texturing/painting on a TFT monitor

danr

i don't know whether this is just because my monitor is crap, but i suspect its the same for all LCD screens ...

there seems to be only a small sweet-spot where you can place your head/eyes when working, where contrast and saturation appear correct.

Looking at the monitor from even the slightest angle (especially up and down) seems to drastically alter the appearance of pixels, leading to painting mistakes if you're not concentrating fully.

has anyone else noticed this problem? Is there anything that can be done (eg, ambient light in the room, or some kind of calibration) or is it just something that you need to get used to?

pyromania

I've seen this problem on the cheap LCD's their viewing angle is usually very low, 90 degree's or less. You might want to lookup the stats on the screen and see what the viewing angle is.

Also make sure you are running at the LCD's native resolution. Using different resolution's than the native, can result in "the screen door effect" making the image look very bad.

MoP

This is why I can't paint textures on my laptop. Moving my head up or down even just a little can make the brightness vary hugely. I think it's less of a problem in more expensive monitors, but it's why I currently prefer CRT's...
I think you'll just have to get used to it

FatAssasin

A have two large flat screens at work and don't notice any change in image quality as I move my head around. So I don't think you can make a blanket statement that this is a problem on all LCD displays.

MoP

Oh, I know that... just that if his flat panel is giving him this trouble, there's no way around it other than to get used to it, don't move your head, or buy a better LCD screen
As I say, the more you pay, the better quality it is - I'm guessing the displays you have at work are made by a fairly big name/reputable manufacturer?
There are some flat panel displays we have in university that are great, the brightness/contrast stays almost perfect over a wide viewing angle.
However I can give a blanket statement that this problem does NOT occur on CRT monitors

Rick Stirling

It is down to the cheapness. I have a TFT at home and its pretty much useless for high quality graphics - it's good enough to get it almost right. It came with my last PC.

At work a few artists have the new apple flat panel, and it is fucking amazing. It's crystal clear and there is some serious tech envy.

FatAssasin

I believe the monitors at work are Sonys. It sucks coming home after working with two 19 inch flat panels all day to look at my 17 inch CRT. I'm officially spoiled now.

danr

i've got a huge CRT at work, and it's great. Major problem : it takes up a whacking amount of space on the desk.

At home i've got this god-knows-what TFT that came as part of the package with my PC. Looks good, doesn't get in the way ... performs like manky testicles. If it is indeed the cheapness, i need to find some happy middle ground.

hawken

Looks like you've got a really bad TFT.

Most laptop screens are very good, because they are intergrated better with DVI style technology and the response rate is very high. My laptop screen is bloody amazing, the colours are spot on and I can run FMV or games with no blurring.

If your computer supports it, get a DVI flatscreen. VGA TFT's are the main problem these days, their colours are borked compared to DVI monitors. Their only use seems to be for non-graphics work.

If you want a decent cheap DVI, look here: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/...oduct_uid=63513

Rick Stirling

I've seen a few of the Apple cinema displays on ebay for about 350 quid. It's the one in a clear plasic cases with 2 clear legs.

Heres one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...ssPageName=WDVW

malcolm

LCD is crap, maybe if you can drop like 2000 dollars on a flat panel then it will look as good as a CRT, my favourite is the LCD monitors that come with a glass screen infront of the LCD screen so it generates just as much glare as a regular CRT monitor, who ever came up with that design is a genius. Also for those working in Maya if your LCD is not super expensive the refresh rate will be too low for Maya and you will see Grand Theft Auto III motion blur every time you move the camera around in wire frame mode when you are modeling.

rooster

I payed £350 for my samsung tft and Ive been pretty happy with it. No noticable ghosting in games, and you have to move your head a fair bit out of the way before you get brightness change. Also one annoying thing about crt monitors is gone- no reflection of me staring back when its sunny!

Scott Ruggels

Flat Panel yes, but not Plasma, as they on,y last three years and heve terrible problems with image burn in.

Scott

ironbearxl

what about texturing on a 27" television w/ svideo input? I'm thinking about buying one after work tonight to do texturing on.

Badge

We had those mac monitors at school, theyre freaking SWEET. gigantic mo-fos. my first mac experience in a long time, and these babies made it very enjoyable