wacom drawing tablets

[Baddcog]

Well, I regularly visit polycount.com forums and one guy was showing pics of a character he was painting with his tablet.

 

Got me thinking I should ask opinions on them, I've always been curious but didn't want to drop 300 clams.

 

Anyway, was going to post and ask to help me decide as I've never used one. Went buy Best Buy after work since it's almost next door. Thinking, ah $250-$300, probably won't buy, but I'll look anyway.

 

Turns out they have 2 tablets, one is 4x5 drawing surface for $65 and one is 4x6 for $200. So now I'm the proud owner of the 4x5 sized one.

That was soo much cheaper than I thought I just couldn't resist, hell, if I don't like it it's not that much of a loss. Got Photoshop Elements and another program with it so that right there is probably worth it.

 

Anyway, I'll post later after I use it and give my opinions.

 

Anyone else use em. Like em , hate em, tips???

[Domarius]

Yeah I highly recommend the smaller one, personally. I have one myself. Don't see the point in the extra drawing area of the big one, and in reality it'd be a hinderance for me, I like to carry mine around, to work etc. rest it vertically against my monitor to save desk space, put it on my lap to draw, etc. The big one is just too bulky to do that - you have to leave it in the one spot.

[Redface]

My trusty Wacom says hello o/

[Hewer]

I've got an original Wacom Intuos 9x12 at home, and a Graphire 4x5 at work. I love my Intuos- hate the Graphire. Partly I'm more used to the bigger size, and the Graphire seems cramped, but the drawing feel is really different, too. The Graphire is slick, smooth plastic, while the Intuos has a bit of tooth that feels a lot more like natural drawing. I get better performance out of pressure sensitivity options in Photoshop, and the pen is just more acurate. The Graphire feels like you're working in much higher resolution or something- you have to be a lot more acurate when clicking or selecting things. Trying to select the tiny vector nodes and bezier handles in Illustrator with the Graphire has frustrated me into new heights of creative cursing.

 

If I worked on a laptop and moved around a lot and stuff, then I'd get more used to the Graphire, and it would probably be acceptable, but it sure can't beat the Intuos performance-wise. I guess I'm spoiled.

 

I understand the cost, too. My Intuos was still pretty expenseve with my (at the time) student discount. I haven't upgraded since partly because of the cost, but also because I haven't needed to. The tablet still works flawlessly- I have had to make sure there's a serial port in the new computers I've had since, though.

[Serpentine]

Heh, thats the wonderful thing about Africa - any professional grade stuff costs way more than a non-professional can afford

 

A Intuos3 9x12 costs R4200 or $610 - excluding shipping. For that reason I have my trusty Acecad PoS tablet, 6x8... which cost about $50 I also have a genius one... but no clue what it cost. No way students can afford nice toys around here :/

 

The ex had a frigging nice one down in her graphics studio... should have "liberated" it when she left the place Anyway, damn that thing was nice for sketching. No matter how much tweaking and playing around I have done with my tablets, There's just no way to get that kind of result :/

 

The main problem with normal tablets is that the pressure sens is just so poor that its either 0%, 5% or 100%, in which case you cant sketch at all A strange thing that I have noticed is that colouring in photoshop with a tablet uses a lot less resources than with my mouse(Razer Copperhead) (Yes, I checked the stepping and polling, they are equal), donno if anyone has ever seen that too.

[Baddcog]

Mine's a graphire4 4x5

 

Only played with it a few minutes last night, was an odd feelin, gave me goosebumps

 

It really showed me how accustomed to the mouse I have grown, but it was cool to not be using the mouse. Changing the mouse and pen takes a little longer than just using the mouse.

 

I deffinitely think that I'll grow to like it alot, make brush strokes is just easier with a pen than mouse. I think it'll take time to get used to drawing in one place and seeing it somewhere else. I've practiced drawing something and NOT looking at the paper but the screen is the opposite, you are drawing on a paper but looking at the results instead of the subject.

[Redface]

Yeah it takes a few days to get used to it, but after that, you'll never want to use mouse in Photoshop (or whatever imaging software you're using) again

[Hewer]

Mine's a graphire4 4x5

 

Yeah, that's the exact one I have at work. I was only knocking it in comparison to my Intuos. Over all, they're awesome.

[Domarius]

Yeah it's definetly harder to "click buttons" with the Graphire, when I'm going to be clicking a lot of menu items I switch to the mouse

[Maximius]

I probably all have you beat in terms of simplicity of design: I have an ACECAD Digimemo tablet that allows me to transfers images to the computer with a USB port. It actually uses paper so I can sketch as I am used to. Its around fifty bucks but I got mine off of a friend for 40. Its simple but it works and its fun, and obviously anything I sketch can be tidied up in GIMP or PS or whatever.

 

http://www.acecad.com.tw/dm692.html

Edited September 28, 2007 by Maximius

[Jeb]

I have a first generation Graphire 4x5 at home, as well as an Intuos3 4x6 at work. Both are quality products that server their purpose, but the Intuos is by far the superior product.

 

They both feel a little different due the the quality and design of the product. Regardless, unless you are a serious power user, you can accomplish the same results with the Graphire that you can with the Intuos.

 

I believe that if you never use the Intous, you'd never know the difference and would be content with the Graphire. I personally enjoy working with the Intous better. I don't have any complaints either way.

 

Regarding portability, the Graphire is lighter and smaller. It wouldn't be a burden to carry the Intous3 4x6 around as it's still pretty light, though it is a bit larger than the Graphire.

 

Eventually I'll replace my Graphire with an Intuos, but that will be quite a while since they seem to last forever.

Edited October 9, 2007 by Jeb