THE WACOM INTUOS 5 REVIEW

OK so I’ve been meaning to write a review for the new WACOM Intuos 5 I bought a few weeks back since I wanted to diispell some rumors that have been going on around the net.

First of I will have you know that I’ have switched Directly from the Intuos 3 to the Intuos 5. I have no experience with the Intuos 4 so I will not comment on that throughout the review.

Lets start with:

 Packaging. Wacom has always been applauided for the way its tablets are packed & accessories organized. However it has out done the previous version this time. The box itself makes you feel proud to be an owner of such an Awesome product. Not only does it contain the stylus & the tablet, but now it comes with 10 spare nibs. 6 of which are standard, 2 with the pencil feel, one for the airbrush & sketching. Not only that it now comes with rings that allow the user to remove the pens outer top cover incase the nib gets fixed which is brilliant.

It also contains 2 dvds, one for the software itself( which is also available easily online on the Wacom site) & a huge software start up bundle which includes a licensed version of  Photoshop elements, Corel Painter Sketch pad, Autodesk Sketch Book Express, Nik Color effects filter plug-in.

Look & Feel: The Intuos 5 far surpasses its Intuos 3 predecessor . The look of the tablet is outright royal.  This time the tablet is fully black & Ergomonics are made more convenient for both left handed & right handed users. The keyboard shortcuts(though I rarely use them from the tablet) are very efficiently placed  & there is a radial area under the buttons that’s acts as a file menu for instant saving, undo, redo etc which is amazing. My only problem is nothing of that is labled on the tablet itself so for the first few days you’ll have to look up the tablet preferences software to get a hang of it.

The tablet also contains some very slick glow in the dark LEDS that make sure you draw with the  required area & it acts as a guide for both new & old users. I can give this in writing, as even my 6 year old niece was able to draw at the first go without any problem which she never could with the Intuos 3. For those who have not used tablets , the thing is you draw on the tablet but the image will appear on the screen. So it usually takes a were or two to synchronize yourself.

The new stylus is what I feel is the highlight of the product. The old one always had a rigid feel( I’m not complaining as I’ve worked with it over 5 years now) but the new pen is absolutely easy on the hand. You can keep drawing to no end. I finished 6 pages of my comic at a stretch without the slightest strain on my hand which always used to happen during the Intuos 3.

Usability: The new tablet is extremely easy to use. The default setting are almost perfected to give a pencil like feel  however they can be easily customized & tested using the patented Tablet Preferences software that Wacom Provides always. The Pen comes with 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity & indeed gives you the feel of a pencil especially when you use the pencil nib. One problem still persists it’s the jagged linework in Photoshop if you draw in zoomed out view. I wish they come up with a way to counter that. It can be overcomed at times by customizing brushes but I’m never one for that method.

Software Compatibility:  Wacom has made sure the tablet is compatible with every king of software be it regular operating system tasks, 2-D Animation or 3D Animation. It works flawlessly with any software.

Heres where I dispell some of the rumors that have been circulating on the web about the pen pressure no detecting in Paint Tool Sai or Autodesk mudbox. Those are rubbish.  Maybe they have fixed the problem with the latest driver, but the tablet works brilliantly with both softwares.  It was one of the reasons it took me so long to decide on whether to buy it or not; as I use Paint Tool Sai extensively for final line art. However with the new pen, you really don’t need Pain Tool Sai to finish the job because it gives excellent results directly in Pshop.

Touch Feature: Well this is the new feature that comes with the Intuos 5. It is extremely efficient if you are using Photoshop Cs 5 & above. You can now use finger movement to easily rotate, zoom in & out of the pic without have to depend on commands. Not only that there are certain brushes that are custom made for finger & hand art. The feature is not a necessity but really helps speed things up!

Pricing: The Wacom Intuos Medium version costs around Rs.27,000 MRP. I know to a lot of people it may seem a bit steep, but trust me the tablet delivers more than what it costs. Wacom products have always been know for their long life & durability. My Intuos 3 still runs perfectly. So this is one time investment. That’s all that I can sum up for this Amazing product. If you are a professional artist, or even a person who wants to seriously take up digital art this is the tablet you should go for.

Overall rating : I can easily give the Intuos 5 a 9.5/10 rating for a tablet in it’s range. I still feel there is room for a little improvement when it comes to the pen/paper feel but it can easily be overlooked for the other amazing features it provides.