DIY Cintiq

Esprite · Mar 2010

Friend of mine pointed out this article from Hack-A-Day on creating a DIY Cintiq, the kit comes in around $250, even better it doesn't take apart the intuos. You can take it out of the enclosure easily. I tried just having a nonworking LCD from a laptop over my intuos 4 L and it worked well so thinking about trying this.

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/14/intense-kit-turns-wacom-tablet-into-cintiq-clone/

(Hello from IRC btw.)

Cody · Mar 2010

I saw this awhile back. Thought about doing it with me 9x12 Intuos2. But a lot of work, and difficult it seems. I would love to see if a Polycounter did it though. Take a lot of pics if anyone does.

pior · Mar 2010

You realize its 250 for the *enclosure* right!!!
The guy probably has them made by a local or online machine shop for 10$ each and sells them for a premium hoping that buyers believe its comes as a full tablet conversion kit. Fail ....

Vrav · Mar 2010

Damn, that's smart. I'd be more interested but it doesn't look like the intuos3 6x8 has a suitable enclosure... and buying a new tablet + LCD to do this with would be iffy when the 12WX is "only" $999.

So yeah, makes me want to just try something like this myself. Googling cintiq DIY returns some interesting results... I don't really care about voiding any warranty (had the thing 6 years), but wouldn't really want to tear it apart & risk having NO tablet...

Esprite · Mar 2010

pior wrote: »

You realize its 250 for the *enclosure* right!!!
The guy probably has them made by a local or online machine shop for 10$ each and sells them for a premium hoping that buyers believe its comes as a full tablet conversion kit. Fail ....

Yeah, I was planning to just try just buying some of the parts off hand and just getting something build as an overlay without buying the enclosure. I agree that's fairly dumb to be charging to so much for just the enclosure.

eld · Mar 2010

pior wrote: »

You realize its 250 for the *enclosure* right!!!
The guy probably has them made by a local or online machine shop for 10$ each and sells them for a premium hoping that buyers believe its comes as a full tablet conversion kit. Fail ....

That's how I feel every time I'm looking at buying a new wacom product.

Lamont · Mar 2010

The Wacom registers touch/pressure about 1/2" away from the surface. In college I made a custom lightbox (frosted acrylic sheet .3" thick) and a LED kit from radio shack along the top and bottom of the glass. I was able to digitize all my drawings/animation cells for $20 in materials and had a wicked lightbox than ran on a 9v battery or AC adapter.

Save yourself the $250 and make the enclosure yourself for half that if you have the tools already. Or just get a project box online and enclose all the wires and clamp the thing to the top of the wacom :P.

Lamont · Mar 2010

eld wrote: »

That's how I feel every time I'm looking at buying a new wacom product.

There are other companies that make touch interface devices.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=graphics+tablet&sprefix=graphics

Rwolf · Mar 2010

Seems like buying a 12" cintiq would be a easier, but slightly more expensive route if you compare it to that kit.

Lamont · Mar 2010

You can get a 12" Cintiq for $850~950 new. If you got the Large Intous4, then you gotta spend at least another $400~$450 on parts. That's a Cintiq right there. But I don't think this guy looks at it that way.

arrangemonk · Mar 2010

old intuos 3 4x6 fits exactly to an eee 701 screen which is esentially a 7" 16:9 screen
so an 16:9 7" usb screen does the job really well (+ no controller board needed)

disassemble the screen put on intuos fix with tape, put acryl plate on it

gives a budged ugly cintiq for somewhat 200 bucks

Karmageddon · Mar 2010

Don't want to start a flame war here but I personally helped out at the Wacom booth at Comicon this last weekend and wanted to ask...

How is trying to hack your own Wacom and not buying the actual Cintiq any different from not supporting the business? Wouldn't this be the same as getting a ROM for a game?

I don't work for Wacom but I've talked to the rep many times that he's in town. Every digital artist I know uses their products because it's good quality stuff that no other tablet can compete with and I don't think Wacom makes a lot of profit off their product (not even the Cintiq, they aren't cheap to produce).

So I wanted to know why not support their business.

ZacD · Mar 2010

You have to by an intuos4 anyway, its not like your stealing their sales. Its for people that want to be able to draw on a screen, but also have a intuos that you can take with you, and couldn't afford a cintiq.

pior · Mar 2010

Monk, did you try it?
If so please post pictures/videos, it might be a great hack there.

Disco Stu · Mar 2010

Karmageddon wrote: »

Don't want to start a flame war here but I personally helped out at the Wacom booth at Comicon this last weekend and wanted to ask...

How is trying to hack your own Wacom and not buying the actual Cintiq any different from not supporting the business? Wouldn't this be the same as getting a ROM for a game?

I don't work for Wacom but I've talked to the rep many times that he's in town. Every digital artist I know uses their products because it's good quality stuff that no other tablet can compete with and I don't think Wacom makes a lot of profit off their product (not even the Cintiq, they aren't cheap to produce).

So I wanted to know why not support their business.

Why not. Maybe as a technical challenge maybe to save money.
They are quite costy and i bet wacom makes a buck or two ^^

arrangemonk · Mar 2010

not yet, gotta find an usb screen

Karmageddon
reminds me of the Phrase "Producing music is Stealing music"

kwakkie · Mar 2010

and if you make your own chair you'd be stealing from ikea... boohoohoooo!!!

Wells · Mar 2010

Karmageddon wrote: »

How is trying to hack your own Wacom and not buying the actual Cintiq any different from not supporting the business? Wouldn't this be the same as getting a ROM for a game?

No. This would be like buying a game and using the editor it comes with to make your own game, instead of going out and buying the super expensive AAA game.

Do you feel the same way when you buy the parts off of Newegg to build a computer? Why not just support DELL? etc etc.

I see no problem trying to make your own shit, rather than buy it. Especially if it is much more cost effective.

Karmageddon · Mar 2010

You're essentially using a Wacom product to replace another Wacom product that already exists. That's why I pointed out that I don't agree with this. You guys can do whatever you want, to successfully make a hack Cintiq sounds like a technical challenge that could be cool to accomplish, but I think it's a bit of a hypocrisy to be anti-piracy about games when Wacom is a very valuable tool for artists in our field. I get the impression that they aren't a huge empire as you might think, they don't make a lot of profit.

Disco Stu · Mar 2010

Bs. If you buy a Screen and an intuos you can do whatever you like with it.
You could even buy a cintiq and turn it into a normal tablet.
The hack will probably never reach the quality of a cintiq but if so even better.
As long as your not trying to sell them theres absolutly nothing to argue about.

acc · Mar 2010

You're essentially using a Wacom product to replace another Wacom product that already exists.

Incorrect. You are using your product that you own. Wacom has nothing to do with your property. This has no parallel to piracy whatsoever.

StJoris · Mar 2010

I tried DIY-ing a cintiq once, while it was nice to break open TFT's I ended up breaking them all eventually. Especially the connector is extremely fragile.

If you don't know what you are doing, you'll most likely end up breaking stuff to be honest.

ZacD · Mar 2010

Lets think of it this way. I own a car, if I fix up the car and upgrade the engine, does that mean I'm stealing sales by not buying a new one? No.

Lamont · Mar 2010

Karmageddon wrote: »

You're essentially using a Wacom product to replace another Wacom product that already exists. That's why I pointed out that I don't agree with this. You guys can do whatever you want, to successfully make a hack Cintiq sounds like a technical challenge that could be cool to accomplish, but I think it's a bit of a hypocrisy to be anti-piracy about games when Wacom is a very valuable tool for artists in our field. I get the impression that they aren't a huge empire as you might think, they don't make a lot of profit.

You should probably stop right here :P. At first I thought you were joking, but then you posted again.

All you're doing is voiding your warranty at the most. You are not reverse engineering the hardware/software to make something else and selling it as another product.

HAL · Mar 2010

Dado Almeida wrote: »

It's insane to know how Cintiq still expensive.

Last week I made a DIY Nib for my Pen, using a cheap plastic piece (it works perfect). Still trying to find an alternative to resolve the dam problem of the Bamboo surface (I think it's the same of the new Intuos4). A sheet of thin glass seems to work, but I don't know how to stick that in the Tablet.

What kind of problem with the surface? is there something I dont know bout my tablet Oo

Also on topic... 250$ for an encasement seems way off.

Karmageddon · Mar 2010

Lamont wrote: »

You should probably stop right here :P. At first I thought you were joking, but then you posted again.

All you're doing is voiding your warranty at the most. You are not reverse engineering the hardware/software to make something else and selling it as another product.

I spoke my bit, I don't think it's a black or white issue, I was just bringing up a concern. I didn't need half a dozen people to repeat the same point however they are valid ones.

HAL · Mar 2010

Ah thank you

fearian · Mar 2010

I get that too - I am wearing through my nibs way to fast

DrunkShaman · Mar 2010

I think there was a way to turn your LCD screen to writeable, so you can draw on it directly.

Professor in my college taught us in wireless programming class..He did it on the notepad and I kinda forgot where that file is located.

Vrav · Mar 2010

Though I only do it sometimes, I have found glossy paper (such as a magazine or large, thin book) placed over the tablet to make drawing feel more tactile. It does cause some denting in the paper, but I have a very light hand on the contrary. Would like to hear how glass works... seems like it would be too slick. Maybe if you salvaged some sheet metal...

Funny that the bamboo is too roughI have always felt the intuos too slick. Goldilocks situation.

disanski · Mar 2010

I had the bamboo one and because it is not so sensitive I had to push a little harder just a little which felt normal at the time. Now switching to intuos it takes so long to get used to it and stop pressing so hard at it and I wear my nibs very fast as well. Especially when I tilt it and use like that for a while, the nibs get so sharp from this particular angle, that it takes some time till it gets back to normal after that. ... I should try that with the glass.. or something similar.

disanski · Mar 2010

Thanks for the link Dado. Cool idea.

Jeremy-S · Mar 2010

I went from an intuos 3 to a bamboo, after the surface of my intuos got some wear and tear in it in the spot I worked the most. The Bamboo, for me, works so much better. The bit of grain on the surface has that toothy paper feel to it, so it's like I'm drawing, not using computer magic to do my work. I'm super happy with the bamboo. But I'd LOVE a cintiq. Was gonna make an offer to the guy who was selling his for $600 here, but I really just can't afford it, and I didn't think he'd take $400 now, $200 later.

aniceto · Mar 2010

that would be awesome except they don't come with the LCD controller kit, or the LCD screen...

DIY Cintiq

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