Mouse vs. tablet

[Leetsauce]

I bought myself http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=15358 last month , Im still tryign to get used to this tablet because im a "wrist" scetcher and nw i have to move across the entire tablet to position my "pen" ... but slowly im commign there .

The oen thing i was kinda peeved about is that the tablet cant be set to only use 1 screen , u have a Dual screen setup on my graphics PC and each time I use the tablet im forced to switch off one screen and after beeign used to 2 screens for ages thsi is kinda irritating, send a mail to Trust and they replied "sorrry but our tablet doesnt support that feature, you'll just have to turn of your 2nd screen" ....

Never gaain wil I buy somthing from Trust ! ... next will be a bamboo one ^^ i think :p Im tryign to peddle this oen off to a coworker and then i might recuperate the small loss and buy a new tabelt :p

[Coyotemax]

If I was stuck to a single screen i'd go insane. (1600x900 and 1280x1024, and considering a third - i have another vidcard available, and the primary has dual outputs, whee))

One of the things I love about my intuos is that I have the one button on the grip set to switch screens as well as right click (rocker button - rockin!) - it toggles between left monitor, right monitor, or spanning both. I use that function WAAAAY more than the default "omg double click" that the button defaults to

I don't know how the bamboo deals with multiple monitors though (which seems to be the tablet of choice for most and gets great reviews)

[Midgardsormr]

As far as I am aware, the Bamboo uses the same or a very similar driver/setup utility as the Intuos line, so it should have the ability to map the stylus to one or both screens. I have my Intuos set up to only work on the primary monitor, but I may follow your lead and set up a button to toggle over to the other so I don't have to reach for the mouse to change adjustment layer settings.

Thanks for letting us know about that limitation of the Trust tablets, Leetsauce. Maybe someday they'll get their act together, but for now Wacom still has the market firmly cornered.

[Leetsauce]

your most welcome ..

God i just read my last post here lol ... Spelling police alert ! ...

[Aenigma]

I have an old wacom tablet I got from a friend when se didn't need it anymore, but I almost only use the mouse

[Alarian]

Hey all. I've been an off and on lurker here since last summer and have enjoyed what I've read. I have a tablet question I am hoping someone can answer. I used to use a large Wacom tablet for work, something comparable to the Intuos4 XL (18x12) and absolutely loved it. Needless to say, it's expensive and was been out of my budget for quite some time. I've really wanted to get a tablet to replace it ever since, but have held off for budget reasons because I'm really worried after using a huge tablet for 4 years, that I would hate going to a small one. I find myself once or twice a year going through the whole process of should I buy a small one or not. Thanks to my wife and her job I do have a nice computer with 2 24" monitors both running at 1900x1200 (she gets a new computer once every three years of her choice even though she doesn't like to use it so I basically get to order what I want). So I do have a lot of real estate. I also have a nice sized desk so tablet size isn't a problem.

I guess basically my question is, if after using a huge tablet for 4 years (and loving it) do you think I am going to hate, or have difficulty using a small one. Should I just wait and try to save up for a bigger one?

And advice or suggestions are appreciated.

Alarian

[Midgardsormr]

There's not really any way for us to be able to answer that one for you, but I could help you to clarify it for yourself. Do you ever draw with pencil and paper? What size paper do you prefer to use? Do you find yourself drawing all the way to the edges, or do you commonly fill only a portion of the page with a single drawing?

I have observed that people who paint tend to like the larger tablets, as they are accustomed to the larger strokes. As for me, I find the smaller tablets to be surprisingly comfortable, although I still do prefer the medium-sized one I have at home.

[mearrin69]

I can only suggest that, if you've used and like a large tablet, you not choose the very small tablet. It is definitely a different experience (I went from the largest Intuos(1) tablet to a graphire). Even drawing a straight line without jitters on a smaller tablet is difficult. My suggestion is to get the largest you can and maybe pick up a cheap small one. They're great for scribbling around and such but I believe that "serious" work benefits from a larger tablet. Hope that helps.
M

[Steel General]

Some day my tablet will come... probably right after I pay off my truck and the new air conditioner/furnace system I just bought for the house!

[Alarian]

Thanks for the advice. Other than a little bit here and there, I actually haven't done much of any drawing for a while now (since leaving that job). I envision using it more, at least initially, for drawing maps and such for my campaigns. I've used Campaign Cartographer since CC-Dos although I find myself using the Map Drawing tools in MapTool more and more as of late. I also am fairly comfortable in Photoshop, and currently have version CS2. I don't envision upgrading that any time soon as that plus a tablet would be outside my budget. My hope is by getting a tablet I will get back into drawing more again. When I was using one though, I used it for about 50-60 hours a week for 4 years (one of the reasons I quit the job was the long hours). So needless to say I was really comfortable using both the tablet and a large one at that. I know in the end, no one can really tell me one way or another whats going to be right for me, I was just hoping someone else out there has experience with both and could give me their thoughts on it. I'm currently leaning towards biting the bullet and getting a large one. I have a birthday coming up so that could mitigate the cost some.

Thanks again for the advice.

Alarian