Wacom Tablet - Part 1

This is a quick one for today:This, my friends, is nothing more than a new...This is a re-badged Intuos 5 which is now called an Intuos Pro. The main difference from the prior versions is that it doesn't come with a mouse but instead is just about the largest trackpad you can imagine. They even have a bigger version if it as well, but I decided that this iteration is plenty big enough.As if you couldn't figure it out by now, this is a digitizing tablet. It translates what I do with the stylus and converts that to input on the computer. In this case, these were quick scrawls into Photoshop. The cool thing is that you can get a lot of feel with the "pen." It's not only sensitive to pressure (2048 levels of pressure sensing), but it knows the angle you're holding the pen at and how far it's tilted over. Another stylus is in the mail (well, soon at least) that also knows rotation.It's billed as the 6D sensor:

1. X
2. Y
3. Pressure
4. Tilt
5. Angle
6. Rotation

Pretty damn cool. I'll write about that (or with that?) when it arrives.I take bunches of pictures. On top of that sometimes I'm tasked with making some artwork as well. Say, for instance, at work where I'm moonlighting and making a poster for our team. No, I'm not a graphic designer, but I can play one on TV. Working in Illustrator with a pen is different than working with a mouse or a trackpad. It's not the be-all end-all of how all this stuff can work, but it brings a good organic element into the work.But back to the photography...The killer app for me (now at least) is photo retouching. It just feels a lot more hands-on and organic to be able to almost touch what it is your working on. It really is a special feeling.That being said, I wouldn't mind learning how to draw better... but that's just a side benefit.An additional awesome feature of this model: wireless! If you look on the first picture there's no wires hanging off my lap. Yes, I'm spoiled. It feels better.  :-)