Graphics Tablet

BP
Posted By
Bryan_P_L
Aug 23, 2004
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258
Replies
11
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Closed
I’m looking at buying a graphics tablet but I really don’t know where to start. Does anyone have suggestions of what I should/shouldn’t get? Could someone also explain the pressure sensitive pen and it’s functions? Do I need to make sure the tablet works with Photoshop or will they all do that?

I need something cheap (about $100 or less).
OSX and Inkwell compatible (I think they’re all Inkwell compatible).

Thanks.
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CS
Chris_Sword
Aug 23, 2004
Bryan, I recommend the Wacom Graphire 4×5 tablet.

<http://www.wacom.com/graphire/4×5.cfm>

I use the Graphire 6×8 at work and the Intuos 6×8 at home. The only significant difference is the pressure sensitivity, but the graphire does jjust fine, I barely notice a difference.

These tablets are the inustry-standard, and they work flawlessly in Photoshop. However, they are still working out some bugs when using them with the newer Macromedia products. As far as size, the 6×8 is nice, but the 4×5 is just fine, too. When using the pen tool, you have so much control over how the tracking works that you barely notice the real-estate difference. If you can, I’d try to save up and get the Intuous version because they seem a little better quality than the graphires, but any Wacom will do.

Hope this helps!
SJ
Stevie_J_V
Aug 24, 2004
I recomend the 12×12 for illustration work myself, especially with two monitors, and yes, they are all inkwell compatible.
WG
Welles_Goodrich
Aug 24, 2004
Best price for the Wacom Graphire 4×5… $74.52

<http://www.provantage.com>

(run a search… I always check this company first for peripherals because their prices are almost always best)
B
Buko
Aug 24, 2004
6×8 Intuos
JF
john_findley
Aug 24, 2004
Been using Wacom 6 X 8 since 1994 and I have never had a problem with either the old ArtZ or the new Intuos. You will learn to love the pressure sensitivity.

The 4 X 5 is within your price range, and you can always zoom in :).
KN
Ken_Nielsen
Aug 24, 2004
4×5 Intuos 2

Works with Photoshop very well.

"Could someone also explain the pressure sensitive pen and it’s functions?"

The Wacom website will have all of the details.

Just get one, it’s an indispensable tool for the graphic artist.
RB
Richard_BRackin
Aug 24, 2004
I’ve got a 12×12 Intuos and I rarely ever use more than a 6×8 inch section of it. I guess it could be a function of where I have it sitting … it’s just to the right of my mouse.
I run a 21" monitor at 1600×1200.

Anyway, if I were to do it again I’d get something around 6×8 and set it right between my keyboard and monitor.

I use mine for photo editing / cleanup, drawing masks, paint, writing quick handwritten notes on the images to send back to clients, blah blah blah …
KN
Ken_Nielsen
Aug 24, 2004
Richard, Re: blah blah blah …, I agree. I had the 12×12 and the 6×8 and discovered that mapping the area I really used brought it down to an area that fits the 4×5 perfectly. All those wasted dollars (the 12×12 was not cheap) just to find out that the 4×5 gives all the natural wrist movement area I need. (Dual 23 and 17 inch LCD monitors)
CS
Chris_Sword
Aug 24, 2004
hello. I have both an Intuos2 6×8 and a Graphire3 6×8. The pressure sensitivity is a feature that reads how much pressure the pen is pushed down with, and then translates that to whatever parameters you set: some of the most popular uses for it in photoshop are varying brush widths, varying degrees of opacity, varying amount of scatter / colorshift / etc.

It proves very useful when you want a more organic feel of some brush strokes. I have used the 4×5 and I must say I cannot validate the $100 price difference from the 6×8. But if you like more real-estate, get the 6×8- unless you’re a novelty person, don’t get anything bigger because you won’t need it. With the options you have for tracking with the pen and mouse, you can make any tablet feel like its anywhere from a 4×5 to a 12×18.

I have also used the MaCally icedcad mini tablet and compared to a Wacom it sucks.

But any way you go, a tablet will enhance your design experience like no other piece of hardware.
B
bonniej
Aug 25, 2004
I had the 6×8 Intuos2 .. then received the 9×12 Intuos as a gift.

Although the 9×12 is grand… I really could do just fine with the 6×8… even with my 22" cinema monitor.
CC
Conrad_Chavez
Aug 26, 2004
Could someone also explain the pressure sensitive pen and it’s functions?

Here’s another way to explain it. I run into people who think using a tablet is only about having a mouse shaped like a pen, but it isn’t. If you pick up a 10-cent pencil and draw with it, you can press harder to make a darker/thicker line, and you can ease up on the pressure to make a lighter/thinner line. If you turn the pencil over, you can erase with it.

Your mouse can’t do any of that. You can only make marks at one fixed setting. Essentially, a graphics tablet finally brings your $2000 computer’s graphic input capabilities back up to the level of a 10-cent pencil. That’s why artists can’t live without one–a high-tech mouse is ironically too "dumb" to carry out the drawing and painting techniques developed over the last 6000 years.

If you get the Intuos and its stylus, you can tilt your stylus and get a wider line, as you would with a real pencil, paintbrush, or airbrush.

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