This gives us the best of both worlds: bare finger touch and gestures for quick window transitions, icon and menu selections, along with a pen for more precise actions where pinpoint accuracy and especially pressure sensitivity are indispensable. The two technologies are complementary and Wacom offers models that incorporate touch control. Without a major exercise in user interface design, my feeling is that we won't be able to achieve the necessary drawing precision with bare fingers to replace tablets. It’s not a real breakthrough compared to the regular Pro Pen, but the extra button can come in handy when navigating 3 axis of movement in a 3D design program. The Wacom Pro Pen 3D – compatible with current Intuos Pro, Cintiq Pro and MobileStudio Pro models – trades the pressure sensitive eraser in the back for an additional customizable button that can be mapped to any command in your application. Wacom recently introduced an optional pen designed specifically for 3D programs. On the other hand, the more ergonomic position and programmable buttons could more than make up for it. Pressure sensitivity is also ignored in those programs, neglecting one of the tablet's main features. In the architectural and engineering fields, there's a split: some users love it, some hate it, mostly because the mouse scroll wheel is very handy for zooming on CAD programs and Wacom tablets have that feature on the tablet surface, requiring putting the pen aside to use it. Think about controlling a first person shooter with a pen.

Most games don't work very well with pen input, as their interfaces were originally designed for mouse control. There are a few areas in which even the best drawing tablets are not the ideal input devices. More importantly, it also allows for more natural input in activities such as drawing and photo retouching.Īreas in which drawing tablets don't work so well Your hand can travel from point to point on the screen in a single movement instead of repeated slides, as with a conventional mouse or trackpad. Most important of all, working with a drawing tablet is faster and more efficient than with a mouse. There are buttons on the pen that can be programmed for right click or other commands.

Touching the tip of the pen on the tablet surface is the equivalent of a click, while pressure and pen tilt can be used to vary stroke width, opacity, effect intensity, and other attributes. Most professional programs on those fields offer advanced pen support and can recognize and use pen pressure and even tilt, on more feature-rich models like the Wacom Intuos Pro lineup. Drawing tablets can be used for most creative and content production needs such as illustration, photography, 3D modeling, animation, graphic design, etc.

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