Does anyone use a Wacom graphire tablet? Does it need a 120v connection or is it powered through the USB port?
Thanks!
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
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Does anyone use a Wacom graphire tablet? Does it need a 120v connection or is it powered through the USB port?
Thanks!
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
Does anyone use a Wacom graphire tablet? Does it need a 120v connection or is it powered through the USB port?
Thanks!
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
Is it any good?
Regards - Sean
I've got one and it is powered by the USB port
Yes - it is good. Not as fancy as the intuos or others but having a mouse as well is really handy.
My only niggle is that the thing seems a bit slow/hesitant when lots of processor activity is happening. (PIII 450 128 MB win98 should be enough). I'm going to upgrade to Win2000 and see what happens.
Cheers
James
<font face="dom casual, verdana>James</font>
I don't have a Graphire or Win 2000, but upgrading to Win 2K (which is the latest version of NT) is likely to slow everything down. Windows ME might improve on 98, but the differences will be small.
Regards - Sean
I upgraded to Windows 2000 to get USB working. It is a darn sight slower than NT 4.0 was.
Of course, I have a Cyrix 300 processor so I'm hardly on the bleeding edge. I have an AMD K6-2+ 500MHz coming that should really improve speed around here.
I would also recommend 256MB. I have 160MB RAM, and memory frequently dwindles to 12-18MB free for me.
I think I'll have to get me one for my new laptop then. My Wacom 9X12 has been great for my desktop but I didn't want something I had to plug in for the portable
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
I bought a Graphire today and it works great with the laptop. It's nice not having to plug it in!
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
Great - I hope X comes out soon so you (and I) can use that pressure sensitivity.
James
<font face="dom casual, verdana>James</font>
I've got an old Pentium Pro 200 w/ 64mb and NT4 workstation. It is a pig, even with all SCSI drives. I swear it takes ten minutes just to boot. Installing 128mb didn't seem to make much difference. It just sucks. It's used for network backups and burning CDs, but that's about it.
I've got W2K Pro installed on one machine so far, a PII-400 with 256mb, and it FLIES. It boots up faster than my identical computer with Win98SE (granted, the 98 machine has a whole lot more crap installed).
So as usual, YMMV... give yourself some RAM and a new fast hard drive and your W2K installation should be nice and speedy. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
Dennis, James and anyone with a Graphire
I need a new mouse and, for obvious reasons, I'm thinking about getting my first tablet in the near future. The Graphire seems to fit the bill, but I'm concerned that the seemingly good idea of combining the two functions will result in poor performance in either or both. For example, is the mouse good enough for everyday use on a main work station and what does the tablet lack in terms of usability? All information will be gratefully received. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Regards - Sean
Sean, I haven't really used it (the Graphire)enough to be much of an expert. I bought it solely to use with my laptop. The mouse is nice but with the stylus, I don't know if I would use it much. I have a 9 X 12 Wacom that I've used with my desktop and it has worked flawlessly for about 3 years, wouldn't trade it for anything.
From first looks on the Graphire though, it looks like it will live up to the Wacom name!
I have an MS optical mouse on my desktop too and it has been great as well.
On most projects I would be lost if I had to use the mouse alone. There is so much more control with the stylus. It even came with Painter Classic, all for about $100 US
Also, you can use a serial or PS/2 mouse at the same time as the tablet, so you can have the best of both worlds!
Hope that answered some of your questions.
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
[This message was edited by Dennis Cox on August 25, 2000 at 10:47 PM.]
Sean.. I bought a wacom tablet the same time I bought my first computer in 97 because I'm used to drawing and it seemed the logical thing. I generally use the tablet more than the mouse still, as I'm mostly drawing. But when doing other tasks in xara etc, and searching and clicking on files in explorer I use the mouse. Main problem is the small size of the pen, which is like using a biro with little buttons on the side, and difficult to use in windows industrial tasks.
I use an intuos tablet as well at my university job, and this pen is more ergonomically designed, ie: fatter. But still the mouse wins when double-clicking files, moving them around etc. The main benefit I guess is in the way you have to use your hands differently using both products. Also, I've got into the habit of using both the mouse and pen with my left and right hands to avoid OOS, which I got a bit of a couple of years ago but now gone, probably due to switching hands etc. However my handwriting with an ordinary pen is now illegible, but this may be an unrelated problem..
One thing I'm interested in is the sensitivity of the pen stroke in different programs and I hope xara x improves on this. Drawing is ok but not as smooth and responsive as Illustrator, and selecting/creating new points using the pen is an exquisite exercise in frustration sometimes.. so this is where I grab the mouse (recently destroyed a mouse and threw it out the window after the exquisiteness became rage.. I suppose it should be the pen, but I cant do without it) Xara X will hopefully return me to the meek, patient being I once was..
Q.
http://www.Qdesign.co.nz
I recently read an article about Win(ME) that proved through thorough testing it is not faster, but instead SLOWER than Win98 (3 to 10% in most operations). Only marginal improvements were noticed in the OS's functionalities and handling of various sys ops.
It was suggested that staying with Win98 (1 or 2) was the way to go.
Sorry if this post is too late for anyone expecting Win(ME) to improve their situation. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
BTW: all my friends at the Trekie convention said that "more powa" could be gained by hooking up to bio-neural gel packs through the maximus glutas region would do the trick. But we'll have to wait another 300 years or so for that kind of technology. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]
Mark (aka theKeeper)...
[This message was edited by theKeeper on August 27, 2000 at 03:50 AM.]
In my experience, the real pro of the Graphire mouse is that it's wireless. No cord to get in the way.
The only time I've ever needed a regular mouse is when I've played certain games. I rarely play computer games, but I went through a Doom/Quake stage. During this time, I found it was difficult to use the Graphire mouse, because it doesn't have a wheel, like a normal mouse.
In those 3D games, you often want to "run" down a long corridor. With a regular mouse, you can role forward, slightly lift the mouse (in place), and then role forward again--MOVING a great distance without rolling your mouse a great distance. This is hard to do without a wheel. I don't know if this "problem" could effect other--non-game- applications, but it's something to keep in mind.
At work, I have an old Calcamp Creation Station, which is essentially the same thing as a Graphire (it comes with a pen and a wireless mouse).
At home, I have a Graphire plugged into one of my USB ports and a standard mouse plugged into the serial mouse-port. I find that the standard mouse is just a tiny bit easier to use. Nowadays, standard mouses (mice?) are pretty cheap, so it's worthwhile remembering that you CAN have your cake and eat it too.
Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }
>> all my friends at the Trekie convention said that "more powa" could be gained by hooking up to bio-neural gel packs through the maximus glutas region would do the trick. But we'll have to wait another 300 years or so for that kind of technology. <<
It is already available at most any drug store, it's called Preperation H, a high teck dispensor is not available at this time.
I just started shopping for
a tablet and in case anyone
is interested, onvia.com has
the graphire 4x6/painter classic
bundle for 79.00 with free
shipping. Best price Ive seen
yet.
And for some strange reason the
latest color, graphite, is even
cheaper at 74.92
Kevin
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]
[This message was edited by Kevin N. on August 27, 2000 at 08:58 PM.]
That is a good price! I paid $99 at CompUSA. Shipping was free there too, except for the gas to drive there and back......
Even at $99, it's well worth the price and I'm growing attached to the mouse too!
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
A few things
The graphire mouse is constrained by the size of the graphire "pad" which is smaller than some mouse mats. So if you like to use big mouse movements you'll have to adapt.
I always had a wireless mouse (I have had six of them but the first five were Genius IR rodents that all died within 2 months) and my old logitech wireless mouseman bit the dust (or is that cheese) this very weekend. It is hard to go back to a cabled mouse but the graphire mouse is fine when you adapt to it and I don't think I'll need to replace the logitech.
One good thing. I upgraded to Win2K this weekend and I'm impressed. It is no slower than win 98 - perhps faster but the slight hesitancy I noted above is gone so graphire and Win2K is a definate plus.
So looks like we Xara folks will be keeping Wacom in business. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
<font face="dom casual, verdana>James</font>
For all of you, waiting with that pile of money ... Have you ever seen Wacom's LCD panels? http://www.wacom.de/Products/LCD_tab...0_features.gif Just think about it. Drawing directly on X's canvas ... I've tried it one and a half year ago and I'm completely sold. They're expensive so I'm still saving
How much does that thing cost ?
If i need to ask, i suppose i cant' afford it:-(
Just got a Graphire Tablet (USB), absolutley fantastic. Don't know how i managed this long without one.
M.
Well i've tried the Graphire pad/mouse... and my final thoughts are that the pad/pen part is very functional. The mouse on the other hand... bites!
Even at the fastest setting it's slow as molasses! I have to pick it up and move it just to move the cursor across my entire screen; and i only have 1024 res! Aaaagh! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]
I see no real functionality with that mouse at all... i like the attempt made with the wireless part, very cool, but the "mechanics" of it need some more work. Good luck Wacom!
BTW: i have a Logitec Optical; just came out recently. VERY cool, especially compared to MS's clunky optical mice. They ALWAYS make those damn pads on the bottom WAYWAYWAAAY too big! Aaaagh! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]
Logitec makes theirs VERY tiny, and it looks like they even use a different type of plastic (a harder one), so there's much less friction and a smoother 'ride' on the pad - which for doing minute movements creating selections, etc is a 'must have' if you ask me. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
I've had both the MS opticals and just don't like 'em. Owell!
Mark...
and you won't have to pick up the mouse to get from one side to the other.
I really like my MS optical mouse, it's an extremely smooth ride and has worked flawlessly!
Dennis [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
No one has mentioned a fantastic feature of Wacom tablets. You can buy multiple pens and customize each one so that it has a specific functionality in a specific application. For instance, you could make pen #1 be the paintbrush in Photoshop and pen #2 be the airbrush and pen #3 be the pencil. (Or you can assign a specific color to each pen--whatever...)
I saw this demonstrated once, and it really felt like traditional artists tools. The Wacom guy had a bunch of pens laid out on the table, and instead of clicking various buttons in the application, he picked up different pens to do different tasks.
I realize that this sort of thing is not for everybody, but if you're a bit of a luddite at heart, it's pretty cool.
As far as I know, it only works with the Intuos--unless I am missing something about my Graphire.
Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }
<blockquote>Graphire mouse is "Cheezy"</blockquote>
Thank you to everyone that gave me the benefit of their experience. It's a pity you didn't post your comments a couple of days earlier, Mark, because I placed an order on the strength of all the previous glowing reports :-( It seems like I'll have to use my ingenuity to find a workaround, although Dennis may have already done that. I'll report back when it arrives next week.
Regards - Sean
Sean,
The mouse on the graphire is OK.
PLus you can still use your normal mouse as well :-)
(not on the tablet, thought i should note that. Just in case people think it can be. But I'am sure people would.nt. I think I'll shut up now.. ;-) ))
Both seem to co-exist happily on my machine.
Regs.
M.
I also bought the Graphire on the strength of the comments here.I feel like I'm drawing with a broken straw in sand. The 3 programs I've tried it with-PSP6,Adobe LiveMotion,& Xara 2 don't support pressure sensitivity & don't seem to integrate with the Pen Tools,either.
Does anyone have any suggestions to get some enjoyment out of this expenditure?
Like some pen exercises or something that will help me get ready for Xara X?
P.S.-I'm not an artist like you guys
Robin,
You caused me a brief moment of distress when you said PSP didn't have pressure sensitivity. I thought, "It doesn't, how could they do that? I thought the users had begged for pressure sensitivity"
I remember reading here at I-US the PSP 5 users begged and for and then they cheered when JASC PaintShopPro 6 came out with pressure sensitivity.
I don't know if they have an international version that is different from my version 6 but here is what the help section had to say: (by the way, I found it under "tablet" I didn't even look under "pen")
Paint Shop Pro allows you to use a pressure-sensitive tablet with a digitizing pen or other input device. The preferences for a tablet are changed on the Cursors and Tablet tab of the Tool Options palette.
Select the "Vary opacity" check box to have the pressure of the input device control opacity of the brush. Select the "Vary color" check box to have the pressure of the input device determine whether to apply the foreground or background color. Select the "Vary width" check box to have the pressure of the input device control the width. The width will vary from 1 pixel up to the value you have selected for that brush in the Tool Options palette.
Virginia See, Jasc Software, Inc.
I went and tried it out -- it worked very well, actually. I hope you can find it too.
Athena
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
I don't know what people expect in a $99 tablet....an Intuos? I spent $350 on my Wacom 9 X 12 four years ago. The last time I bought a cheaper tablet was a CalComp at a closeout and it needed to be closed out. It needed batteries and a 120v connection.
What is so terribly wrong with the Graphire? For what I do, it was a God-send!
Dennis
<a href=http://www.inconnect.com/~dennisco/>Carillus Design</a>
There's a page here which lists software compatible with Wacom pressure sensitivity and other features (specifically Intuos, but I assume it applies to the Graphire as well) . According to that and the help file, PSP 5 should work too, however I'm looking forward to trying the Graphire with Satori and Painter.
Satori is a very sophisticated and responsive paint program with vector-like resolution independence and editability. Painter is a program I always wanted but didn't think was worth the money until I got a tablet. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it since it comes with the tablet and presumably works well with it.
Regards - Sean
Robin, don't feel bad--graphics tablets can be frustrating at first, but there IS a light at the end of the tunnel.
I've been using a tablet for so long, it's hard for me to remember my first experience with one, but I do remember being disappointed. It looked just like a pen, so I figured that it would work just like one. But with a pen, you're drawing directly on the PAPER. With a tablet, you're drawing on a piece of plastic--only the lines don't show up on the plastic, they show up on the screen (which isn't even close to the pen).
This seemed less strange after a few hours, and now I don't even notice the discontinuity. So just stick with it and keep playing! You'll get better and better with it, I'm sure.
Sean, I love Painter. I wish I could afford the latest version. I also really like Deep Paint, which does a lot of what painter does, but it also acts a Photoshop plugin.
Marcus Geduld
{ email me } { visit me }
Thanks for the encouragement.
Athena-thanks,I had disabled the pressure sensitivity in the small palette when I installed PSP6.(never dreaming I would one day have a tablet)! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
I just purchased the Wacom Graphire and it works great so far. I can sketch quite easily in Photo-Paint and am REALLY looking forward to Xara X to try it out there!
http://www.hogarth.com/images/inf_off_sword_1796.gif
I'll have to do practicing to get the same control as my pen & ink drawings on paper but I'm getting there. Practice makes perfect [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]
The only problem I'm having is when the driver is installed my internet connection seems slower than a 14.4, even though my connection says I'm connected at 57600 [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] I've downloaded and installed the new driver that was dated May, 2000 from product support at Wacom's website but it had no effect on the problem. I have it connected to a serial port and there should't be a conflict with my modem as my tablet is on COM1 and the modem on COM3. But I don't know too much about how these things work. I figure I'm lucky to know a bit about how to use the this beast, let alone how it's put together [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
My current work-around is to uninstall the driver and reboot. I then cancel the new hardware dialog box. This means that when I want to use the tablet I have to reboot and install the driver. Not perfect but I have to work on the net too.
Has anyone else had this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Cat =^..^=
Have a peek at your Control panel, system, device manager, port properties, sometimes installing new software will change the bit rate setting
Cat
Com1 and Com3 share the same interrupt. This could have been OK with a normal mouse driver, but it may be necessary to move one of the items to Com2 or Com4.
Regards - Sean
Thanks Sean,
I have no idea what an interupt is (other than that my Mother told me not to ;-) but I turned off the computer, moved the thing to the next serial port (thank goodness it was empty), reloaded the driver and VOILA....the thing works like a charm! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Now all I need to do is learn how to draw [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]
Marcus,
Regarding your message about the games
The cordless mouse I have with my tablet has a wheel on it. I don't do many internet games, (other than a good game of backgammon now and then) so I don't know of any applications where I would use it.
Other than that, my Logtech tracking ball mouse is still doing it's job as well so I doubt I would use the one with the tablet.
Cat =^..^=
I have just ordered a 9x12 Intuos tablet and this will be my first experience with a cordless mouse/pen/tablet etc.
I read somewhere recently that the mouse and pen get their power from the tablet. Firstly not being at all technical I didn't realise a mouse or pen needed any power and secondly can anyone tell me how this works and ... is this safe?
(Probably being a bit of a technophobe here but having an overdeveloped imagination, there's me thinking not sure about all that electricity bouncing around on the tablet. Mindyou I expect it is miniscule).
I hope to get a lot more usability with a tablet as a mouse isn't very acurate to use for drawing freehand etc.
Any info would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Su
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
The ArtPad II (quite a classic nowadays) draws it's current from an external adaptor. The lead plugs directly in the back of the serial port connector. I had a Genius Tablet before aquiering the Wacom which drew it's power from the keyboard connector by means of a plug-through
well, in reference to an earlier query about any tips worth knowing about using a graphics tablet, I offer my one and only..
trouble with the graphics tablet compared to drawing on paper, canvas etc is the slickness of the plastic surface, as I like to feel feedback from the surface I draw on; so I drop a piece of inkjet paper shiny side up and hold it on the surface with my thumb oftentimes when drawing, otherwise every little shake becomes a mistake -'slipsliding away..' as the song goes.. and I was forever holding down the shift key and erasing lines, as I have never had a steady hand. Very useful when tracing complex images, like a complete map of the regions of New Zealand that I'm doing right now. -well, when not goofing off in X-zone that is.
Means you wear out the tips quicker, but like pencils, they're cheap to replace.
Once you start drawing in xara with a pen, the transparency tool to name only one -coupled with ctrl-shift-V, makes you realise there's a whole world beyond oils and felt tips..
I'm buying a Thinkpad to go mobile and want a new tablet so I can give my old one to my artistic daughters, so I've read the reviews of the Graphire with interest. But I'll go for an Intuos 4x5. (and a disposable mouse.. )
Q.
I just received this comment from Xara
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> You can set the scaling and transparency to be pressure sensitive in the edit brush strokes dialog. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
WebXealot 17, due out when I return from the CorelWorld Conference on Friday, will cover the Freehand and Brush Tool in the ongoing OnLine Manual for Xara X.
Gary
Gary Priester
Moderator Person
Be It Every So Humble...