Blender Sculpting - Graphic drawing tablet vs android tablet (as second screen)

x2111

Hi everyone,

I'm currently deciding between two types of devices for sculpting  mode in Blender: a graphic drawing tablet or an Android tablet. I'm specifically wondering about the XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra (used as a second screen).

Personally, I am leaning towards the Android device because I can use it for other programs and tasks without connecting it to a PC. However, my main goal in purchasing the tablet is its usefulness in Blender. Therefore, I would like to know if it is still better to choose a dedicated graphics tablet, or if modern android tablets like the S8 Ultra are comparable when used as a second screen?

Thanks!

gnoop

For me the best option have always been wacom intuos  small without screen .     It's a sort of  convenience when you always see your work as a  whole, unobstructed  by your right hand,  palette and stick in left hand  or whatever .    Always on a  big horizontal  IPS screen  .  No need to bend over in some uncomfortable pose.    Had same screenless  wacom in large and middle sizes.  They required too much energy to move your hand around and not enough space to lay keyboard nearby   but middle is ok too.

I once  had ipad with a pen  . it was a nice  toy really to play outside your work environment, no more .

myclay

Avoiding the large graphic tablets makes sense. Medium works (for me) well.
a dedicated Pen Display or Pen tablet are the more reliable options but you could choose Android and super display.*

Those S-pens use Wacom EMR-technology and have tilt support.

Only purchase the Android-tablet, if you can get more usage out of it.

* The App *super Display* turns your tablet into a Pen display as long as it has support for S-Pen.

https://superdisplay.app

thomasp

Vote goes to using a traditional drawing tablet because I simply can't imagine an Android (or any other, really) tablet working all too reliably all day long when hooked up to a computer through an app. And like gnoop I'm not a fan of screen tablets/pen displays - I don't think they integrate too well, the application interfaces aren't really designed for them, you are obstructing your view with your hand and of course there's the seating/neck issue.

I do prefer my tablets in LARGE though - most versatile choice for matching screen aspect ratios, especially in a multi monitor setup. But that's perhaps not that important for sculpting, more for sketching/painting.

gnoop

My best Wacom  was an old light gray colored one.  First in intuos  line  probably.     It was closer to medium  size and had small margins around working area , no buttons , nothing redundant , watertight  plus a thick  everlasting cable.     Perfectly  fitting  a table  surface with keyboard on the left  .   Lasted  more then decade.  Couple next ones had  huge margins  for zero purpose IMO so  I had to use short  laptop style keyboard . They died  from my coffee spilled on them since there was no more space to put a cup on except the tablet .   Short living  cables ( it was Bamboo)  and   wobbling cursor if you keep it to close to monitor for some uncertain reason plus the  notorious ripple effects in windows   you had always  waste your time to get rid off.   

The later is Windows to blame my guess  because   Wacoms worked just fine on Win7

thomasp

Yup, those old ones of the first and second generation were better in most ways than the new breed for sure. Simpler, no touch functionality getting in the way, no driver panel that wants to surf the web and all that. I think the most recent pens are better than the earliest ones though. Not by much to be fair but leagues ahead of the horrible contraption they shipped with the Intuos 3. 

My current Intuos-es are about 8-10 years old and they have that detachable mini USB cable on the side smack bang in the middle of the case. Argh. Still, haven't damaged them so far (knock-on-wood). Though the only place more stupid to place those would have been the underside (Apple mouse style).

pxgeek

+1 for the intuos 3.

They perfected tablet design with that one. I only wish they would update the design with 16:9 ar.

From my experience, android standalone sounds good in theory, but in practice has gotten very little use from me, and you're left to the whims of third party android support. (the wacom cintiq companion hybrid was/is probably my dumbest tech purchase ever...and I own a microsoft zune)

Neox

Nah intuos 3 was the squeeky one, that drove me nuts way back when half the office was squeeking around me xD

The 2 was more robust, just ugly in purple

thomasp

Neox said:

Nah intuos 3 was the squeeky one, that drove me nuts way back when half the office was squeeking around me xD

The 2 was more robust, just ugly in purple

Can confirm, after breaking it in it started to squeak when you applied even just minor pressure. Seemed like the larger the tablet, the worse it got. Also didn't it have those really noisy first generation ultra-stiff buttons that make obnoxious clicking sounds? I never used them but I recall they felt quite sharp and unpleasant when your palm brushed against them.

And yeah, the Intuos 2 was ugly as sin in that 'Aubergine' color next to any PC or Mac. In my first job they promised me - already with some tablet experience on lower end models - a Wacom for when I was to start working. On my first day when I showed up - no Wacom, so they got an older Intuos 1 out of storage. Then a week or so later the IT guy stopped by with the brand new freshly released Intuos 2. When I saw that case color I think I hurt my optical nerve and stuck with the one I already had on my desk.

But if you had the Special Edition - that one came in silver, problem solved. Got one of those at some point and was very attached to it until the pen tracking bugged out. Either the pen or the tablet decided to quit on me.