Wacom Graphire 4 X 5 USB Tablet with Cordless Mouse & Pen (Blueberry)

by Wacom

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004YKIA
• Item model number: ET45UBLUE
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Wacom Graphire tablet, with its patented cordless mouse and pen, brings a new level of freedom and innovation to the world of graphical input. Boasting a resolution of 1,015 lines per inch, the high-precision Graphire mouse works on the active surface of the tablet--without cords, batteries, or trackballs. Its ambidextrous design, three programmable buttons, and a scroll wheel with adjustable speed settings let you personalize your mouse for maximum efficiency.

Bundled with six graphics-oriented applications and including a transparent overlay for easy tracing, the Graphire tablet with the pressure-sensitive pen lets you draw a sketch, add a note to an e-mail, edit photos, or simply sign your name. The pen also features two programmable side switches and a pressure-sensitive eraser. A removable pen stand at the top of the tablet holds the pen when not in use.

Compatible with both PCs and Macs, the Graphire tablet connects via cable to either a USB or serial port and comes with a one-year warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential addition for your graphics apps., May 31, 2001

By 

S Smyth (Belfast, Co Antrim United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wacom Graphire 4 X 5 USB Tablet with Cordless Mouse & Pen (Blueberry) (Personal Computers)

Wacom's Graphire consists of a pen with a selection rocker, an active surface on which you draw, and a two-button wheel-mouse. The mouse works okay, but I find my normal track-ball mouse more manageable because of the poor quality glide action of the Wacom's mouse on the tablet's surface. Perhaps this could be overcome by bonding a thin layer of some velvety type material to the mouse's base, but it hardly seems worthwhile unless you really need to. What you buy this guy for is the pen.

For a lot of graphics work a mouse is perfectly adequate, but there are many occasions where the pen gives you much finer control along difficult edges and in tight corners.

First time users should consider the following points with regard to Photoshop:

1: The selection rocker on the pen's body replicates the left and right buttons on the mouse. I set mine with the rocker down for the left button and back for the right button. It seems more logical to me that way, as opposed to the default's reverse. These settings are available ( in windows ) via Settings > Control Panel > Wacom Tablet. All the other defaults are okay, so leave them be.

2: Load an image and select a brush. Now use the mouse to draw a line. A line will appear of uniform thickness. The pen, on the other hand, will seem to draw little more than a scratch. Don't panic, but press the pen's tip down harder, and try again. This time a better result should be seen. What is happening is that the pen is pressure-sensitive and, like using a normal pen on paper, the harder you lean the heavier the line. Only more dramatically so.

3: To avoid unnecessary wear on the pen's nib, pick a brush much larger than you need and let the pen's pressure sensitivity control the thickness of the result. There's a huge amount of control with the pen's default settings. On the other hand, if you want the pen to mimic the mouse, make the following change:

4: In Photoshop LE 5.0 and 5.0/5.5 either double click on the `Brush Tool' button or select Window > Show Options, and clear the Stylus Pressure check-box. The pen will now mimic the mouse. Remember to re-check the Stylus Pressure box to return to the pressure sensitive action. In Photoshop 6.0 click on the brush symbol to the right- hand side of the horizontal option bar to reveal the stylus settings box. Set the Size setting to off. Also try the settings available by clicking the brush symbol to the left-hand side of the option bar. In this instance a pop-up will appear containing a number of sliders. The one that adjusts Hardness will give good results. It's best to experiment for yourself.

Other manufacturers do a tablet, but the Wacom tablets are reckoned to be the best choice for use with Adobe products.