Calling all tablet/Interactive Display Users
polycounter lvl 10
Hey guys. I searched around a bit on this topic, and didn't find much of what I was looking for. My situation is this: I wanted to really get into organic sculpting and painting more seriously, and start building skills outside of hard surface 3d. I already have a good working knowledge of zbrush and photoshop, So those tools aren't my issue.
The Mouse is. I just received an Intuos 5 Medium today, and thought it would be awesome! It isn't. I hate it, And I'm quickly getting frustrated. I know this is because i need to get used to it, and I shouldn't get wound up. But i've become accustom to working on 22" cintiq's at my school, and the intuos feels like a major de evolution.
My query is to anyone that has been through this, I want your story and your opinion on the learning curve. If you went straight to pen displays, If you did bambo, Intuos, Cintiq, Or whatever the case may be. I'm curious to hear how the it all went for you guys. serious and skilled sculptors/painters especially!
As of now, I'm leaning towards returning it, and dropping a pretty penny for the 13HD. I know its only been one night, and i should give it some time But it feels so wrong in comparison to the cintiq
The Mouse is. I just received an Intuos 5 Medium today, and thought it would be awesome! It isn't. I hate it, And I'm quickly getting frustrated. I know this is because i need to get used to it, and I shouldn't get wound up. But i've become accustom to working on 22" cintiq's at my school, and the intuos feels like a major de evolution.
My query is to anyone that has been through this, I want your story and your opinion on the learning curve. If you went straight to pen displays, If you did bambo, Intuos, Cintiq, Or whatever the case may be. I'm curious to hear how the it all went for you guys. serious and skilled sculptors/painters especially!
As of now, I'm leaning towards returning it, and dropping a pretty penny for the 13HD. I know its only been one night, and i should give it some time But it feels so wrong in comparison to the cintiq
Replies
One possible tip for you:
If you're on a dual screen setup, I recommend trying out the option that restricts the table to just one screen. Made a big difference for me accuracy wise. You can have it pop on and off per application, so you can still click around the desktop on both then have it lock down to one screen for PS and Zbrush
Your case is actually quite unique in the sense that a vast majority of digital artists got used to the regular tablet first, and then eventually moved to the Cintiq (or not - more on that later).
I'll go against the consensus here and I would say that trusting your immediate gut reaction might be a great thing. If the plain tablet just feels wrong to you, then yeah it might be wiser to invest in a small (or full sized used) Cintiq rather than fighting the unnatural feeling.
Now of course many digital artists simply got used to it, and there is without a doubt a huge amount of work to back up the claim that the most awesome artwork can be done on a plain tablet. But if you can save yourself all the troubles that can come from the disconnect between tablet and screen, then by all means go for what is most natural - you are lucky to have been exposed to pen displays first !
Something else to keep in mind : I have seen a vast number of digital painters transition from an Intuos tablet to the Cintiq ... to eventually move back to the Intuos after a few months or years and stick to that for good. I think the main reason behind this is the fact that fully painted digital images require a lot of "stepping back" (= zooming out) for perspective checks, composition balancing, and so on. This is generally easier and more natural to do on the Intuos.
However, sculpting, 3D work and texture work doesn't require any of that really - and accordingly, most digital sculptors seem to stick to the Cintiqs and never look back.
I personally find both devices to be quite lacking - Intuos tablet are now as good as they can possibly get yet will always feel unnatural by design ; and the Cintiqs, while great, do run quite hot, are rather imprecise, and expose the user to eye strain and fatigue.
Tough pick really ...
i'm still not completely used to my tablet yet. takes a few tries to get the strokes i want.
to get really stuck into the learning curve though, i replace my normal pc mouse with it for a few weeks, except when it came to gaming. Really jump started me in the right direction.
Now its so natural my tablet will be a different aspect ration than the screen and my brain will automatically compensate for any aspect difference... something to keep in mind, our brains are awesome
Changed my life. Love it. The pen to screen issue is a non thing for me tho. I was fortunate enough to have had my art teachers through the years preach and force us to do at least a couple drawings a year where we weren't allowed to look at the pen/paper and just focus on the subject. That made adjusting to the not looking at the tablet or where I am physically drawing/painting, and focusing on the subject (screen) pretty natural.
In truth I've found it to be a lot weirder to try and use a Cintiq. My roommate has one and I can't get over the gap where my pen doesn't touch exactly where the cursor is due of the couple millimeters of the glass to the pixel display. I even tried calibrating it to account for screen tilt @ my working angle, and I just couldn't get past it enough to make me want my own.
All that said, the biggest issue with both for me is size. I use my arm instead of just my wrist or fingers, and I don't have the fine motor control to work on small tablets.
I can fork over $500-$600 for a large intuous, (really like to find a quality used i4 XL) but spending $3-4k is just insane when I don't know for sure if I could overcome the issue I have with a C. If I got one at work or something and had time to get used to it there, then maybe, but for a personal risk on the assumption I'll get used to it... I've considered it multiple times, and always come back with I'll wait and see after I use one pretty extensively.
@Using it across two monitors: YES. That was the first thing i noticed and changed. Probably 5 seconds into fiddling with it. What is nice about the intuos 5 is you can restrict the pen to X monitor(x proportions) and then you can still finger touch your way around both monitors.
The big upside I see with the in tuos is: I get screen resolution without paying for it. I could have a 24" monitor that allows me to see what I'm working on very well without paying for 24" inches worth of cintiq. I'd really like the 13" on screen, But i don't know if would get sick of it being so small.
Edit: Hmmm. Just starting playing with the thing this while writing this point, and it seems to have a wicked jitter today
Things definately became easier when i roated the canvas around. Instead of trying to rotate round physically on the intuos. I suppose you guys might be right. I just need time. Perhaps I over reacted a bit
That's probably why it feels so alien actually.
You are too used to using tools you are competent with.
Getting there tho. I'm sure it will be fine once I'm used to it
If anyone has exercises/ tips they found helpful in the learning (coordination, mainly) I'd love to hear them! I know its always a Google search away, but hearing stuff from real people is much more valuable to me
Limiting the tablet to monitor 1 helps a lot in Zbrush. Kinda sucks in Photoshop, since I like all my palettes on the 2nd monitor, so I have it set to span both displays.
I think the best way to learn is just to jump in there, do some painting, try to get past the initial weirdness.
We have some links in the wiki about modding/tweaking tablets.
http://wiki.polycount.net/CategoryTools#Tablet_Utilities
When I found zbrush I found it difficult to draw curve cuts and such. About 10 - 12 months ago I got a cintiq.
I can use my whole arm, draw and paint, got on with it easily (The running warm helps me since my hands are usually cold xD)
However my daughter now has a little bamboo to use and I've done a few sketches on her pc with it and found that I'm still wobbly but a lot better than I was before.
The difference I feel is that over the 2.5 years I've done a lot more drawing with traditional and on the computer and built up the muscle memory to the point the disjointedness doesn't feel as bad.
But overall I still prefer the cintiq as I can set it to a good angle and use it like a drawing board, and moving myself makes more sense than trying to rotate a tablet / trying to rotate the canvas in photoshop to be exactly the angle I need.
Side note: I keep one hand on the pen and use a nostromo for hot keys instead of any tablet buttons, works well for either the intuos or the cintiq
@Eric: thanks for the link man. Lot of good info there.