I suggested to the tech & PR departments a few weeks ago, I can’t help but assume this was implemented due to that request. I was initially given a not-so-encouraging response, basically because the Intuos line of tablets has the Touch Strips srcoll/zoom hardware touch-sensitive areas. Of course, their other tablets do not have these.
Continue reading 'Wacom Tablet: Scroll Click'
by George Coghill -
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If you haven’t heard, Adobe announced the imminent relase of Creative Suite 3. Since I spend most of my time in Adobe Illustrator, obviously it’s the software package I am looking forward to most. To be honest I really haven’t dug into the fine details of all the new features in Illustrator CS3, and most of what I know I got from Mordy Golding’s video podcast on the new Illustrator CS3 features over at his Real World Illustrator blog. But there are a few I know about, and boy are they sounding cool. One, in particular, has been a recent pet peeve of mine that has finally been addressed.
Continue reading 'Adobe Illustrator CS3: The Feature I Am Looking Forward To Most'
by George Coghill -
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Adobe has this new online tool for creating color themes, Kuler that is not only really useful, but fun (at least for us color geeks). You can save and share your color themes with other visitors, and even rate them. And for you OS X 10.4 people out there, be sure to snag the Kuler Dashboard Widget. There are also RSS feeds of Popular, Highest Rated and Newest themes and other cool goodies offered here. If you’ve ever used a digital color wheel before, this one is pretty similar. And really well done.
The real hook is browsing through the other color themes and being able to save and share them with like-minded others out there. You get the whole shebang: RGB, HEX, CMYK & LAB values as well as all sorts of models to choose from: Analagous, Complimentary, Triad etc. The Dashboard Widget even has a button to plop the HEX values to your Clipboard.
I’ve just started to play around with this myself, but there’s just about no learning curve, so get on over to Kuler and start Kulerin’!
by George Coghill -
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I have been holding off on writing up a review of the Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet until I had a chance to work with them for some time and really get a feel for real-world usage, particularly for cartoonists & illustrators. Oddly enough I had a hard time finding an in-depth review specifically geared towards artists that draw. There were some big questions that needed to be answered, most importantly that of how the Wacom tablets worked with Adobe Illustrator. Continue reading 'Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators'
by George Coghill -
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