i have one and used to use it all the time... my opinion: it's totally worth it if you're going to use it for drawing-ish activities, because it gives you the precise control and accuracy you need. doing concept art, comic art, illustration, etc, and like working directly in photoshop, painter, etc??? then yeah, it's great. for daily modeling and texturing stuff, i don't and wouldn't want to use it at all. i prefer to sit with good posture and use a standard wacom tablet than to hunch over a cintiq, but that's just me.
they are really fucking cool, though.
I was looking into getting the 12" for Texturing since I do a lot of that and Zbursh. Since I use my tablet in my lap I don't think getting this cintiq will be held and different then me holding my intuos. I just am woundering if the advantages that come with the cintiq are worth the cost. The disconnect between my eye and my pen getting really annoying for me sometimes.
well, i guess i think it's worth every penny if you're going to love it and use it all the time. whether it's in your lap or propped up on a stand, you are still going to be looking down at it rather than straight ahead--so it's going to affect your posture, but that doesn't bother a lot of people (i gots some neck problems so that's my POV). i thought i absolutely needed one when i bought mine (for the then astronomical price of something like 3500?), but it turned out i didn't love it as much as i thought i would. but, like i said, they are quality products and worth every last penny if you're going to use it and love it.
i can see it making life easier for precision zbrushing...
I cant imagine having a cintiq in your lap would be comfy.. I use my tablet in my lap, but a cintiq is a monitor you can draw on, not a tablet you can see stuff on. It's actually quite big and clunky, well, at least the ones we have here. I haven't seen the new ones yet.
Cintiqs are freaking awesome though. Almost all the artists here have them. I would love to have one, but I really dont do enough painting/drawing to justify the cost.
Theyre pretty damn sexy. Once you use them it totally spoils you...makes it very hard to go back to using a tablet.
Keep in mind that the stand is very adjustable. When i paint i like to raise my chair and flatten the cintiq so that its more like a drawing table set up. That way your hand isnt fighting gravity when youre painting.
Naturally, the direct hand to eye thing is a major plus...lets you draw long extended lines and curves that are a bitch when using a tablet. Besides the drawing aspect, the screen itself has some of the best color and resolution ive seen in a flat panel. Just a super high quality product. It's a hell of a price ticket, but you get what you pay for.
Cintiq in the lap doesn't work. It's heavy, hot and there is a BIG bundle of wires sticking out the back. Conveniently they leave out the big cord in photo gallery shots. It would also take some tricky leg positioning to find a comfortable position that doesn't block the vents, navigates around the cord, doesn't crush your legs, and doesn't end up with you crying over pieces of your VERY expensive Cintiq.
Also because of the cord, the thickness and the stand, it doesn't lay all that flat, it lays flat enough but it takes some getting used to. Like Slum said its a monitor that lets you draw on it, not a tablet that displays stuff. When they get to the "tablet that displays stuff" stage I'll revisit the idea, but until then its not worth it.
I agree that having it on your lap isnt an option, but you can flatten it out to lie almost entirely horizontal, less than 10% incline. and honestly youd never need any more than that. The added advantage of the base is that you can spin it a full 180 degrees as you would do when youre working with a sketchbook. A tablet simply doesnt let you do that and keep a workable correlation between the screen and your hand.
Ill admit that you wont really start to see the full utility of it until you get into doing more painting oriented work as opposed to 3d/texturing, so that should be a consideration, but I honestly think it's a valid investment for any serious digital artist.
i think he was thinking about getting the new 12" model--pretty sure you can put that one on your lap or whatever...
edit: shit. can you put that 12" version on your lap? i just assumed it was supposed to lay flat with the cord coming out one of the sides, but i took another look at the pics and didn't see any cables anywhere...
This is killing me. I could send someone in the US money to buy the 12" one and send it to me, give them $100 for the effort, and it STILL would be a bargain compared to what it costs here in Sweden..
Replies
they are really fucking cool, though.
i can see it making life easier for precision zbrushing...
Cintiqs are freaking awesome though. Almost all the artists here have them. I would love to have one, but I really dont do enough painting/drawing to justify the cost.
Keep in mind that the stand is very adjustable. When i paint i like to raise my chair and flatten the cintiq so that its more like a drawing table set up. That way your hand isnt fighting gravity when youre painting.
Naturally, the direct hand to eye thing is a major plus...lets you draw long extended lines and curves that are a bitch when using a tablet. Besides the drawing aspect, the screen itself has some of the best color and resolution ive seen in a flat panel. Just a super high quality product. It's a hell of a price ticket, but you get what you pay for.
Also because of the cord, the thickness and the stand, it doesn't lay all that flat, it lays flat enough but it takes some getting used to. Like Slum said its a monitor that lets you draw on it, not a tablet that displays stuff. When they get to the "tablet that displays stuff" stage I'll revisit the idea, but until then its not worth it.
Ill admit that you wont really start to see the full utility of it until you get into doing more painting oriented work as opposed to 3d/texturing, so that should be a consideration, but I honestly think it's a valid investment for any serious digital artist.
edit: shit. can you put that 12" version on your lap? i just assumed it was supposed to lay flat with the cord coming out one of the sides, but i took another look at the pics and didn't see any cables anywhere...
Some pics as I couldn't find any before I took the plunge.
http://oxtongue.co.uk/bort/temp/Cintiq12_Back.jpg
http://oxtongue.co.uk/bort/temp/Cintiq12_Control.jpg
http://oxtongue.co.uk/bort/temp/Cintiq12_Lap.jpg
http://oxtongue.co.uk/bort/temp/Cintiq12_Lead.jpg
http://oxtongue.co.uk/bort/temp/Cintiq12_Stand.jpg
http://oxtongue.co.uk/bort/temp/Cintiq12_Thickness.jpg