Wacom Tablet choices

[athena]

If you've read this post before, it's because I put it in the old Xara forum in answer to someone's question about which wacom. The new Xara X Forum has a great thread going specifically on Wacom's Grapphire which costs about $100 (US). (Look for page 3 of that thread -- Sean Sedwards has a fabulous review of his current purchase of the Grapphire -- lots of other great input in that thread also [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] )

As for which Wacom.

First of all, be sure to give publisher's toolbox a try (1-800-390-0461 international and canadian orders welcome --- according to their catalog www.pubtool.com) I mention them because a few years ago I bought my ArtZ II 12x12 Wacom for about $100 (US) off the regular price because I asked them if they still had any refurbished Wacoms they could sell me. To my surprise, I got one within one week that looked brand new and has worked beautifully since I got it.

That said, as far as size goes . . . I got the 12x12 "just in case" I ever need to trace something that size. The fact is that except for the one time I tried tracing an image from a little booklet teaching you to draw Disney characters (and remarkably, you can probably put something about the thickness of your average
coloring book and the Wacom will still follow your pen movements.) I've never used that feature ---- so I probably could have gotten by with paying a lot less for a simple 6x8.

I mean, as it turns out, you can customize a 12x12 so that you don't have to be a human windshield wiper and be moving your arm from side to side to compute on a regular basis. I put two old sheets from a dayrunner calendar book under the plastic cover and use that to tell me where my custom draw space boundaries are. (So I tell myself that I have the convenience of the 6x8 with the capacity for bigger projects -- should I ever need that -- to date, I haven't .) my customized drawing space has the dimensions of 7.5"x6.75" or 190.6mm x171.5mm and it controls the mouse all over my screen (although you could adjust that if you want to)

So I say, get a Wacom tablet as soon as you can. You're hands and wrists will thank you for it.

Between the Grapphire and the Intuos?

Well, the Grapphire, like my "old" ArtZ II has 512 levels of pressure. The intuos has 1024. I am not such a fine artist yet that my work needs 1024 levels of pressure so you have make that value judgement on your own. I use my wacom in conjunction with a Kensington orbit trackball because some of MY 3d programs (like TrueSpace3) still balk at tablet input. So the Grapphire with its mouse and pen combo can be attractive but because I've got some slight injury from repeititive stress, I prefer the tablet first and
trackball second. (I also switch between them when I'm surfing the net because you just have to alternate which muscles you'e stressing ;-)

I hope this helps -- I know I had a hard time finding advice about tablets before
my purchase too. Good luck!

Athena :-)

[athena]

If you've read this post before, it's because I put it in the old Xara forum in answer to someone's question about which wacom. The new Xara X Forum has a great thread going specifically on Wacom's Grapphire which costs about $100 (US). (Look for page 3 of that thread -- Sean Sedwards has a fabulous review of his current purchase of the Grapphire -- lots of other great input in that thread also [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] )

As for which Wacom.

First of all, be sure to give publisher's toolbox a try (1-800-390-0461 international and canadian orders welcome --- according to their catalog www.pubtool.com) I mention them because a few years ago I bought my ArtZ II 12x12 Wacom for about $100 (US) off the regular price because I asked them if they still had any refurbished Wacoms they could sell me. To my surprise, I got one within one week that looked brand new and has worked beautifully since I got it.

That said, as far as size goes . . . I got the 12x12 "just in case" I ever need to trace something that size. The fact is that except for the one time I tried tracing an image from a little booklet teaching you to draw Disney characters (and remarkably, you can probably put something about the thickness of your average
coloring book and the Wacom will still follow your pen movements.) I've never used that feature ---- so I probably could have gotten by with paying a lot less for a simple 6x8.

I mean, as it turns out, you can customize a 12x12 so that you don't have to be a human windshield wiper and be moving your arm from side to side to compute on a regular basis. I put two old sheets from a dayrunner calendar book under the plastic cover and use that to tell me where my custom draw space boundaries are. (So I tell myself that I have the convenience of the 6x8 with the capacity for bigger projects -- should I ever need that -- to date, I haven't .) my customized drawing space has the dimensions of 7.5"x6.75" or 190.6mm x171.5mm and it controls the mouse all over my screen (although you could adjust that if you want to)

So I say, get a Wacom tablet as soon as you can. You're hands and wrists will thank you for it.

Between the Grapphire and the Intuos?

Well, the Grapphire, like my "old" ArtZ II has 512 levels of pressure. The intuos has 1024. I am not such a fine artist yet that my work needs 1024 levels of pressure so you have make that value judgement on your own. I use my wacom in conjunction with a Kensington orbit trackball because some of MY 3d programs (like TrueSpace3) still balk at tablet input. So the Grapphire with its mouse and pen combo can be attractive but because I've got some slight injury from repeititive stress, I prefer the tablet first and
trackball second. (I also switch between them when I'm surfing the net because you just have to alternate which muscles you'e stressing ;-)

I hope this helps -- I know I had a hard time finding advice about tablets before
my purchase too. Good luck!

Athena :-)

[ghi stecyk]

Athena

I got a 12x12 for pretty much the same reasons as yourself. Unfortunatly I find it a bit to big. A 9x12 may have been better. But nothing beats it!

stecyk66

[athena]

stecyk66,

I was wondering if you have or know someone who has an intuos 12x12. I ask because I not only find the Art ZII 12x12 to be a bit big, I also find it a bit heavy.

So I'm wondering if the intuos is lighter than the ArtZII.

The next time I buy a Wacom, I'd be willing to buy a 9x12 if the price were significantly lower than a 12x12. But even though I complain about the size and the weight, I find that (at least at the publisher's toolbox) the price of a 9x12 is the same as the price of a 12x12. It seems as if Wacom added a mouse to the 9x12 to justify the price. . .

???

any ideas?

Thanks,

Athena

[ghi stecyk]

Athena

My tablet is a USB Intuos and yes it is heavy. That was a shock to me when I first got it. Now it's not much of a problem. The active area I use is 9x12 though. It's a bit awkward using it and the keyboard at the same time. I'm happy the Mac keyboards are small, easier to toggle about my work area. Can't use a mouse 'cause I haven't enough room to move it around! Got an iBall instead.
Don't know much about the pricing strategy at Wacom. They just seem to be expensive in general.
What ticks me is that the OsX beta doesn't support the Wacom drivers at present. How the heck am I suppose to test out the Os? The comments made by Wacom on their web site, about the lack of drivers for the beta, sounds like they are equally as baffled.

Oh well,

stecyk66