Big thanks to the guys over at CouchFunded for the awesome video review of the “Sasquatch Brigade” embroidered patch and kit, as well as the other reward items from the recent Kickstarter campaign.
review
Review: Wacom Intuos4 Graphics Tablet
The Wacom Intuos4 is a killer graphics tablet and highly recommended if you work with graphics software.
For this review I am referring to the Wacom Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet, however there are also the Large and Small models available. Each have similar tech specs, and I will discuss why I chose the Medium version in the review.
Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet: Nice Entry-Level Tool, But Limited
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.
Great Wacom Tablet Scrolling Software For Mac OS X: Smart Scroll X
In some previous posts, I rambled on about the ability to scroll, one-handed, using the Wacom software, and a shareware alternative, Smart Scroll X. I also touched on this a bit in my Wacom Intuos graphics tablets review.
I am very pleased to report that the developer of Smart Scroll X has worked out the issues with Camino and NetNewsWire. The newly introduced scrolling feature in the Wacom tablet driver software is very cool, and should be more than sufficient for most users. Smart Scroll X fills a gap that the more nerdy of us may appreciate. And I think this is the proper situation for a shareware app – to extend functionality. Continue reading
Must-have Adobe Illustrator plugin: Zoom to Selection
I just picked up a great new plugin for Illustrator, Zoom to Selection (Mac only) from the Adobe Illustrator plugin coder known cryptically as Worker 72a. Zoom to Selection does exactly as it’s name implies – allows one to zoom (maginify) in and out of an Illustrator document using the currently selected object as the centering point of the zoom.
Wacom Tablet: Scroll Click
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.
Wacom Intuos3 Graphics Tablet Review for Cartoonists & Illustrators
***Update: See my review of the Wacom Intuos4 graphics tablet ***
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.
Pantone Huey Monitor Calibration Tool
I recently purchased one of these Pantone Huey monitor calibration gizmos to enhance my on-screen ability to proof colors for accuracy when printing. In short, it’s awesome and worth every penny. Read on for more… Continue reading