Wacom Table

[jhereford]

I need some advice, I use Photoshop, Illustrator etc. on a daily basis and am thinking of getting myself a Wacom Pen Table. I feel I might have more control with it rather than just using my mouse. (Using a mouse to draw is like drawing with a bar of soap!) Is there anyone out there that has one, how do you like it? Is it worth the cash for one?

Thanks
JH

[fotoasylum]

I have one of the small ones and I like it... to some existent at the same time it is strange to draw and not look at what you are drawing or looking at what you are drawing on screen but not your hand.... it can be disconcerting.... If you can go Cintiq you might be better served.... not cost effective I know but you can draw and watch your hand at the same time.... although just about anything is better then drawing with a mouse...

[phenn]

it is strange to draw and not look at what you are drawing or looking at what you are drawing on screen but not your hand.

That made me laugh as I had the same experience. One can certainly get used to it but, at first, it really seems counter-intuitive. :o

[grnofslt]

I use a Wacom Tablet and honestly, it is awesome. Mine is 6 X 8 which is really big enough. Using it in Corel's painter or in Photoshop truly makes painting and quick mask mode so much easier than using the mouse. the trick is to just look at your monitor. When the stylus is close to the tablet's surface your cursor moves. And when you are away from the tablet, the cursor arrow lies immovable where you last left it. but then bring your stylus down to the surface of the tablet, and the cursor moves to that point. It does take a bit of getting used to, but once you get over the seeming clumsinessof it, you will draw and paint like you were working with natural media. I recently went and bought myself a Wacom 3 tablet with the power keys and the sensitivity of the tablet seems to be even more sensitive than the first or second generation of Wacom Tablets.

MY thoughts are if you work with Photoshop or Painter, then you need a Tablet. So many of the brush features for these two applications are meant to be used with a tablet being that they support pressure sensitivity. Have you ever tried to paint with a mouse and have to find the control that caused the brush stroke to fade as you painted with it. Photoshop used to have such a control, but I think that with the newer versions it is gone.

Now with Illustrator because it is a Vector program, I believe that I would more prefer to use a mouse and keyboard for most of my work, being that there really isn't any pressure sensitive tools that you work with. The stylus really is nothing more than a mouse when being used with Illustrator and if you are like myself, you ditched Apple's one button mouse for a programable multi-button mouse from Logitec or Microsoft or Kensington or some other company that I have not heard of. The stylus can be a two button mouse if you like.

One cool thing is that the Wacom 3 tablets come with a mouse that you move across the surface of the tablet. No batteries to power the mouse. It is a 5 button mouse with a scroll wheel. The fifth button is the scroll wheel. I never really used the Wacom mouse much because I really love my Logitech laser 1000 which has a rechargable battery and is capable of scrolling side ways through a window.

All in all, save your money, and get yourself a tablet. You will not be sorry that you did. Just use it for a bit and you will be used to working with it.

Oh, another thing, The drivers that support the Wacom tablet sense your monitor and its shape. If you have a wide short display like the Apple cinema displays the working surface of the tablet equals the dimensions of the monitor. And if you have one of the older monitors that are shaped rectangular but more closer to square than wide screen, the tablet software senses that ands again the working surface of the tablet corresponds to the monitor shape. All in all, Wacom products are amongs the best for what they are. There are some cheaper ones out there, but they don't compare. I love my Wacom

Billy Jay

[jhereford]

I think you convinced me, thanks for all the info guys.

JH

[wrangler95]

While expensive, the Cintiq can be a cost effective solution. I'm buying a Cintiq 21UX for my work. Whether or not it is 'cost effective' depends on your use and needs. If your designing and/or retouching all day long - then the time saved using a Cintiq over other options is worth it, as well as the relief of the strain on your wrist and arm from using a mouse. The Cintiq offers a lot a features not found on the other Wacom tablets. Perfect example, say a certain task using a mouse takes you 10 minutes to complete. It may take you only 5 minutes using a basic tablet - once you get used to it, by comparison, it may only take you 30 seconds to complete the same task using a Cintiq. So you can look at it one of two ways - using the Cintiq you can get your work done in less than half the time, or you can get more than double the amount of work done in the same time. :)

I have one of the small ones and I like it... to some existent at the same time it is strange to draw and not look at what you are drawing or looking at what you are drawing on screen but not your hand.... it can be disconcerting.... If you can go Cintiq you might be better served.... not cost effective I know but you can draw and watch your hand at the same time.... although just about anything is better then drawing with a mouse...

[grnofslt]

In looking through the New Adobe Illustrator CS2 WOW book, on page 96 is a tutorial about using a Wacom Tablet with Illustrator. So I was somewhat wrong in my thinking that tablets would not be helpful in Illustrator. check it out at your local book store.