Wacom
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| Wacom Co., Ltd. | |
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| Type | |
| Founded | July 12, 1983 |
| Headquarters |  2-510-1 Toyonodai Otonemachi, Kita Saitama-Gun, Saitama, Japan |
| Industry | Computer input devices and software |
| Products | Bamboo, Intuos, Cintiq, PenPartner, Volito |
| Website | wacom.com |
Wacom Co., Ltd. (株式会社ワコム Kabushiki-gaisha Wakomu?) (pronounced in English as /'wɑːkɒm/ or /'wækɒm/) (TYO: 6727) is a world-wide company that produces graphics tablets and related products, headquartered in Otone, Saitama, Japan. The US headquarters is located in Vancouver, WA. Wacom is a loose translation of Japanese; Wa for Harmony or circle, and Com for Computer. It is one of the largest graphics tablet producers and is very popular with artists, graphic designers, architects, and cartoonists, who commonly cite it as an industry standard. Wacom tablets are notable for their use with a patented cordless, battery-free, and pressure-sensitive stylus (an on-screen writing pen). In addition to manufacturing and selling tablets as separate products, Wacom also supplies the graphical input technology used in most tablet PCs, which it calls "Penabled Technology". As of 2005, Wacom (according to itself) held a market share of 95.8% in Japan and estimated 70% in the rest of the world.[1]
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[edit] Product lines
Wacom produces several lines of tablets. Most tablets are sold with a bundle of software such as Corel Painter Essentials and Photoshop Elements, which take advantage of the features of the tablet. Each is sold with a compatible pen; some of these allow the artist to use the other end as an eraser. Some models include a mouse based on the same technology. A driver CD is also included. All current models of external tablet connect to computers via USB or Bluetooth.
[edit] Bamboo
The Bamboo line is Wacom's first tablet aimed at general input tasks rather than specifically targeting graphics users, and priced to appeal to home users. It is similar in specifications to the most recent Graphire4 tablets (most of which have been discontinued), with 512 levels of pressure sensitivity. It is sold as "Bamboo" with a roughly 3.7×5.8-inch (94×147 mm) active area, and "Bamboo Fun" with software and either 3.7×5.8- ("small") or 5.3×8.5-inch ("medium") active area (94×147 and 135×216 mm, or roughly A6 and roughly A5, respectively). The Bamboo is available worldwide.
[edit] PenPartner
The PenPartner tablet is designed for notebooks. The second generation is tailored more towards laptops, while the original was the predecessor to the original Graphire. This second version is not available in the Americas.
[edit] Volito
The Volito is designed as a "first tablet" system. The Volito is designed, technically, to be an alternative to a computer mouse. This unit is not available in the Americas. There are no Mac OS X drivers available for the Volito.
[edit] Graphire
Graphire is a tablet marketed to hobbyists, known in Japan as FAVO. The most recent version is the Graphire4. The wireless Bluetooth version is the only version still available.
[edit] Intuos
Intuos is marketed to professional graphic artists, and features the highest specifications of any Wacom device. It is available in multiple sizes and proportions, and includes tilt sensitivity and 1024 levels of pressure. The Intuos is currently in its third generation, and comes in the following sizes (active area):
- 4 inches by 5 inches (10 cm × 13 cm)
- 4 inches by 6.2 inches (10 cm × 16 cm)
- 6 inches by 8 inches (15 cm × 20 cm)
- 6 inches by 11 inches (15 cm × 28 cm)
- 9 inches by 12 inches (23 cm × 30 cm)
- 12 inches by 12 inches (30 cm × 30 cm)
- 12 inches by 19 inches (30 cm × 48 cm)
[edit] Cintiq
The Cintiq is a tablet/screen hybrid, a graphics tablet that incorporates an LCD into the tablet itself, allowing the user to draw directly "on" the display surface. The tablets are available in several sizes; a 21" 1600×1200 resolution tablet, the 21UX, has been available for several years at various price points. As of November 2007, two new 12" and 20" widescreen were released, the 12WX and the 20WSX, respectively.
[edit] Discontinued
Previous products from Wacom included the ArtZ, ArtZ II, ArtPad, ArtPad II, Graphire through Graphire4, Intuos and Intuos2, and 15-, 17- and 18-inch Cintiqs. Earlier models used RS-232 and Apple serial connectors, with a conversion to USB in later models.
[edit] Drivers
Wacom supplies drivers for contemporary versions of Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. The driver package includes a control panel which allows extensive customization of how the tablet and pen work with the host OS.
The Linux Wacom Project produces drivers for Linux/X11, and is maintained by a Wacom employee.
[edit] Technology
Wacom tablets use a patented electromagnetic resonance technology. Since the tablet provides power to the pen through resonant coupling, no batteries or cord is required for the pointing device. As a result, there are no batteries inside the pen (or the accompanying mouse). This allows for more slender pens, and gives the pen-and-tablet combination a long and essentially maintenance free lifespan.
Under the tablet's surface (or LCD in the case of the Cintiq) is a grid of wires that transmits a send and receive signal. In send mode, the tablet's electromagnetic signal stimulates oscillation in the pen's coil-and-capacitor circuit. In receive mode, the energy of the resonant circuit’s oscillations in the pen is detected by the tablet's grid. This information is analyzed by the computer to determine the pen's position. In addition, the pen communicates other vital information, such as pressure-sensitivity, side-switch status, tip or eraser orientation and Tool ID. For example, applying more or less pressure to the tip of the pen changes the value of the pen's timing circuit capacitor. This signal change is communicated to a modulator which distributes the information digitally to the tablet. The tablet forwards this and other relevant information (pen position, angle, side-switch status, Tool ID, et cetera.) in packets, up to 200 times per second, to the computer.
