Wireless tablet an artist's digital dream

The Graphire 4 tablet is easy to set up.

Graphics tablets have come a long way in the past few years and opened up a new world of opportunity for artists, graphic designers, architects and literally anyone who has a visual element to their computer work.

Every night I used to walk past the office of Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson and see him scribbling away on a plastic tablet with a plastic pen. I'd imagined him drawing with a lead or crayon pencil, and his cartoons then being scanned into digital form.

I doubt any full-time cartoonist still does that. Tablets and digital pens can now so accurately replicate drawing that it makes sense to use them. The drawings can then be immediately input into one of the powerful graphics software programs on the market and digitally manipulated to perfection.

The Graphire 4 from tablet maker Wacom is one of the better graphics tablets on the market and one of the first to feature Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

Not being able to draw myself, I gave the Graphire to some fine arts lecturers at Massey University to try out. The results were encouraging. Not only were the artists able to set up the device quickly, they took to the tablet effortlessly and soon had several sketches completed in Photoshop.

The tablet works on the principle that its surface can be treated like a piece of paper. The accompanying pen can be sensed about a centimetre above the tablet and is very sensitive to fine movements. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once mastered is capable of replicating the most intricate pen strokes.

Buttons on the pen and mouse can be customised for different commands.

A drawing surface of 15cm by 20cm is coated in a sleek grey plastic and the design overall is understatedly stylish.

The Graphire has a transparent, removable plastic lid so that pictures can be slid under itfor tracing, though the plastic hinges break easily.

Many graphic designers do all their drawing, colouring, resizing and formatting with a mouse. For those people, their right hand will eventually fall off because the mouse is a major contributor to repetitive strain injury. All that clicking and moving the pointer around the desktop isn't good for you.

Using a digital pen gives you more freedom of movement and greater comfort.

Neither the pen nor mouse require batteries, and are able to communicate when connecting directly with the surface of the tablet.

Several Graphire models come with a USB cable rather than Bluetooth, but the artists I watched using the tablet loved the freedom of being able to rest it on their knees or position it at different angles.

For those doing a lot of graphic work it's worth paying a premium for wireless connectivity.

Bluetooth can be a nightmare to get working properly, but the Graphire tablet was a breeze to activate. Once the accompanying software drivers were installed, the Bluetooth wizard searched for and found the tablet. The Graphire comes with a USB Bluetooth connector that you can plug into your computer if it isn't Bluetooth-capable.

I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to use the existing Bluetooth function of my Toshiba laptop. No amount of trying was able to get it to talk to the Graphire.

But Bluetooth is a universal standard so you should be able to use the connector to talk to other enabled devices.

The tablet has a battery life of 3.5 hours and doesn't take long to recharge.

Included in the package are Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, Corel Painter Essentials 2 and Inspiration, a program that lets you develop ideas visually.

Having these entry-level software packages means you can be up and drawing on the tablet immediately.

But the reality is that those interested in the Graphire probably have full versions of Photoshop or Corel Draw anyway.

It would be good to see the Graphire offered at a discount without the bundled software.

Wacom Graphire

4 tablet Price: $442
Pros: Bluetooth connectivity; ease of use; accuracy.
Cons: Flimsy hinges on lid; packaged software of limited use.
Herald rating: 8/10