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Im trying something new lately. I got me a new Wacom graphics tablet and been playing around with it. well this piece was started as a sketch done with pencil and paper, then I scanned it and I traced the lines with Xtreme, much easier to draw with than illustrator and I exported the lines to PSD and then proceeded to paint it in photoshop. Most of it was done using a mouse but I did use my tablet to add the shading and the highlights and some details.
Congratulations ;)Quote:
I got me a new Wacom graphics tablet
I too like to do cartoons and I used a drawing tablet once, a long time ago. I cannot remember the manufacturer of the tablet, but it was not Wacom, I know that. I could not get on with it at all. I wonder how long it takes to get used to using one, I think I gave it a couple of days before I unplugged it and went back to my mouse.
Thank you Mike and Kinetica
well I did not like to use the tablet in Xara Xtreme. it was clunky and did not work right. I tried to use the free hand tool and you just can not get it to act like a real pen or pencil. It is much easier to draw with the tablet in Illustrator or photoshop. So now I find my self using a combination of different programs.
Very nice Bruce. I have to agree, that there is not a perfect program, but xara is pretty durn close in my book.
Thanks John, yes Xtreme is still one of my favorite programs. If only I could sketch in it like I can in Illustrator and paint like I do in Photoshop.
Hello
I understand what you mean. Photoshop and Illustrator certainly have their uses but in my case I have never painted better in Photoshop than I have with a brush and a few tubes of primary colours, and I have never sketched better in Illustrator than I have with a scrap of paper and a 2B pencil. It's then that I run over it in ink, scan it, import it into Xara and trace it, and then colour it in.
I do wish, though, that Xara had a twain facility. It really is about time it did.
Congrats on your new tablet...Quote:
Originally Posted by a4hire
By the way don't be put off the tablet if at first you don't warm to it to the same degree that you had hoped...
I made this mistake... i was disappointed that it was not "the answer to life the universe and everything", but eventually reversed many of my initial biases over time (it took me nearly 2 years as i was so miffed i couldn't even bring myself to use it initially)....as you will (even though you may not see how this could happen in the light of your current disappointments...) ...it will...
This will start to occur when you actually start to prefer it to a mouse or can use it just about as well as a mouse generally. There is more of a learning curve than you would expect....good luck....
Thank you Morphonius
yes there is a bit of a learning curve with the tablet, I am still learning, I just need to use it more and become comfortable with it as you have said.
This has been brought up before in the Xtreme forums if you hold down the esc key with some sort of weight it is easier to draw with a tablet. I use a small beach rock.
Hello Frances
I just went to your website and I would like to congratulate you on the very professional and indeed funny Sunshine PDFs you create. They certainly raised a giggle here :)
(I like the "Sports Illustrated" one - I can relate to it!!!)
You place a rock on it ? And then ? I dont understand it at the moment. I guess I am going to have to try it. But it really is easier in illustrator.Quote:
Originally Posted by angelize
Bruce - if you keep the escape key held down then everything remains unselected and no lines join up when you don't want them to
dang that accidental keystroke that submits the post too soon - bane of my life :D
tablet work is easier in illustrator IMO
nice drawing Bruce :)
I found that using the pen all the time (instead of the mouse,) makes things easier to get used to.Quote:
Originally Posted by a4hire
regards jonnycross
Hey Jonny,Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnycross
I like your signature quote....
I have one which I have often thought to myself (but never really vocalized) which is simply a personal belief of mine which is very similar to this...
"To know someone is to love that someone.".
If you read this without thinking on more than a superficial level then i can understand why most people would be thinking: WTF?.
Its slightly esoteric. But I really believe it to be a fact on a fundamental level and to understand this you would obviously have to work on your definition of the word "know" hence the italics.
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(P.S people that are bored by long posts get off here)
Anyway.....
The pen... yeah I'm fairly comfortable with using it, but i have to admit i would never sacrifice my mouse or pretend the pen could ever be a serious contender to replace it either.
I have thought long and hard about the pen vs mouse thing and one of my conclusions relates to the mechanics of the hand position on the mouse during operation...
i.e with the palm on the table and the thumb and 3rd finger squeezing inward at an angle on both sides.
This reminds me of the setup they have for rotating the turret of a large telescope where they have 2 motors working in opposition to completely remove the slack from the gearing and to buffer the movement etc making it very smooth
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the pen promises unparalelled precision as the effective resolution is 3 or 4 times higher...
To test this simply hold a pen in your hand and put a peice of paper under your mouse and see how big your screen maps onto your mouse pad...then do the same on your wacom pen...
Depending on what size you have.... anyway the pad has much more real estate and this factor alone is quite telling...(or so it would seem superficially)
But I would argue that during operation, the pen itself can often be perched above the pad during use (moving from place to place) and has to be moved/tapped down during operation (to left click).... which is not a big problem in itself as it does work well enough BUT...
The rock solid nature of the hand position on the mouse coupled with the superior mechanical action of apposing forces in balance etc.. makes up for its smaller "Map" and then some....i.e it is so rock solid that moving it with extreme accuracy is easy...
Furthermore as your hand is "all over it" and resting on the table on the sides and back....clicking without adversely effecting the pointer position is a breeze.
The pen is quicker for a reasonable level of accuracy but i think if you really wanted to max out your resolution/quality then your would have to keep the pen anchored to the mat permanently and use pedals for the mouse buttons...
i.e eliminate the need to have to effect your pointer position slightly when using the buttons on the pen itself as this is also a factor which works against its accuracy.
(Especially if the button on the pen is pressed when it is in mid air as this can move the pen significantly and when in the process of descending downward as part of a tap down action this can be enough to move the pointer out by a few pixels....)
Not a biggie but annoying as you don't realize these things when you first buy one. I think if you understand the limitations and advantages of both you will find a balance and use each appropriately.
disable buttons on pen
do not click with pen - click with mouse in other hand
sorted ;)
Part of the reason some people get pen input devices is the promise of increased speed. (This was a major factor for me.)
Tying up both hands to operate what effectively adds up to one mouse and in the process eliminating the availability of all ones "spare hand" for keyboard shorts...more than eliminates (by a long shot) any gains in input speed one could otherwise achieve by using the pen instead of the mouse.
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[about using mouse and pen at the same time...]
P.S.
Believe me when I when i first got my wacom i exhaustively examined this and many other issues from multiple angles as it failed to meet my lofty expectations...and of course this idea did come up...
I even taped over the optical sensor on my mouse at one point so as to trial such a system...
It was a little bit annoying as the Wacom driver would not allow one to disable the nib of the pen... so one would still have to carefully place the first point when placing the pen down and then take care to keep it in contact with the pad for the whole input ETC (not a big ask but still a factor that meant more care to get this scheme working for a device that was purchased to make my input experience easier and more fun.) Plus as i already said the matter of the keyboard shorts which as it turned out anyway was the deal breaker....
Just for your information when i purchased my Wacom tablet the tap down action could not be used to do right clicks so it was necessary to do right clicks via the button on the shaft of the pen.
(i.e as right clicks are essential for inputting in the embroidery app i use).
This resulted in a loss of quality and much frustration as with my mouse I have no problem getting pixel perfect allignments for various things that became hit and miss with the pen.
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[about mouse button swappers...]
So in the end i got my brother to write a mouse button swapper.
Why....? because all of 6 or 7 mouse button swappers i downloaded from the internet at the time (which were designed for mice) failed to work properly and/or reliably with the Wacom tablet. (Which interfered with all of them in strange ways...)
So in the end my brother told me he had to do some really "hard core shit" (His words) to get it to work in conjunction with the Wacom pad.
At the same time i contacted the design team for Wacom and got them to fix this...and they did....you can now use one of the pen buttons as a hot key to change the nib to a right mouse....(But it did take a year or two for this to eventually happen and in the mean time when i did use the pen i utilized this button swapper to do the same.)
This made a bit of a difference as i have learned to live with the tap down action for right and left clicks...but i still yearn for the promise of somehow taking full advantage of the pen's insane resolution by eliminating the tap down all together (with-out sacrificing my left hand) and also by disabling the nib......(which is still not possible...maybe i should hassle them again for this....)
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[a bit of fun...]
P.P.S i can think of a couple of really whacky ways this (No hands mouse clicking) could be achieved (if you feel like a laugh read on):
1) audio prompts...(ie wear a head set and use software to interpret sound to trigger Left or Right clicks... perhaps by making clicking sounds with the tongue. Hey what could be cooler!)
2) pedals (Don't laugh, you heard of Deep Vein Thrombosis? LOL)...
3) Individual and deliberate blinking of the right or left eye independantly. (Alot of work is going into gesture for controlling the UI so this is not so far fetched although... But I guess you could get into a nasty habit and start looking like you were insane!)
4) Dermal Trigger sensors (Sounds wild but you can get ittle suction cup sensors... you could attach them to a muscle group of your choice and twitch that to effect your "clicks"...right and left calves perhaps.....?)
please feel free to add in some of your own LOL.
so: keep the pen in your hand at all times [over thumb under index over 2nd finger as you use the mouse - index for left and middle buttons third finger for right] leaving the other hand free...
thats what I do myself
Sorry i was busy editing and adding to my post and missed you there:
yeah....I kinda do use a hotch potch now and im not even sure what i do to be honest, i just do it....
A4H Sorry we really did deviate there (this post was supposed to be about your "Poomba with a mid-life crisis"... design.)
Hakunnamatata dood...That means no worries! ...just like your hog... i don't think he's worried about anything....
That circle of life thing is going to be alot quicker on that baby!
:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by morphonius_821
well you do enough of it so hopefully some of it is of help to someone :p
you've got a good style going there Bruce and that' s the thing to concentrate on :)
I won't bite that. (For a change: but you did take that quote out of context...:rolleyes:):p
And my comment was related more to the content than the style...yes:)
And I do think Bruce has made me think about raw creative work too...
So i might try and push ahead with something straight from the brain (no art) just like much of his stuff.
Just because something is from the brain does not mean it is not art, especially if that which comes from the brain is driven by the heart. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, but it is a little ambiguous.Quote:
Originally Posted by morphonius_821
Yes I agree, no argument here. I would say you did, IN hindsight yes perhaps...Quote:
Originally Posted by kinetica
I just meant i was going to try producing a piece without a visual reference, often referred to as "Art".
That's probably where you got that from, i.e i did (unwittingly) use the word in a context that was a little obtuse generally but i wouldn't say the same in a graphic context.
I'm a digitizer by trade so I'm very accustomed to referring to the "Artwork" I receive from customers on a daily basis. i.e. that which the require to be set up as embroidery. (Which could be a fax, a .jpg or a business card etc... which is perhaps industry specific lingo but graphic designers and such will probably also use that word in the same way... not sure if that's the case in the U.S. but i assume it is. )
Yes, now I understand completely! I am used to sending "the artwork" to the printers or the publishers, whether I consider it to be art or not :)
Imagination is greater than reality! ;)
and a terrible thing to waste ;):D
I've heard that somewhere before... :rolleyes: