Any tips on Wacom tablets?

General Forums Off-topic Chat
1

I will buy a wacom tablet soon, after I had my hands on a Graphire2 (A6 format).

I am not sure which Wacom to buy. regarding the price, I could afford an Intuos A6 or a Graphire A5. Since the resolution of the Intuos is twice the Graphire resolution, I guess the Graphire will be the better choice (same effective resolution, bigger space).

Are you using Wacom tablets? Can you give me tips? I don’t need the large ones, since I only want to do texturing work. I think even a Graphire A6 will be good enough. Is the Intous worth the price?

I am only using a notebook, so size does matter.

2

i have a wacom graphire, and it works great. also, being the standard it is, it is supported by everything.

3

I have an A6 Intuos 2, and I love it. I think it’d be more effective if it had been a larger model though, the small size means that small shakes of your hand tend to get exaggerated.

4

intuos 2 or intuos 3?

if its an intuos3 get that, as they have replacement nibs available (graphire means you need to discard your pen and buy a new one for $36 when the nib wears down as mine almost has)

the intuos 3 has three types of nibs offering different feels. it has one that replcates a felt pen, one that replicates a brush, and their standard plastic type ones. (this is not on screen change, but a force feedback)

but as for the size… A6 hmmmm i don’t think it would be big enough for me personally.

Alltaken

5

I have an intuos3 4x5, it’s really small, but for me it’s perfect. I find that it doesn’t really exaggerate my strokes, and it’s great for painting,and texturing.

6

You people and your money.

I have a 4x5 Graphire and it works fine. Your standards are just too high. :wink:

7

4x5 Graphire 3. Perfectly good, and very reasonably priced.

Even works in Linux perfectly.

The only thing I’d like from the higher models is the nibs and tilt, the extra sensitivity is unessecary.

Alex

8

I have the Wacom Graphire3 4x5 on my laptop now the Intuos3 (6x8) on my main workstation. Although both are excellent, the difference in size, tracking resolution, accuracy, and pressure sensitivity is rather pronounced in moving from one to the other.

There are other benefits though that are not immediately apparent when owning Wacom tablets: discounts on major software titles such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Depending on which tablet you get, you get certain free software titles and versions. With Intuous3 it was Photoshop Elements 3 and Corel Painter Classic 2 I think.

Elements 3 is an amazingly capable program, very close to CS line in terms of features (although Elements 4 is closer yet apparently and out now). Any of the Painter programs are very capable and work well with the tablets. Because of those “Wacom privileges” I was eligible for substantial discounts on Photoshop CS and Painter IX. Some of those may be time limited offers though, so they might not always be available.

The Intuos nibs last long, and the wireless mouse that comes with either is a cool addition but not always comfortable or as responsive as an optical mouse it seems. The Intuos3 mouse has extra buttons that I wound up deactivating because they were not ergonomically situated and could activate submenus and functions mistakingly if you weren’t careful.

The pens are where some of the biggest differences exist between the Graphire3 and the Intuos3. The Graphire has a slimline pen, whereas the Intuos3 three has a thicker pen cushioned where you hold it. They now sell the thinner pen for the Intuos3 at the Wacom website, along with a new “6D brush” that transmits extra pivot information through the tablet to a graphics program like Painter. These are not necessary, but if you invest in an Intuos you might consider those new options.

The larger Intuos tablets (6x8 and higher) do seem to allow for cleaner and more natural pen strokes I find, as they’re not forcing you to compress your motion in a smaller space, and they seem to track faster at a higher resolution, making for overall smoother lines.

I just checked the Wacom.com website and apparently the Graphire4 is out, even a wireless version (but with older software apparently).

The Graphire series is still a great purchase considering the dollar amount, and the 4x5 is perfect for portability. Either one should make you happy :slight_smile:

RobertT

9

Got a Medion A4 Graphics Tablet. Very cheap brand, but works like a charm.
The size was a little too big, so I had to scale the workspace down a bit (my arm was getting tired :smiley: ). So A5 would do nicely, but I didn’t like working on a A6-sized tablet.
I think it depends on your ‘drawing’ technic, and perhaps your prefered cursorspeed (which can’t be to much, if you want enough control).

10

Sago, I have same feelings for my Aiptek 12000U, solid product, even too big for my needs but better too big than too small :slight_smile:

11

/me senses a flood of Wacom threads like there used to be at eatpoo.com …

12

OMG! You’re absolutely right, I see it now too! :o On the off-topic chat forum you can find at least 2 (!) Wacomrelated threads! Oh, The Humanity!

blendermax, you’re so funny…

13

OMG! You’re absolutely right, I see it now too! :o On the off-topic chat forum you can find at least 2 (!) Wacomrelated threads! Oh, The Humanity!

blendermax, you’re so funny…[/quote]

I may be paranoid, but lately there have been 3 (yes, that’s three) threads about it. That was in the last week. Dunno, maybe I’m oversensitive or I need a hobby, but it would be interesting to see if there actually is a trend.