Enjoying My New Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet

So I just bought my new (and first) Wacom graphics tablet, called the Bamboo Capture. [Wacom Bamboo Capture Pen and Touch Tablet (CTH470)] I mainly bought this to relieve myself of the heavy use my mouse has been going through doing Stereo and multi pass compositing, and a graphics tablet is a more ergonomic and efficient way to go about your business and navigating through your computer. 

It really is phenomenal! After seeking advice from various artists on whether a Bamboo would be right for me - it just so happens that the Bamboo is Wacom's low-end line, mostly for non-business purposes but it is just as sturdy and usable as their more professional Intuos tabs. 

I've been using for a while now (it's been almost a day since I bought it) and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. It is fast, easy to set up, and does more than just acts as a substitute for your mouse.

In fact, it's also capable of being used as a multi-gesture touch pad for your laptop. 

It has 4 buttons that you can customize and point to various tasks on your comp - such as having shortcuts for programs that you use most often - all done through a very easy to use and intuitive control panel (comes on DVD). It also has 1024 levels of pressure, which I believe is twice that of the Bamboo Fun tablets they previously had. Wacom has gone ahead and upgraded their low-end line to meet the needs of 'the everyday artist/photographer'. It ships with a DVD with 3 programs - including Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, Autodesk Sketchbook Express and NIK Color Filters (for Photoshop Elements). 

As an artist told me the other day that you're really paying for the tablet not the software it ships with so make wise decisions as your tablet will stick around for a long time. You're expected to replace your PC more than your tablet. And I think he was right because this is one durable device. 

I think this is a great start to a meaningful relationship with my Bamboo. Looking forward to exploring more and more everyday and putting it to good use. In fact I'm using it right now to go through all these buttons on my dashboard! - Best $99 I've spent yet! 

An Artistic Evening

On Monday June 4th I had a chance to visit the National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque in downtown Toronto for a 2 hour animation seminar with Iain Gardner.



The evening, organized by Toronto Animated Image Society consisted of some of Iain's best animated short films, each followed by a behind-the-scenes talk.


This was a kind of 'Intro to Classical Animation' for me as I'm more of a 3D kinda guy (obviously...)


Iain's work was very inspirational and hearing about the ups and downs he had to face throughout his career brought forth a lot of new points that should be noted. For one thing, never hesitate to try and experiment with new ideas, raise the bar and tackle complex issues. 





Hand-drawn animation is a difficult thing to do even in this day and age and it requires a lot of focus. So if you don't know what you're up against or have no clue where to get started, you're in for a surprise. 

My favorite piece was a short film called, 'The Loch Ness Kelpie'. I went home and found it on YouTube. Apparently, it's very rare because the track was done by a famous musician. 


          

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Cinematic

             

         

I must admit, this is one of THE BEST cinematic trailers I have EVER seen. 

Platige Image used their "always-evolving" pipeline with Maya, V-Ray, 3Ds Max, and Motionbuilder, along with some of their own software developed at the studio. (More info over at CGSOCIETY)