Hardware
Greetings!
I know this is a subforum for software, but as i didn't find a better place to ask, I'll do it here:
What kind of hardware do you use for your maps? I mean, I have lots of difficulties using a mouse for drawing.
So what should I use instead?
You could draw it on paper and then scan it in and work on it on the computer or you could use a tablet. Using the mouse to draw takes time and by the time I got my tablet I was already doing just fine with a mouse.
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
By tablets you mean those big touchpads you can connect to the PC?
Most tablets come with a stylus that you hold like a pencil. This makes for a more intuitive interface for drawing. Others have a touch surface which I find a bit less useful, but some people like it. Others can do both. I highly recommend a Wacom tablet for mapping--it's so much better than using a mouse, and easier on the wrists as well. The best value on the market right now, in my opinion, is the Wacom Bamboo Fun. Take a look at the sticky at the top of the General Discussions forum called "Mouse vs. Tablet."
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Another plus for me Is that i am left handed, but I have always used a mouse with my right hand. Now I can tie one set of tools to my mouse and another to my tablet for dual.dexterous (Sp) fun
You'll be like a digital Demitri Martin!
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Hey, thanks for the suggestions.
I'm using a Touchscreen-All-in-One PC. If you use a ball-pen on the touchscreen, it's similar to a tablet.
Well, I have a tablet-PC, but I lost the original OS Windows XP Mobile, and now I can't install the drivers for the touchscreen.
The problem with some stylus+screen interfaces, (IMHO) is that they often wear grooves into the surface, because they're so hard. Of course, this is all sorta second-hand .. I've not had the experience using a stylus, but I've seen the devices they were used on. Bleh. On the otherhand, I'm sure a stylus is much better to use than a ball-point pen. Stylus' are cheap, perhaps you could invest in one?
The advantage of a touch PC, is of course, having the surface BE the image you're manipulating.
All hat being said -- at the moment Amazon.com has a "sale" of sorts on the Wacom Bamboo Fun. Something like $5 USD less than retail, and no shipping. I think I'll get one. Maybe. They have some positive reviews also.
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