Graphics Tablet/Light Pen jobby

and once i tried to use it for Counterstrike but the screen TOTALLY spazzed out and i figured i better stop before someone said i was hacking.

it's alright isn't it, i was just testing it quickly at dinner time. I was using paintshop pro, with airbrush, but using it like a pen size nib with opacity low so it worked like a light feltpen. you can get some cool strokes with that.

It was very easy to use, too for long series of point-and-click operations, but slower than a mouse for just one click, unless you already had the pen in your hand. I also found it hard to use the pen's side buttons with any degree of precision - I could point the pointer accurately, or I could press the side button, but I couldn't do both at once.

xpost!!! hehehehehehehehheheheheheheheheheheeheheheehheheheehhehe :D :D :D

WOW, it's like, real painting, or someting.

(wow)

(kit, easy now)

They're great in Illustrator, though, sort of. And not bad for lo-res photoshop stuff.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ROLAND-PG-1000-Linear-Synth-Controller-D50-D550-PG1000_W0QQitemZ7408843260QQcategoryZ38071QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

still a cheap way to get a midi controller box with 100 faders.

http://www.turntablelab.com/production_tools/84/212/2241.html

Dan, I don't know if you saw it, but have my laptop's trackpad programmed as a midi controller. Sure, it is tiny, but it works for what I need.

fyi, there's a whole series of roland PGs, one for each mid 80s digital synth...they weren't so quick to get rid of the knobs and buttons, and are pretty cool. The PG-1000 is the biggest.

http://timara.con.oberlin.edu/~jtalbert/Roland/roland.htm

So I upgraded to a bigger Wacom tablet, which is fine and I'm using Painter X now which is a great product. But I'm still not getting light enough strokes, the sensitivity settings on the pen is either too high or too low and I have to keep changing the opacity of the brushes to achieve really light paint strokes.

And does anyone know of any light pen/screen hardware, ie like drawing directly onto a screen? The tablet is fine for most things but when I start wanting to change my wrist position things become awry.

http://www.tablet4u.co.uk/product/en/cintiq-21ux-lcd-tablet.html

anyone used this? looks tasty

So is the general impression of these things favourable, then? I'm considering getting one. As I am going on holiday next week and don't want to have to drag a scanner with me or wait until I get home to get my sketchbooked stuff onto my Mac for photoshopping.

i have both the a4 wacom tablet and the cintiq 21 screen tablet, and i must say i prefer the cheaper a4 tablet - it works faster on screen and the tablet itself is nice and light to keep on your lap and move around. (although the speed thing might not be a problem depending on your computer speed, i'm running a basic laptop)

i don't think i could ever go back to using a mouse for digi painting really.

another thing, i use PainterX which has a very handy rotate-working-canvas tool (which transfers to just a button on the tablet). I find it essential for allowing flexibility with which angle I'm approaching the picture.
Now this feature seems missing from Photoshop cs3, but it might have been included in the latest version i don't know.
Then again it might not bother you at all.

(in summary, yes they are great)

I should learn to use one, as 90% of my work is done in photoshop anyway these days. It would save huge amounts of time to skip the inking & scanning & cleanup stages and go straight from sketching -> colouring and manipulation.

i'm getting my boss to write me an email telling me i need to buy one for work - so that i can write it off. just looking at what options are out there - i basically plan on using it for the photo retouching, for the most part.

Twelve year advancement on this, I still use the Wacom Intuos3 tablet rather than the ten-ton weighted Cintiq screen tablet. I've been wanting to get back into digital art after a couple years paused (thanks pandemic!)

Is it worth upgrading to more recent models? Anybody have much experience with these?

Screen tablets are $$$$ though, does anyone use anything other than Wacom and can recommend?

Well, my daughter is pretty serious as a digital illustrator, and has been using tablets for 5-6 years for several hours a day. I got together with my parents to buy her a used Cintiq Pro 15 which is very like a slightly larger iPad. Has a rat’s nest of cables unless you can run it over USB C. She adores it. In doing my research I found the difference from the Cintiq non pro of a similar size, is a ground glass drawing surface instead of plastic, plus a bunch of stuff like pressure levels. She really, really loves it tho.

(as a dad and to establish her cred, I should say that she has won serious prizes for her animation etc. and is a very discerning user of tools like this)

Sorry that should be Cintiq Pro 13. It’s the Cintiq 13 HD and the Cintiq 16 which have the plastic surface. Also I think the texture on the Pro 13 might be a film bonded to the glass.