Wacom's Graphire3 offers non-artists a simple and effective pen-based computing mechanism, and the option of the best wireless mouse we've ever seen. Read our Australian review.While the design community has known about and used pen-and-tablet based computing for a large number of years, it's not been commonplace within the consumer sector. Wacom's Graphire3 aims to introduce consumers to the benefits of pen-based computing. With Microsoft just about to introduce its very tablet-friendly OneNote application, the timing couldn't be better, and for once the hardware does live up to the hype.
Installation of the Graphire3 is exceptionally simple on both the PC and Mac platforms. A driver CD installs the necessary software, the tablet itself plugs into any spare USB port, and additional CDs offer a Wacom-specific version of Procreate Painter Classic and Ulead Photo Express for Wacom, although if you've got any other image software the Graphire3 will work well enough with those applications. Mac and Windows XP users can also use the innate handwriting recognition features in those operating systems with the Graphire3. A quick user tutorial steps you through using and working with the pen and optional mouse, as well as providing a series of tips on optimal pen usage. When not in use, the Graphire3's pen sits in a notch at the top of the tablet. The pen itself is battery-free and quite light. The point performs any given graphical or mousing task, while by default the nub acts as an eraser in graphical applications. A sloped button at the top of the pen can be used for single and double-clicking, as well as serving as a useful guide as to hold the pen.
We tested using the AU$264 6x8" Graphire3 tablet, although those on a stretched budget may also want to consider the AU$135.95 4x5" version. Wacom also offers a wireless mouse that works on the surface of the Graphire3 for AU$26.95, and it's quickly become our favourite wireless mouse. It's not an exceptional design; indeed from a distance it's rather pedestrian, even though Wacom does offer it in colours to match the Graphire3's silver, sapphire and pink styling options. What endears us to it is that it's entirely battery-free. Anyone who's ever used a wireless mouse will have loved it, right up until the time that you ran out of batteries, or the batteries you had leaked into the interior of the mouse. Both of those are conditions that the Graphire3 mouse, by definition, can't suffer from. The Graphire3 mouse is a fairly standard two-button scroll wheel-enabled affair, and while it doesn't work outside the surface of the tablet, this essentially just makes it work like an old-fashioned mousepad. It is possible to navigate and perform any other mousing task with the pen, but that quickly becomes a hit-and-miss affair, especially outside of graphical applications.
One nice touch with the Graphire3 is the ability to personalise your tablet; as it works from an electromagnetic field, it doesn't care whether there is anything in-between, so any printed image of the same size as the tablet can be inserted underneath the plastic cover. With no image in place you'll have a plain plastic tablet in sapphire, silver or pink.
Within a graphical application, like the supplied Procreate Painter Classic or any modern version of Adobe's Photoshop, the pen does take some getting used to, as there's a strong mental disassociation between pressing down and moving around on the tablet with the pen. Having said that, there's simply no comparison between drawing with a pen and attempting to draw with a mouse, and any keen artist should quickly find themselves adapting quickly. The tablet itself is pressure-sensitive and exceptionally responsive to differences in pressure; the difference between a heavy and light brush stroke are very well interpreted and represented.
When using the Graphire3 pen to draw, we did find it handy to have a normal mouse attached as well in order to make menu selections, as it's very easy to 'click' on the wrong spot by putting down the pen incorrectly. If you're very fine-handed, though, this can be minimised as the pen puts up a pointer when it's held millimetres above the tablet itself.
The Graphire3's pricing at either size is quite impressive, and combined with the excellent battery-free mouse, it's a compelling buy, whether you're a keen artist or an untalented but hopeful amateur. It'd also be a great way to entertain small children, as it can act as an essentially endless drawing scrapbook.
Wacom Graphire3
Company: Wacom
Price: 6x8" Graphire3 AU$264, 4x5" Graphire3 AU$135.95 Mouse $26.95
Distributor: Selected resellers
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