What tablet do I use

[DivSmart]

I'm right hand, but I believe all Wacom Intuos are prepared for both hands (I believe you can rotate them and work with it as you exactly need). Not all tablets brands do this. Wacom allows it since very long .

 

Specially at the low end, I entirely recommend wacom. Is not that big money for the hobby you love.  

If gonna be your work horse, my advice, go with Wacom...

 

I got a hardly used Intuos5 Touch Small, so thanks for all your advice. 

[SrPx]

Great !

[DivSmart]

Hello, Michael. Sorry, my bad. I saw the post duplicated, and these days in every community there is a lot of spam, so one might be in "over alert" about that.

 

Hello @SrPx, np :)

 

As you see I got the Wacom Intuos5 Touch (PTH-451). It has all the features I want: touch feature, touch ring; 2048 pressure levels (who can tell the difference) lefty-friendly; wireless kit(a bonus maybe); pen eraser; pen tilt. I could only find a small one. 

 

Hopefully it plays nicely with AD and APh.

 

Once I get the 27" iMac 5K Retina, I am sure the medium tablet would be better.

 

If you have any thoughts on AD and APh with the tablet setup, I would welcome your tips.

 

Thanks for all your advice,

 

Michael

[jonfuller1004]

Are any of you guys using a tablet (I am using a Wacom) struggling with clean lines that I can get using the mouse but the a Wacom and pen ?

[SrPx]

You probably need line stabilization / smoothing (we all do, until tablets shall evolve...). If I get to guess what you mean, that is.

 

For that, 1.6 release in both AP and AD will support some of that. (I say some as it is indeed a bunch of features that help eliminating (with some config, even fully) the jiter or unwanted jaggies. ) From the video I saw of this 1.6 feature, it could really help you there.

 

BTW, this issue is dramatically improved with better hardware in part of the problem. But There's a (mission critical) % of issues that are not solved with a great cpu/gpu/ram/disk, in any software, is tablet limits. In that aspect, I very much recommend the very latest, most recent Wacom Intuos Pro (I'm not related to Wacom, BTW, wish I was..!). As is having a significant pen/tablet technology upgrade. It is a slight improve, actually, as the main problem I believe is going to last many years no matter what brand of tablet, but every technology improve in hardware, better get it if the price is not crazy. (Cintiqs are having the same upgrade, but they are super expensive, and... the 16 inches is IMO too small for serious illustration. Not to speak about the 13"...While with an intuos -pro, or not- , you can work using a big screen, and from a  distance. )

[DivSmart]

Yeah, drawing with a small tablet in a 27"...IMO not the best fit... Is doable, but... For photo retouching, it doesn't matter.  Even so: It can be very interesting to try the Small with AP or AD 1.6 with "line smoothing" on....It might do the deal.   :)

 

I don't know if your model will have all sort of nibs, but if you can, use the softer one: Best for the tablet durability. The nib can wear, no worries, is way way cheaper than a new tablet, and 5 nibs can work -for me- for decades....

 

Hi @SrPx

 

The 27 inch iMac 5K just arrived. (see specs below)

 

The vendor for the refurbished Wacom stuck it on back order, so I cancelled it and got this Wacom on  ebay. What do you think of it for mainly logo vector design work? I know its kind of smallish for drawing, but photo retouching is just something I may try out of curiosity--definitely not my bread and butter. Also, the small tablet may be more suitable for travel with my I will travel with it and want to fit it in with my 13" MackBook Pro.

 

After reading your comment on nibs and I asked the seller he said it is the original one that came with it and it in perfect condition, but he lost the pen holder which usually has the nib remover and an assortment of nibs inside. I am thinking the hard felt nib set with the code 

Wacom ACK-20003

 

Do you think one standard nib will be enough for a while? They are cheap enough. I, like you am looking to AD 1.6 with brush stabilization.

 

It will interesting to see how The Wacom works on wireless. Affinity have a few of them in the office and they said lag is not an issue with Affinity software. I guess this would be more about whether the drivers are buggy.

 

As long as tilt and pressure work, it should be fine.

 

Finally, I really appreciate your good advice, and have taken it.

 

What do you think?

 

Michael

[Alfred]

The vendor for the refurbished Wacom stuck it on back order, so I cancelled it and got this Wacom on  ebay.

 

Did you have a particular reason for using a shortened URL for your link, Michael? Many users are wary of such things, and since only the word "Wacom" is displayed in your post it doesn't really matter how long the full URL is.

 

Wacom Intuos Pro 5 Touch Tablet with Charger & Pen (Wireless)

[DivSmart]

Did you have a particular reason for using a shortened URL for your link, Michael? Many users are wary of such things, and since only the word "Wacom" is displayed in your post it doesn't really matter how long the full URL is.

 

Wacom Intuos Pro 5 Touch Tablet with Charger & Pen (Wireless)

You make a good point Alfred.

 

In the interests of transparency I will do it your way.

 

So, what do you think of the tablet? It reaches me Monday, as everything comes here in container ships.

Do you have any experience with the nibs?

 

Michael

[Alfred]

You make a good point Alfred.

 

In the interests of transparency I will do it your way.

 

 

So, what do you think of the tablet? It reaches me Monday, as everything comes here in container ships.

Do you have any experience with the nibs?

 

It looks nice, as do all the Intuos tablets! I don't have an Intuos, only a small Volito2 which gets very occasional use, so I've never had to replace the nib (which is just as well, since it seems to be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible, for the stylus which came with that particular model).

[SrPx]

Is too small for a 27" (I'd have put more bucks, is not compensated with that really nice machine (although I edit video and 3D render a lot, I need an i7 for decent time waits. but while being a PC Windows guy, I gotta say I too love macs. Once I "get rich" ;)  I'll have a high end mac, too... (and a machine just with linux).. ) and screen (even while am not sold in a monitor until I see how it deals with color stuff among other serious matters (uniformity, contrast ratio, gradients, etc), no matter what brand...) ...). I dig every lab test in a per specific model, case per case way...

 

But... for vector work, if you use stabilization or any smoothing/averaging in whatever the software, vector or raster, it "could" work for you. I made all the 2D artwork for a Diablo II like commercial game with a much elder wacom small (way less pressure levels and resolution, were the old times ! Wacom has evolved tons), previous even to the bamboos (several generations older, indeed) , and later, with a mere Graphire, ...5 phone games in a year, just using that. But it was a 90% pixel art in the second case (phone games), and about 50% concept art in the first case, like penciled -not inked!- and the other half was 2D retouching images that had been 3D rendered so that they'd look like a much richer rendering, or even faking 3D stuff with just painting.  Oh, and tons of UI and texturing work in both.

 

A "Small", as mentioned, does work well for photo retouch-only tasks. For pixel art, no problem, either: it works quite fine. For vector art, yep, though for logo and corporate image work I prefer just the mouse, but that's me. For vector based illustration, and really good (and set as high, to smooth a lot) stabilization, yep, the wacom, even the small, is a time saver and allows a lot of extra freedom and fluid work. Even for inking could work with a very hard worked smoothing/stabilization setup, and knowing you will have to work in a very specific way. 

 

I just would never go with that great machine and a small, but I cover those fields I mentioned above, and practically every other 2D/3D field, so that wouldn't be enough for me, at all.  Specially bad for comic inking and line art. But if those tasks are occasional for you, and you don't get to make the right setup and config in your applications to make the small work fine for your for inking, you can always resort to do it by using vector nodes (even with the mouse), controlling the handlers, which is extremely accurate -and very slow- . 

 

For the 13" laptop is a better fit (and recommended for portability, but even there I'd have put a little more bucks for the cheapest medium, the non Pro Intuos Art medium size) for the eye-hand coordination, but does not improve any of these issues.

 

Overall, is a solid purchase, though, I have yet to fully regret a Wacom's purchase... Hmm. No, that's not entirely true. I did regret -and sold second hand to a great friend, warning her about all the issues. She still loved it at 300 bucks (from the actual 1200 just some months previous to the sell, but it was a very dear friend, more of a gift, and I was really hating the device...), and she still was happy (though understood the issues better) months later, so, who knows...- buying a Cintiq 12 WX. IMHO, one should never buy anything smaller than 22", wacom, chinese, or whatever, for a screen-tablet. I could write a book about my reasons for that statement. That said, a lot of the issues and cons of the 12 WX are not so bad in the 13", and the most recent 16" could be the way to go (also as includes the "2.0" pen (and IMHO, tablet) technology, which is very, very key (ie, goodbye parallax, way better feel and accuracy,etc)), totally, for a portable solution even for serious work. (still, due to the size, not for a 10 - 14 hours day work like any of mine ! )

It might be absolutely enough for you. The model itself is good, just remember not to press hard, avoid any scratch, it'd render the tablet useless. (in that respect the gorilla glass of the intuos 3 was safer, but people love the more paper-like texture, huh...)

I use one  that I believe is called "felt" nib. Smoother, less risk for scratch (it is among the usual nib dispenser that comes always included, in the pen support base). But only since recently, most of the years used the standard nib !. Important: I always replace a nib when the wearing and erosion of it starts to build an edge. THAT can scratch your tablet surface very fast, plus being not comfortable. I have changed nibs just 3 times in 8 years !! And I could always buy replacements... So wearing is produced no matter what you do, after some years, if I look my full day used XL, from a side an angle I can see some very slight blurred area. That does not affect at all in work. So, use, IMO, the softer nib you see, and press very gently, always. Remember that using it right 99% of the time, but pressing more in a single moment of inspirational passion defeats the purpose, it'll end up scratched anyway. So, be careful, have that red light in your brain. My Intuos, I believe since 2009 or so when I purchased my 4 XL, been my work horse, steady and reliable in professional work, always. It can, like monitors survive several CPUs ! So, yeah, I'd bet always for a good brand. That said, the Yiynova's seem to care for quality more than other alternatives. I'd wait a bit more to see if people report it resists usage and pass of time well... Anyway, if you earn your living with this, even if it breaks in 5 years, is a 600 bucks in 5 years, while 2500 or so of a cintiq 24 - 27, might be way too much. is always a balance of what you invest and your expenses, and what you make out of it, as a freelance... My own conclusion is that funnily, after so much research, I seem to have ended too used to the old Intuos way as to jump to screen-tablets, they have their big issues. So, in a moment I applaud any intuos purchase (i also think Wacom screen-tablets are wildly overpriced. But beware some very low quality alternatives, that can be throwing away your money. I'd say I "kind of" trust Yiynova (certainly th ebest monitor's quality, even better than some cintiqs (not the 27")) among them all, and pay attention to any news from XP-Pen tablets (good price/quality ratio)).

 

There is though a collection of issues in the Yiynovas that are never an issue in Cintiqs, people should be aware of that, too. (can be worked out, tho with tricks, an anti-glare film, etc). But sorry, am going off topic again...

 

 

[SrPx]

I got curious.. seems as expected, the best part of these new imac 5k is the screen... geez....5k resoluton is nice, but not sth I care for. BUT... it supports DCI P3 color gammut, supposedly (tests always put lower what each company announces)   130% wider than sRGB (extra red and greens, but same blues/cyans) ! . Also, 78 to 86 % (tests differ...) of Adobe RGB spectrum (mine is a nec pro range and goes higher than that, but still, very good bang for the buck (globally), I suppose...)  

 

The contrast is fine, too, 1160:1.  The uniformity, not so good (back lighting seem to dim a little in some corners). If that's only the issue, not super bad for me, my work tend to always happen at the center of screen, corners are close to never used.

Still, this data is not from my favorite 2 (sometimes I look in depth articles in Tom's hardware, too) sites for screens. But overall, seems a great monitor.

[huitou]

In my experience, either an iPad Pro with a stylus or a larger XP-Pen tablet, depending on your budget. I haven't been in the market for a while, but I use the medium sized XP-Pen DECO 03 and it's great. Size is important; if he draws tiny things from his wrist maybe a small one is ok, but most artists/retouchers I know need the larger size to be more comfortable. 

this is the details about the XP-Pen DECO 03 graphics Tablet : https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/314.html

[SrPx]

And if money is not an issue, now that I am finally set (been with intuos 4 XL since 2009!) on Wacom Intuos Pro, like... for ever (with this I mean: Having tested both waters, and feeling more and more comfortable than ever with the pen-tablet versus pen-display for ergonomics + having a higher level of control now...so much that I don't plan anymore in buying a pen-display)  , I'm starting to mainly recommend Wacom Intuos Pro Large, not just as a golden purchase, but even as my main recommendation, for illustration and comic,  if money is not an issue (they've seen nice discounts, is cheaper now, as always, thanks to competition). Or if money is a huge issue, that Deco 03 is quite a nice deal. A Wacom Intuos Pro (or not pro) Medium, is also great...just I'd only use the Small for strictly photo retouch and pixel art....or illustration if using a verrry high level of the stabilizer feature, and you being ok with that....

Curious note about my XL : Not sure if can trust the below sellers, but one could always send it back, it's Amazon... Wacom still sells this, very surprisingly, at their store, tho stopped production and XL size since very long, from all what I know... They sell it "new" yet at the same pricing, a bit over 800 bucks !!  

https://eu-store.wacom.com/Product/Intuos4-XL-DTP-S02#/

The amazon entry :
https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Intuos4-Extra-Large-Tablet/dp/B001TUYU0G

Consider however that modern Wacom tablets have better specs. Again, if have the money, by all means I'd go with Wacom Inutos Pro Large, Paper or not, am not sold on the Paper option, would need to test it to know better.

If it is freakingly impossible to get more money than 100 bucks for a tablet, yeah, Deco 03. But if have a bit more money,   just not reaching the -now lower- price of a Wacom Large... well, I'd go for the Wacom Medium. Even the non Pro, but Medium size. Some of us are too dependent on the side wheel/disc, but I have a bunch of alternative workflows, could do without it.

I know I change slightly of opinions from time to time... is due to checking reviews, friends experience, and own experience. Am more in favor of Wacom, lately.. The alternatives (and happens also to MS tablets! grrrr ) have issues like wobble/jitter in the lines, still a lot rely on battery based pens, etc, etc, etc. Wacom is a deluxe brand... but it pays well going for their low range, as even those pass many quality tetss by professional labs, sth rare to see in alternative brands, and well, they are freaking good. As said before, I'm in no way paid by wacom, btw, wish I was. ;D 
 

Edit: Ok, false alarm, lol... The used one comes with no pen... another at 300, with a scratch... dunno how bad it is in real use.... The one at 500... heck. That's the price of a modern Pro, no point in going for any of these even at a 300 price tag.

[firstdefence]

I'm enjoying the XP-Pen Artist 12, its a tad small for me but the feel has made me realise I really want a larger drawing display instead of a tablet, the Artist 12 is a lot more intuitive to use and I can angle it; never been able to draw square on, I'm a 45º er lol!

[SrPx]

yep, I've used a 12" one (used one for kindda long, but tested several) ,  if I ever get back to that, is gonna be 22 inches or +.

[Daniel204]

On 4/11/2015 at 1:02 PM, supervolting said:

 

Yes there are many similar applications like this too.  The current iPads have two issues:

     1. low friction service

     2. poor pressure sensitivity

 

When we draw, our brain adjusts to the medium we are working with, but something with less friction requires our reaction time to be that much faster.  Something like paper is ideal because the friction gives feedback to our brain and we can react and draw much more accurately for shorter strokes (opposite for longer strokes).

 

The upcoming iPads may have a more pressure sensitive screen, but I'm not sold that it will be what we imagine it will.  The watch can tell the difference between a light touch and a deep touch, but I'm not sure what the in-between is and that's what's important.  We would like it to be as close to analog as possible, like how a marker or ink pen would work.

 

 

 

According to the Kickstarter page, that company has been doing this for almost a decade — I'm surprised I haven't seen one of these in person.  This is what I've been wanting out of my iPad; a full-fledged operating system.  This would be awesome, except for the price tag.  I wouldn't pay them double the price of the laptop.  I was thinking it would be a $200-500 cost over top the cost of the laptop, but $2k-3k is absurd!  Still, nice product, I'm sure someone that has the $$ would pay that much.

Thanks for sharing the answer. You have shared some crucial tips to me. This answer is beneficial to me.