In a move that will no doubt be of interest to photographers, designers and digital artists, Wacom has launched its latest digital content creation tablet, the Intuos 5.

 

Not to be confused with tablets such as the iPad and Galaxy 10.1, the drawing tablet enables artists to more accurately draw, paint and design in applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel Painter using a stylus-like ‘pen’.

 

This mimics the feeling of drawing and sketching with an actual pen, or painting with a slender brush – something that many professional and enthusiasts artists favour rather than the comparatively clunky mouse.

 

Alongside an ergonomic design and new look, the Intuos 5 brings a number of new features to the table, as compared to the previous Intuos 4. 

 

 

 

For starters, the drawing tablet offers an innovative multi-touch gesture support. The company elaborated that the addition of multi-touch to the Intuos 5 “provides a complementary input method to the pen that is natural to use in the creative process.” It added that one of the distinct benefits of multi-touch is its support of gestures to zoom, scroll, pan and rotate digital content.

 

As well as being able to recognise standard Windows and Mac gestures, customisable gestures can be created in supporting applications. For example, a customised gesture could be created to open a commonly used feature within Adobe Photoshop.

 

"Switching from pen to touch or to gesture based navigation is a liberating experience, allowing one to reduce repetitive motion and interact more naturally with the computer," commented Guido Möller, product manager of professional brands at Wacom Europe.

 

The Intuos 5 further boasts customisable Express Keys and one Touch Ring, with four-function toggle. Wacom explained that these features allow users to place commonly used shortcuts and modifiers right at their fingertips, decreasing dependency on the computer keyboard to access common tasks.

 

Additionally, artists will be happy to hear that the tablet caters to right handed, left handed and ambidextrous users, as it can be rotated 180 degrees left or right to position the Express Keys and Touch Ring wherever most comfortable.

 

Another noteworthy feature on the Intuos 5 is Express View, a new Heads-Up Display (HUD) feature that displays the current settings on the computer screen. Lightly resting a finger on any of the keys reveals the settings on-screen and fades within a few seconds so as not to disrupt the creative process.

 

"Express View modernises the user interface and is instrumental in helping improve workflow and boost productivity", explained Möller.

 

 

 

Additionally, the included Intuos 5 pen registers 2048 levels of pen pressure and up to 60 degrees of pen tilt. This, the company explained, enables the pen “to emulate the same feel, response and effects derived from working with traditional tools such as paint brushes, markers and pens.”

 

The Intuos 5 pen further features Wacom's proprietary Tip Sensor technology, which enables pressure-sensitive effects to be rendered with a light touch, as well as a pressure-sensitive eraser and two side switches that can be customised for commands such as double-click and right-click.

 

 

As has become customary on the Intuos range, the Intuos 5 will be made available in several sizes, including small, medium and large versions. Additionally, a cheaper medium sized Intuos 5 that does not have multitouch support was announced. All of the models though, can be converted to wireless tablets through the use of an optional wireless accessory kit.