Tablet talk
I've been considering purchasing a tablet to expand my mapping possibilities, particularly by making doing some cool hand-drawn type stuff a little easier. I'm really looking for something introductory, just to do some cool elements, draw in a few things, and work a little bit of calligraphy.
Looking at the Wacom site I noticed the Bamboo tablets seem to be fairly reasonable, but I'm curious about people's opinions. I'm trying to keep the price sub $200. Should I not even bother?
"Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."
I have the Bamboo Fun Medium ($199) and love it. Until I feel the need to have more features, I am more than happy with my Bamboo. It's also a good size to put into a backpack to take with my laptop.Originally Posted by Alecthar
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
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Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Tablets are great fun. I always do my rivers with mine. I also do a lot of burn/dodge with it on things like mountains. Look at some of the stuff Torstan does on his (envy) not to mention Aerius and TheRedEpic and other pros...heck there are tons of us using one and I can't remember them all. It makes doing hand-drawn mountains and forests a snap. Check over on E-Bay to see if someone is selling one for cheap, there usually are quite a few there.
Last edited by Ascension; 06-09-2009 at 03:59 AM.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
I can only recommend getting the Bamboo. I wouldn't want to miss mine and never found it necessary to buy a more advanced tablet. Sure, a Cintiq is really cool, but the Bamboo provides everything I'm expecting a tablet to offer. A Wacom Bmboo is money well spent in my opinion.
I have a Bamboo Fun Medium too, and I have to agree: it's very good for the price. If you are not a pro, you won't even notice the "limitations" that it has compared to the higher models (i.e., the Intuos series).
Music to my ears. Well, eyes, you know what I mean. Looks like a tablet's going on order along with my new computer parts. Yay!
"Unless I'm allowed to carry around a gun to shoot their giant killer-spiders, Australia needs to stay the hell away from me. Also Australians, who if they have lived this long are obviously agents of the spiders and not to be trusted."
You certainly won't regret it.
Just one lil bit of advice...you will get frustrated right at first but don't give up. It takes some time to get accustomed to how it works since it's not quite like drawing with a pencil. Some have more sensitivity and they all have this kind of "floating" thing that can be annoying until you get used to it. The best thing I recommend is to actually draw a few things with it and learn to click all of the various buttons on the screen with the pen instead of reverting back to the mouse. The more you force yourself to use it the more you will learn it and the more fun you will have with it. Once you've gotten fairly used to it then go back and look into adjusting the settings to make it behave like you want it to.
If the radiance of a thousand suns was to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become Death, the Shatterer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the atom bomb) alluding to The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 11, Verse 32)
My Maps ~ My Brushes ~ My Tutorials ~ My Challenge Maps
I will follow up on this... DO NOT mix using the mouse and the tablet.. you will mess your image up. See, when you select a tool, GIMP knows which device you used to select it, either pen tip 1, pen tip 2, or mouse. So if you click on a tool with the mouse and then pick up the pen and start drawing, you won't have the tool you think you have selected and that will just waste your time and drive you crazy...(or perhaps your not as neurotic as I am and you'll be ok....)
My Finished Maps
Works in Progress(or abandoned tests)
My Tutorials:
Explanation of Layer Masks in GIMP
How to create ISO Mountains in GIMP/PS using the Smudge tool
----------------------------------------------------------
Unless otherwise stated by me in the post, all work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
I keep meaning to look up how to disable that 'feature' in GIMP. It gets really annoying when I'm trying to work as I do in photoshop with it, image full screen on Monitor A, tools and such on Monitor B,... Meaning if I don't remember the short cut, I have to select with the mouse.
Of course the whole issue can be solved with the professional line of tools that lets you bind a button to switch screens, but sadly I can't justify the cost right now. (Paintball gear needs replacing.)
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