| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/12/2009 2:26:58 AM | | Has anyone used these? I'm really thinking about getting one-a good one, and I want to know thoughts on this. I did a thread search on this and nothing came up...so I hope I'm not repeating. Anyhow, I really admire the way a lot of pieces look that have been achieved with this method. Also, I've heard that photoshop is a good program for use with these...which is good because I'm fairly competent with photoshop. Anyhow, I have about 500 dollars to spend on one of these tablets...but, again, I want it to be something worth getting. Plus, I don't personally know anyone who has one. | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/12/2009 5:07:15 AM | Yea i have one was worth every penny , fairly cheap to.
Just get a wacom brand one and you cant go wrong, You will be able to get far bigger tablets of different brands cheaper , but from experiance there cheaper for a reasson they dont work very well. Wacom all the way !I got a small wacom bamboo tablet for like 100 euro never had any problems with it. | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/12/2009 11:05:14 AM | | If you're an illustrator, you need to get one of these, makes painting 50 times faster in photoshop. the pen is pressure sensitive so it fades from thick to thin perfectly, and stokes you can't get on a mouse. It has an eraser at the other end so you don't have to toggle back between pen to eraser. You also have the capabilities to assign each of the buttons shortcut functions. I used to use it at my old job, though I prefer the mouse I know within time I'd adapt to to it. If you get one, it should be the mid size or larger, because you have more buttons and space to draw on, where the small one doesn't have many buttons. | |
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Joined: 4/23/2009
Msg: 4 | |
| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/12/2009 1:24:37 PM | http://www.google.com/products?q=Digital+usb+tablets&hl=en&price1=100.00&price2=500.00&scoring=r
GIMP is a versatile graphics manipulation package. This page should help you get a taste of what GIMP is capable of. You can also have a look at our introduction page or browse through the tutorials.
http://www.gimp.org/
-Free equivalent to the full version of Photoshop (the full version of Photoshop is +$1,000) | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/12/2009 9:20:53 PM | | I'm not an illustrator, I'm more of just a recreational artist, but I do take pride in my work and recently I came across people who said they used usb tablets, and I really like the results. Plus, coloring things in on photoshop=huge pain in my butt. I also hate having to draw things, then scan them, then adjust the contrast...this just seems easier. | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/14/2009 6:10:18 PM | | Wacom still makes the best tablets, and they have been around forever. They were the first to manufacture them I think. And their cheapest model is somewhere around $80. | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/14/2009 11:18:21 PM | | So far it seems wacom is the way to go. Thanks for the advice! | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/14/2009 11:32:59 PM | Another option is what I did, empty a pen of it's contents, stick a led in the end of it, screw on the cap to hold the led in place, then attach a couple hearing aid batteries for power. Then you take a box, cover it with printer paper, cut a hole in the bottom, stick a webcam in that hole. The next part is the difficult part for most people, go to a coding site and find a tutorial or paper that helps explain motion recognition (I used a paper that was aimed at FTIR devices but adapted it) set up the software to gauge the distance the light from the pen on the paper has moved via the webcam to view it, then add that distance to the mouse cursor making a call into the windows api to move to the cursor (which is perhaps the easier part of the software). Works awesomely, I can even adjust the speed with a slider the adds on a multiplier.
Those USB tablets however are really good, I had a Pablo Pad a long time ago. The only problem I have with tablets are they are expensive to get one of any significant size, which for me is important as I made a lot of wide strokes in my artwork. | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/14/2009 11:40:59 PM |
Another option is what I did, empty a pen of it's contents, stick a led in the end of it, screw on the cap to hold the led in place, then attach a couple hearing aid batteries for power. Then you take a box, cover it with printer paper, cut a hole in the bottom, stick a webcam in that hole. The next part is the difficult part for most people, go to a coding site and find a tutorial or paper that helps explain motion recognition (I used a paper that was aimed at FTIR devices but adapted it) set up the software to gauge the distance the light from the pen on the paper has moved via the webcam to view it, then add that distance to the mouse cursor making a call into the windows api to move to the cursor (which is perhaps the easier part of the software). Works awesomely, I can even adjust the speed with a slider the adds on a multiplier.
I rather spend the $80. LOL | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/14/2009 11:50:47 PM | | Yea, I'm no good at weird rigging...a few extra dollars have come my way...so I have enough to buy a nice one. | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/15/2009 12:54:55 PM |
Has anyone used these? I'm really thinking about getting one-a good one, and I want to know thoughts on this. I did a thread search on this and nothing came up...so I hope I'm not repeating. Anyhow, I really admire the way a lot of pieces look that have been achieved with this method. Also, I've heard that photoshop is a good program for use with these...which is good because I'm fairly competent with photoshop. Anyhow, I have about 500 dollars to spend on one of these tablets...but, again, I want it to be something worth getting. Plus, I don't personally know anyone who has one.
Got a WACOM Intuos3 A4 tablet, good size tablet and works very well, never get a problem with the system I use it on, deffo the best tablet Ive got and have ever owned
Also have a WACOM Intuos2 A3 tablet, its good, bigger than the A4 of course so you dont have as much moving about to do, the size does matter but its got a serial interface and the size is a problem so it lives in a cupboard...
It doesnt look as good as my A4 tablet either...
The WACOM Bamboo is good, its an A6 size tablet, which means its about the size of a large mouse pad, its resolution is high considering its size, but Im not 100% on its graphics drawing potential, I use it more for scratch work than art work if you know what I mean...
Good tablet tho and its USB | |
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| Digital/usb tablets?
Posted: 8/15/2009 6:11:00 PM | shadowette, futureshop has an entry level tablet on sale right now. It is smaller in size, but some people prefer that, as you don't have to move your hand around as much to get across the screen. Less than $100 CA, and it is the Wacom bamboo series Bladerunner mentioned.
Photoshop has settings which allow you to alter brush properties simply through pen pressure, tilting, rotating...all that jazz. With some pens, the back of the pen functions as an eraser automatically in Photoshop. Just flip it around and start erasing like it were a real pencil. Photoshop and tablets go well together.
Unless you are already familiar with using a tablet, it might take some practice though.
Not exactly like using a pencil but close enough. You only have to hold the pen reasonably close to the surface for your cursor to appear on screen, so once you get used to not looking at the tablet, keeping your pen tip from touching by accident, and just focusing on the screen, you are set. | |
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