Is a tablet useful?
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I bought a tablet for photoshop, and now I use it for Sketchup and Maya. The tablet I have is a Wacom Intuos 3 6x11 (because I have a dual monitor setup).
The tablet has been great with SU. I do a lot of little edits and it's nice to just tap around the model and select items. It takes more work to drag a mouse around and click, IMHO. The one issue that I've become very comfortable with is the zoom tool. With a tablet you don't have a roller on the pen. So you have to shortcut or select the zoom tool. I do everything in shortcuts so that was a natural fix for me.
I've had the tablet for a year, and for the past 10 months the mouse has become an alien device for me. I use the tablet for everything and my mouse sits to the side and is rarely used.
You can check out my youtube videos for a glimpse at how I work with a tablet and SU.
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I have a small wacom and my use of it lies somewhere between James' and monsterzeros'.
Im a mouseman for su mostly but I find the pen very handy for fiddly cleanup jobs especially with sandbox or soapskinbubble entities when they need to be intersected with other geometry. For zooming I mouse scroll with the other hand.
Re size: for su the smallest seems to be quite fine.
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thanks to all of you so far. i am getting more familiarized with what a pen tablet can do for me.
justin, i have looked at your videos: it is great to see you in action. needless to say, but there is a lot to be learned from them just by watching.
cheers to all.
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Tablet is THE nr1 choise when working in Photoshop, I don't touch my mouse when working with Photoshop, it just lacks accuracy.
However I have never done any 3D with a tablet, I tried, just does not work for me, I need my mouse. I have a pretty hefty mosue with a lot of customisable buttons which I use for 3D modelling which I just can't miss. So for me it is mouse for 3D tablet 2D. I even use my tablet in Acad.
If you are going to buy a tablet, buy a wacom. They are pretty much bastard proof, industry standard, great support and they are styled very nicely.
Just my 2 cents on this matter
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@monsterzero said:
You can check out my youtube videos for a glimpse at how I work with a tablet and SU.
Wow, that is educational.
I've got a long way to go. 
Your artistic and anatomical knowledge is impressive. -
Cool thread- the more PS work I find myself doing them more I feel like a tablet would be very useful and this thread has really answered some questions.
Monsterzero- nice vid, but the navigation looks odd- it seems to orbit extremely fast back and forth. Did you sped up the frame rate of that video for posting or is the response of the tablet much quicker than a mouse?
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Just took a look at PC World's Wacom tablet selection- what a price difference, Wacom Volito £35 ($75), Wacom CTE-640 £199 ($400). Can anyone recommend one of the cheaper models or are they not worth bothering with? Is there such a difference in performance/size that the extra £165 is worth paying? Does size matter for Photoshop work? Presumably you can have a mouse and tablet plugged in at the same time and alternate between them depending what prog your using at the time?
Sorry for so many questions, but I'm really interested in switching to a tablet for PS work and I've never even touched one.
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I use a 11 x 17 AIPTEK tablet for all my conceptual work, design and post processing. I could not imagine post work without it and all my sketch work prior to modelling. I use Alias Sketchbook pro 2.0 for designs and it integrates like a dream with a tablet.
What I would like to know is if anyone here uses a Cintiq 21"?
http://www.digitalgraphicsresources.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=619
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Thanks James, that link you posted doesn't actually link to a tablet, just pixmania's front page, but you say you got the Volito and are happy with it so that's good enough for me. I just checked ebay and they seem to be the same price as PC World so I may as well just go to the big purple warehouse- heck I might go one evening this week, I've earned a new toy. Thanks again!
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As far as size goes, I believe that all tablets have a configuration setting to map your area/workspace, obviously the larger the tablet the more adjustability you have with this setting. Now quality does differ based on price, response times, accuracy, customising parameters, Cad integration, stylus functions etc, I suggest getting a basic (cheap) tablet and see if you can integrate it into your workflow before commiting to a high quality cash basher. Like the 3d Connexion products where only 30% of purchased units actually get used, tablets are not as bad but also have the getting accustomed to issues.
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@solo said:
I suggest getting a basic (cheap) tablet and see if you can integrate it into your workflow before commiting to a high quality cash basher. Like the 3d Connexion products where only 30% of purchased units actually get used, tablets are not as bad but also have the getting accustomed to issues.
Great advice Solo, thanks. I just wondered with such a price difference if the cheap ones would be so crappy to use that they might put you off tablets altogether, but from what you and James say that's not the case- I reckon I'll take the plunge.
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from most of the replies the wacom tablets seem to be to ones to get. looking at their site my impression was that the graphire is the entry level and the intuos seems to be the tablet for those intending to do do professional work without having to spend what a cintiq costs.
would a graphire tablet be ok for serious image editing?
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the graphire works fine for everything I do...
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@unknownuser said:
would a graphire tablet be ok for serious image editing?
The main difference between the models is the resolution of the tablet itself, and the range of the pen pressure. A serious photoshop user will want the higher range in both categories. Pen pressure sensitivity is something like 512 for the cheaper models, and 1024 for the higher end. Plus with the Intuos you get the grip pen which in my opinion is more comfortable than the smaller pen.
Also, it depends on what you mean by "serious image editing." If you mean that you edit photos or renderings, than the graphire might work for you. But if you do a lot of painterly editing or do hand drawn elements, than the Intuos would be better.
My recommendation - if you have a widescreen monitor, or use a dual monitor set up, get the wide screen tablet. I had bought a regular tablet (before they had the widescreen model) and it felt weird to me, because the motion is scaled across the two monitors. The movement of the pen to screen isn't as natural.
Most of the artist I work with (and I work with a lot) use the 6 inch tall range of tablets. Mostly because that's the scale they draw in if they are not on the computer, so it emulates their natural drawing motion. So if you draw or paint outside the computer, you might want to think about that as your comfort range.
@unknownuser said:
Monsterzero- nice vid, but the navigation looks odd- it seems to orbit extremely fast back and forth. Did you sped up the frame rate of that video for posting or is the response of the tablet much quicker than a mouse?
Those videos are sped up quite a bit. But I do find that using the tablet has made some actions faster. A flick of the wrist, or circular motion is more precise and is less strain on my wrist than a mouse.
If you have any issues with wrist pain, or RSS you might try a tablet.
I've tried out the Cintiq and I really want one. But I like my setup now. The one problem with the Cintiq is the screen refresh of certain programs. Because you have a direct response from your drawing to pen, you notice the lag between drawing a long arc, circle or line. You'd get used to it I'm sure. The lag is the same with a desktop tablet, but it's not as noticeable because the hand motion, and the screen results are separated.
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Just a reminder- My Wacom Graphire has a pen and a mouse. (I think most of the other Wacoms have both). The mouse is cordless, no battery, no ball, has a fabric bottom that is not hard to clean. It has 2 buttons and clickable scroll wheel ( I think you can program all buttons). The mouse will only work on the Wacom pad, but that has been no problem.
So in some cases, the pen and mouse can be really handy. Also, the mouse does not have a problem with my main "system" wired mouse, which rests next to the keyboard on a slide-out shelf below my desktop. Just another option.
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RegH, good point about the mouse. Mine came with one as well, and I actually don't use it. I think it's still in the box. Plenty of my artist friends still use them. I just happen to really like my current mouse.
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It's ordered.... a Wacom Volito 2 is on it's way to my office- can't wait to play. Will review and report back in a week or so.
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strange. i looked into the wacon site and could not find the volito model! all i could find were the graphire, intuos and cintiq ones.
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Edson,
Maybe it only a European model? Here's a link to the Volito page on their European site, although it doesn't give much information by which to compare with other models.
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all it shows in the technical specifications is the dimensions, active area and pressure levels. but i guess that's all you need...
i hope mine is already on it's way to it's true master
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