What's a good tablet?

Armageddon · Sun 13/01/2013 04:28:21

So I'm wanting to learn to draw with a tablet, Wacom seems to be the way to go, and I need a cheap one, I've found the Bamboo Create and Bamboo Splash seems to be the best with the lowest price. I was wondering what tablet you use or would recommend. Thanks.

ThreeOhFour · Sun 13/01/2013 05:15:57

I use a Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch.

True to its name, it has pen and touch input. And is fun.

Grundislav · Sun 13/01/2013 05:28:52

Yeah, I've had a Wacom Graphire CTE-440 for about 5 years now and it's served me pretty well. It was cheap, too.

Anian · Sun 13/01/2013 11:27:54

Well the Create and Splash version are not available in Europe, I have regular Pen and Touch Bamboo, there's also Fun and Manga versions in Europe, which just have PS Elements or Manga studio as additions (don't know if there's any other difference).

But yes, everybody seems to recommend Wacom and Bamboo versions are the "cheap" intro models. Even if you don't like it, there's a market for used Wacoms so you can probably sell without that much loss.

Ali · Sun 13/01/2013 14:58:45

I've been using the same Wacom Intuos 3 since about 2008. It cost Â£200 and was well worth it!

Le Woltaire · Sun 13/01/2013 15:36:18

I also use a Wacom Graphire 4 CTE-640.

My experiences:
1. Buy a Wacom, nothing else.
2. Don't buy a big one, A5 is enough.
3. Make sure you can remove the cover of the tablet so you can keep it clean. (I put the cover of mine in my dishwasher and it always comes out like new)
4. Buttons on the tablet usually are not really useful. Especially if you're a lefthander and use the mouse paralelly with the right.
5. Take a pen with no silicone or rubber on it. Because it robbs of with the time. I had to tape mine a lot.
6. The tablets rubber feet are pretty harmful aswell. Maybe get one with teflon feet.
7. Resolution is important but nowadays they all have pretty high resolution.

Armageddon · Mon 14/01/2013 00:27:16

So many choices! The Fun and Pen looks pretty simple but I used to have a really old Graphire that I liked.

Armageddon · Mon 14/01/2013 09:03:10

Well the Graphire looked nice I think I'll go with the small and cheap Pen and Touch for now, just to see if I like it. Thanks guys.

amateurhour · Mon 14/01/2013 15:12:57

Quote from: Le Woltaire on Sun 13/01/2013 15:36:18
I also use a Wacom Graphire 4 CTE-640.

My experiences:
1. Buy a Wacom, nothing else.
2. Don't buy a big one, A5 is enough.
3. Make sure you can remove the cover of the tablet so you can keep it clean. (I put the cover of mine in my dishwasher and it always comes out like new)
4. Buttons on the tablet usually are not really useful. Especially if you're a lefthander and use the mouse paralelly with the right.
5. Take a pen with no silicone or rubber on it. Because it robbs of with the time. I had to tape mine a lot.
6. The tablets rubber feet are pretty harmful aswell. Maybe get one with teflon feet.
7. Resolution is important but nowadays they all have pretty high resolution.

Really this is all fantastic advice. As a lefty, I agree with 4) completely! I only use the buttons on the pen itself, one for move and one for undo (alt-ctrl-z in photoshop) and I do all of my other stuff with my right hand on the mouse)

They all have at least 1024 resolution now so you're fine there. I still have a six year old Bamboo Fun (1st gen) with 512 pressure sensitivity and it works fine, you just have to zoom in a LOT. If you go with the intuos you might want to look into getting different nibs. I don't know if it's still an issue but the old Intuos used to have a problem with the nibs being a little firm and they would scratch the surface pretty hard so you'd need one of those screen protector things on the tablet. (might not be an issue anymore, but if you buy a used Intuos it will be)

If you think about upgrading down the road to a cintiq (I know it's a stretch, but they're addicting once you use one) there's an aftermarket cintiq that's just as good as the Wacom model and it only costs about $500 (USD) Aftermarket tablets in general are not as good as wacom, with the exception of the cintiq.

edit: If you're using Photoshop 5 or higher you need to spend $5 on the Frenden brushes. They're absolutely freaking amazing. A lot of professional comic artists have started using them. They just came out about three weeks ago. http://frenden.myshopify.com/products/photoshop_pencil_and_inking_brushes

Squinky · Tue 15/01/2013 00:49:04

I've got a wacom intuos 4, medium size. Had it about a year. I love the dang thing. Also, it allows left or right hand use I believe. I don't really use the buttons as I am used to the shortcut keys anyway. But I like the little wheel it has, lets me change brush sizes and zoom.

I had been using a generic drawing tablet for a number of years. Brand named Aiptech. Seemed to work okay but the nibs wore out fast. But when I upgraded to the wacom it was like going from crayons to a .005 micron pen

. So yeah, you can't go wrong with a wacom.

I'm thinking of getting an Ipad, and the wacom brand stylus, and trying it out as a portable sketch device. The programs available are somewhat limited (only about 5 layers available, not many filters, a limited number of brushes) but I kinda want an Ipad anyway and this justifies it with my wife

Greg Squire · Tue 15/01/2013 01:52:33

I'm curious if anyone has had any luck using an iPad or Android Tablet for this purpose? You can get a stylus for them, however you wouldn't have touch sensitivity and you might possibly not have enough resolution sensitivity to work well. Yet I've seen some amazing things people have done on them using Sketchbook Pro or similar apps (http://lifehacker.com/5913489/five-best-tablet-drawing-apps).

So would a Wacom tablet still be better? Or would the iPad do a well enough job?

Squinky · Tue 15/01/2013 04:03:10

Like I mentioned, I'm going to try it. But the Wacom would be better IMO. The Ipad can't really run the good programs, doesn't have the sensitivity, and as far as I can tell, sketchbook pro is the only program that allows exporting of images with layers intact. So, my intention would be to draw some good clean line art and maybe import it into my computer to be re-worked.

amateurhour · Tue 15/01/2013 16:11:52

Quote from: Squinky on Tue 15/01/2013 04:03:10
Like I mentioned, I'm going to try it. But the Wacom would be better IMO. The Ipad can't really run the good programs, doesn't have the sensitivity, and as far as I can tell, sketchbook pro is the only program that allows exporting of images with layers intact. So, my intention would be to draw some good clean line art and maybe import it into my computer to be re-worked.

I've used an android and iOS tablet for digital art and while it's impressive, in my opinion the technology is still a few years off from being "professional ready" with the exception of a few talented artists that have managed to squeeze some good product out of it. As you said earlier, sketchbook pro allows exporting to layers, and there's also a photoshop lite app that works fairly well for quick roughs and some finished art. It's more for digital painting (speed paints and environments) than anything else at this point though as the pressure sensitivity is still an issue.

I've got the last gen wacom pen and it's no different than any other tablet pen honestly. There IS a new pen on the market that's battery powered and has pressure sensitivity within the pen itself but it costs over $100 so it's a bit of a price hike from the $30 wacom pen.

If you're looking for a good all in one solution then going with a tablet pc is always still an option. A lot of people frown on it because it's hard to upgrade the parts when they start to get dated, but honestly that's the same problem that apple products face and they're the industry standard. A good reversible tablet notebook will cost you about $1000 on sale and you get the benefits of a cintiq (a lot of them use wacom drivers these days, so it's practically the same thing) as well as the hardware itself to run your photo editing/art software.

Eric · Mon 21/01/2013 20:08:46

I got a Monoprice 10x6 with 8 hotkeys tablet for Christmas. Cost was $50. I got it on the recommendation of Ray Frenden's blog. I've had a Graphire and a Bamboo, and this is better than both of those, for less money. The pressure sensitivity is great. The only issue I have had so far is with drivers -- Windows kept trying to reinstall the Wacom drivers, but once I got past that, I've had no issues.

Frenden also just positively reviewed the Yiynova Cintiq alternative, which retails for a mere $500.

Armageddon · Fri 08/02/2013 03:16:31

Okay so I got the tablet today, it's not exactly what I expected and I can't figure out how to change these two things.

1. It clicks when I press the pen down, I just want the pen to act like a mouse when I press it down and then I can press the side button to click/start drawing.

2. When I press the pen to the top right of the tablet space it moves the mouse cursor to the top right of the screen, why can't it act like finger touching on the tablet where I can lift up move my finger over and then press down and continue dragging and it won't move the mouse to that part of the tablet?

I've tried Google but I can't find any fixed. It's a Pen and Touch Capture.

Andail · Fri 08/02/2013 08:22:06

Armageddon, both of your issues are actually functions that most people prefer with pen tablets. I would recommend that you get used to it and learn to appreciate it, instead of changing it. To me it sounds awkward to push a button every time you want to draw. Consider that drawing may go on for hours on end, with innumerable tiny, tiny strokes, and having to click something every time just seems time consuming.

The absolute positioning that a tablet offers is in my opinion preferable to the relative orientation a mouse uses. If you have a drawing in front of you, you want to be able to draw precisely and directly - you don't want to drag/scroll around with the cursor to find the spot. Trust me on this one!

Armageddon · Fri 08/02/2013 08:28:20

You're right about the second one, but I still wish it would just let me disable clicking when I press down, I can't be sure where I'm pressing down at until I do then if it's wrong I have to ctrl+z.

Andail · Fri 08/02/2013 09:52:53

Oh, it's clicking even if you're not pressing down firmly? You should be able to "hover" with the pen, touching the tablet gently, without drawing. I hope you can find a fix for this, I'll help searching when I get home later.

selmiak · Fri 08/02/2013 13:24:21

yep, the white light between the button should turn orange once the pen gets close to it. Then you can control and position the mouse before actually clicking. Have fun

amateurhour · Fri 08/02/2013 22:54:11

The easiest thing to do is set one of the pen buttons to your undo key and get used to drawing the same lines over and over. It's not like paper where you put the pen to the page and then start moving it, you need to get used to sweeping strokes.

A few tips:

1) It takes a LONG time to get used to drawing on a tablet. There's like 100 youtube tutorials you should check out that will help.

2) Zoom in as much as possible. Don't think of it like drawing on a sheet of paper, think of it like drawing on paper under a magnifying glass. Seriously zoom out to where you can see the whole page and do a rough sketch, then zoom in to like 300% and work on small areas at a time. It'll save you a lot of stress.