Wacom tablets and digital drawing

[dmbaggs]

So for those of you who aren't familiar with Wacom products, they are drawing tablets that you connect to your computer. The tablet provides a pen and paper like feel and also allows you to have your drawings, sketches, and doodles directly on your computer. You can also use the tablets in photoshop and other computer applications for editing and touching up projects and pictures.


I have used a few of their products (the bamboo series) and I really enjoyed using it for both digital drawings and for photoshop projects and editing.


Have you used Wacom tablets? What do you think of these "digital drawing pads"?
 

[austin]

I have not used these, although they do sound pretty cool.

[xela]

I've used them but for me it's difficult because I don't get to see what I draw as I draw it. I'd love one of those tablets that actually display your screen for you. If only iPads were compatible with the real Photoshop.

[Kanped]

I've used them but for me it's difficult because I don't get to see what I draw as I draw it. I'd love one of those tablets that actually display your screen for you. If only iPads were compatible with the real Photoshop.

Linux runs on iPad, Photoshop runs on Linux.  Hackers to the rescue.

[dmbaggs]

I've used them but for me it's difficult because I don't get to see what I draw as I draw it. I'd love one of those tablets that actually display your screen for you. If only iPads were compatible with the real Photoshop.

They actually just came out with a new type of digital pen that has a camera you put at the top of your paper and then you use the pen to draw. The pen has real ink so you actual come up with real drawings on paper but it also sends it to the computer. I haven't tried this product yet but it looks very interesting!

[xela]

I've used them but for me it's difficult because I don't get to see what I draw as I draw it. I'd love one of those tablets that actually display your screen for you. If only iPads were compatible with the real Photoshop.

They actually just came out with a new type of digital pen that has a camera you put at the top of your paper and then you use the pen to draw. The pen has real ink so you actual come up with real drawings on paper but it also sends it to the computer. I haven't tried this product yet but it looks very interesting!

This product will either be the epitome of amazing "tablets" or a giant failure depending on how accurately the camera picks up what you draw, and what kind of techniques it actually allows for.


For example, would you be able to pencil-sketch first, and then ink the sketch to transfer it to a digital medium? Or would the camera pick up the sketch as something it needed to transfer and create a mess on your computer?

[Paul Carpenter]

If you have a thousand bucks laying around you can get a small cintiq. Draw right on the screen. http://wacom.com/en/Products/Cintiq/Cintiq12WX.aspx

Ive had Wacoms in the past and may get one again. They are great for a lot of illustration areas but I find the mouse or trackpad fine for photoshop and the like.

[xela]

http://wacom.com/en/Products/Cintiq/Cintiq24HD.aspx

I want this.

[IAmTheChin]

They actually just came out with a new type of digital pen that has a camera you put at the top of your paper and then you use the pen to draw. The pen has real ink so you actual come up with real drawings on paper but it also sends it to the computer. I haven't tried this product yet but it looks very interesting!

It's called the Inkling. I've been wanting it for a while. It was postponed 3 months because production was a lot slower than expected and they wanted to release all the presale orders at once. It's not really a camera but a sensor. It's REALLY cool in the sense that it converts your drawings to vectors. Really REALLY cool feature.


Heard that it starts to distort near the edges of the paper (made for an A4) but it seems like the perfect tablet for sending your client preliminary sketches.


-Chin

[Don Boyer]

They actually just came out with a new type of digital pen that has a camera you put at the top of your paper and then you use the pen to draw. The pen has real ink so you actual come up with real drawings on paper but it also sends it to the computer. I haven't tried this product yet but it looks very interesting!

It's called the Inkling. I've been wanting it for a while. It was postponed 3 months because production was a lot slower than expected and they wanted to release all the presale orders at once. It's not really a camera but a sensor. It's REALLY cool in the sense that it converts your drawings to vectors. Really REALLY cool feature.


Heard that it starts to distort near the edges of the paper (made for an A4) but it seems like the perfect tablet for sending your client preliminary sketches.


-Chin

If I had to guess I'd say that the sensors are set up to be stereoscopic, in order to get an accurate location for the instrument used, and that it can record each stroke you make - though not the pressure of the stroke, unless they ditched the camera and added a touch-/pressure-sensitive surface for under the paper.

Ah, technology...  If only I knew the first thing about creating actual art, aside from martial art!

[AceGambit]

I own an Intuos³. It's a neat little product, a lot of fun, but as Alex said, it's difficult to use when you can't follow the pen to what you are producing.  It takes a lot of practice to get used to.  I would LOVE a Cintiq, they are unfortunately outside of my price range.  I do have a 'tablet PC' though.  For those of you unfamiliar with this product, it was a short lived piece of technology that I really wish has flourished more.  It's a laptop, with a tablet pen activated screen -- not a touch screen.  I own an HP2710p, and it is AMAZING.... it just needs a new battery .

[Paul Carpenter]

I'd like to see what the bezier quality is from the Inkling. Like it's great that it captures to vector, but if you end up with 1000 anchors on a curve that would be a pain in the butt to have to go through and simplify and adjust all the time. Very cool concept though.