Yet another.... tablet thread

[abstauber]

...or you build a cintiq yourself
http://www.bongofish.co.uk/wacom/wacom_pt1.html


I've recently bought an Intuos3 A3 (gigantic), simply because it's cheaper (on ebay) than A4 tablets. I guess people have small desks. Before that I was happy with my Graphire4, but I only used it for photo touchups and collecting dust.

@Khris: Does this Wacom Penabled technology have pressure sensitivity as well?

[Mr Flibble]

I have to use tablet PCs in uni, maybe we just have bad ones, but I find them totally unsuitable for drawing. The lag is noticable between input and response, and the sample rate is hideously low (ie. how smooth a quickly drawn curve will be). That might just be the cheap HP models we have though.

I use my tablet instead of a mouse at all times now and can't imagine going back.

[viktor]

It's pretty old (900 MHz, 760 MB Ram), but why buy a 900 â,¬ Cintiq when you can get the same device for 259 â,¬?

Because the responses differ. I'm using an old model I bought used for 100 eur. A wacom bamboo fun
It's not the best around but it gets the job done. If you buy a wacoom you ARE guaranteed a quality product. I've used a lot of wacom tablets from firends and coworkers and they all have a wacom. I tried using a Trust once and the lag was unbelivable . If you draw a lot then buy it. It's a lot easyer and faster to ink and color things with the tablet than with a mouse. If you're not sure try borrowing it first to see how it feels.

[Anian]

If you're doing pixel art stuff, I acutally think it's easier to use a mouse. Mostly I draw something on paper then retrace it with tablet, then I can fix proprtions and such, color it etc. Still have to practice speed painting

Yeah, the main problme with size is that you can't really use your wrist moves, but short lines. Don't know what your financial situations is, or what the used hardware market is (in the USA and such it seems it's better to get a used bigger tablet, but if your country is similar to mine, there really isn't a used hardware market that can taken advantage of, maybe on some design forums or similar you might find something.

Small is great if you're trying it out, that way at least you won't lose that much money, in a year or two get a bigger one and problem solved.

[GarageGothic]

I must admit I'm loving my Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch to bits, despite it being the smallest (comparable to A6, though in 16:10 format) and one of their cheapest models. During half a year of owning it, the tablet's boosted my creativity immensely - I find that good tools in and by themselves beckon to be used, same thing with the digital recorder I bought leading to me playing the guitar again.

My previous tablet was a clunky, inaccurate piece of shit with batteries in the pen. Not entirely useless, I did draw this CD cover with it, but so awkward to work with that it felt like a chore. What that tablet taught me, however, was that A4 was much too large for me. Possibly my drawing technique is simply wrong from childhood, but I've never used big arm movements when drawing - except for charcoal or ink-and-brush drawings/paintings. A6 on the other hand - perfect, absolutely right size to hold in the lap, great format for comic book panels, handwritten notes and sprites. And as for game backgrounds I've always done anything but basic composition in a zoomed view anyway, so size isn't an issue.

Overall, it really depends on your technique and what you want to use it for. Better to start out with the smallest size you're comfortable with, and then decide what your next tablet will be depending on your experience. Would suck to invest in expensive model only to find out that it's impractical to work with, or that you only use a small part of the surface anyway.

[Khris]

@Khris: Does this Wacom Penabled technology have pressure sensitivity as well?

Not sure, probably not.

Because the responses differ. I'm using an old model I bought used for 100 eur. A wacom bamboo fun
It's not the best around but it gets the job done. If you buy a wacoom you ARE guaranteed a quality product. I've used a lot of wacom tablets from firends and coworkers and they all have a wacom.

The TravelMate's tablet tech is from Wacom, it's listed as Wacom serial bla in the Device manager

[Mr Flibble]

I forgot to mention that I got an expensive non-Wacom and it was unusuable,  prior to getting my beautiful Intuos2. To be honest, I can't see a reason not to get a Wacom.

[loominous]

Signs point to Wacom Intuos 4 Wireless..

I'm disappointed with the intous 4 series: the tips wear off way too fast, the chord (though the wireless version will lack one) is frustratingly placed, and the sensitivity calibration demands that you press really hard to achieve full opacity, which increases the tip wear, and makes your arms tense, and ruins all looseness. (you can alter the pressure settings, but not in a way that fixes this as far as I know).

So I would personally go with an intous 3 if you want something newish, which would be less expensive as well. One neat feature of the intous 4 is a "display toggle" button, which is great if you use more than one screen, but that's pretty much the only reason I'd find myself buying one again.

You're better off getting a smaller, newer tablet than an older but larger one. I really don't think you need a big one, I mean how often do you want to draw using your whole arm and couldn't accept being zoomed out a little?

The problem with smaller tablets is that you start relying on your fingers when you draw, which is often a recipe for losing all looseness. To get nice large natural curves, it's instead usually recommended that you use your arm as much as possible, while the fingers and wrist (depending on the size of the curve) remain fixated.

This is not to say that you can't achieve these things on a smaller tablet, but it's much more difficult. It's a bit like using a small saw vs a large one. You can technically do everything with a small saw that you can with a large one, but if you're going for a larger cut, it's likely that it'll end up jerky and uneven.

On a side note, I suspect that larger models are healthier for your body, as you get more posture variation, but don't quote me on that.

[Chicky]

I suspect that larger models are healthier for your body, as you get more posture variation

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

To be honest, I can't see a reason not to get a Wacom.

Money is a good reason (or lack thereof) .

[abstauber]

A used, first generation Intuos isn't that expensive. They usually leave the bay for less than 100 euro. Okay, it's still pretty expensive for a 10 years old piece of hardware

[InCreator]

Signs point to Wacom Intuos 4 Wireless..

I'm disappointed with the intous 4 series: the tips wear off way too fast, the chord (though the wireless version will lack one) is frustratingly placed, and the sensitivity calibration demands that you press really hard to achieve full opacity, which increases the tip wear, and makes your arms tense, and ruins all looseness. (you can alter the pressure settings, but not in a way that fixes this as far as I know).

So I would personally go with an intous 3 if you want something newish, which would be less expensive as well. One neat feature of the intous 4 is a "display toggle" button, which is great if you use more than one screen, but that's pretty much the only reason I'd find myself buying one again.

Now that was absolutely unneeded... just few hours after I placed an order for Int4Wireless...  
Still buying it I think... It's not like I could use it very much anyway, so maybe as an amateur I won't notice such disadvantages, just like I don't understand mouse acceleration/smoothing in fps games, and still think it's just a fake "option" and doesn't actually do anything.

[loominous]

Oh, I'm not saying it's a bad tablet - you're getting the top of the line wacom tablet - it's about the price to value ratio.

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, I suggest going with large older tablets because you can get them dirt cheap, and they're still great. So you get a large tablet with perhaps 8/10th of the performance for scraps.

I guess people are used to technology getting obsolete in a year or two, so getting older stuff seems risky, but these tablets age very well in my experience.

So count yourself fortunate that you can afford it, though I would've suggested going for an A4 model for the same money.

(I still use my intuos 4, I'm just very unimpressed with it, and the main reason I haven't reverted back to my intuos 3 model is because it has a scratch in it (something to be very careful about btw, as they'll only grow with use - though I think the intuos 4 model has a hardened surface, leading to the increased tip wear)).