What size graphic tablet?

[ajohnw]

My current graphics tablet aspect ratio doesn't match my screen. I can get round that on linux by mapping only some of the tablets area to the screen. X can do this for Linux users. don't ask read the docs. I would need to if I did it again. Also find the correct ones.

I can't make up my mind what size of tablet is best to use. I've recently switch to a 27in 2560x1440 monitor and the long length across the tablet is 7 ins. The screen is 23 1/2 in across. My current tablet is 7ins across and the short length 5 1/4in, 5000 odd lines per inch = 35,000 line in 7in, pressure and tilt sensitive etc. . I didn't find this too bad on a wide screen 23in monitor but couldn't make my mind up if bigger would be better. As the tablet size goes up the pen movement needed goes up too so might become a problem. Needing to use high zooms on the display anyway makes the decision more difficult. I did find the difference in aspect ratios bothersome but cured that as above.

Any thoughts on the subject? Just what is the best size? Long term or recent tablet users. Also feel it's easy to say well get the biggest and that could be a mistake for photo work. I suspect I must have more than 2*2560 lines across the tablet and already have that

John
-

[Manfred M]

My current graphics tablet aspect ratio doesn't match my screen. I can get round that on linux by mapping only some of the tablets area to the screen. X can do this for Linux users. don't ask read the docs. I would need to if I did it again. Also find the correct ones.

I can't make up my mind what size of tablet is best to use. I've recently switch to a 27in 2560x1440 monitor and the long length across the tablet is 7 ins. The screen is 23 1/2 in across. My current tablet is 7ins across and the short length 5 1/4in, 5000 odd lines per inch = 35,000 line in 7in, pressure and tilt sensitive etc. . I didn't find this too bad on a wide screen 23in monitor but couldn't make my mind up if bigger would be better. As the tablet size goes up the pen movement needed goes up too so might become a problem. Needing to use high zooms on the display anyway makes the decision more difficult. I did find the difference in aspect ratios bothersome but cured that as above.

Any thoughts on the subject? Just what is the best size? Long term or recent tablet users. Also feel it's easy to say well get the biggest and that could be a mistake for photo work. I suspect I must have more than 2*2560 lines across the tablet and already have that

John
-

John - I still use an ancient Intuos 3 tablet. I have one that is roughly 6" x 8" and it goes back to the days of the standard CRT display, that was roughly in line with those dimensions. I now use it with my 2-screen (wide screen) setup, and there is absolutely no correlation between the width of the two screens, versus the height.

I continues to work really well for me; somehow my brain seems to have reprogrammed itself to work with it, regardless of the actual dimensions. I had a chance to use someone elses Intuos 4 XL (I can't remember the dimensions around 12" x 20"); I did not like it. Way too much arm movement for me.

[Geoff F]

In many ways, John, it depends on exactly what you are doing.

I first started with tablets by using a cheap 10 x 8 ins version. After a couple of years that stopped working so I purchased a rather more expensive 7 x 5 Wacom. This was on the small size for me.

Then I was offered a 12 x 12 ins secondhand Wacom (which is probably obsolete now). That one is perfect for me.

Yes it takes up a bit of room but I tend to use it when I'm not requiring a keyboard very often. I place it to one side and use a conventional mouse if I have lot of text to type.

For me, a large tablet is perfect when doing more complicated jobs like messing around with masks and selections. I wouldn't want to return to the 7 x 5 ins version.

But the larger size isn't necessary for those more mundane tasks which could be achieved with a mouse; although a small tablet and pen can be easier and quicker than a mouse.

[ajohnw]

My mouse covers the 23 1/2 in width of the screen in under 1 1/2 ins. I don't do too badly with that but things could be easier. With acceleration it would be shorter.

I have used graphic tablets before and I found that if there isn't a significant rim round the active area the edges were difficult to use. That tends to make them even bigger. This was years ago playing with pure painting which I am not too good at and using a pirate copy of 3D studio. That was with a small cheap tablet. Size of that was a problem for that sort of use as was the quality. Not just resolution but accuracy as well..

I've also soldered surface mount parts under a stereo microscope at times - usually because I needed to show some one that it could be done before asking for more. Design and development sometimes has problems like that. From that I know that my hand to eye co ordination can easily cope with 10x magnification, This tends to push me in the same direction as Manfred - smallish. I haven't installed the current one on my new machine yet and wonder about fixing the aspect ratio and going bigger as well.

I hope to get several views on the subject.. A number of people on here use them. The best web answer I have seen suggests 1/3 of the size of the screen. Some who mention larger point out that the active area can be reduced but not made larger. Some reduce the active area size of the the medium to small size.

One interesting comment was that artists draw with the arm so big, normal people draw with their fingers so small. I do both with a mouse but me fingers and wrist are bound to be more accurate.

John
-

[Adrian]

By co-incidence I attended a training session yesterday with a Photoshop expert.

He recommended that arm movement are reduced if you avoid going for the smallest tablet and that bigger is best for ease of use and precision.

His recommendation was the Wacom Intuous Pro (link here to the medium size one)http://uk.shop.wacom.eu/products/int...um/580?c=86366

He said the advantage of these is that as well as the pen / eraser tool, the latest tablets an able extensive touch gestures (similar to an Apple touch pad) and that the scroll wheel is very useful.

[ajohnw]

That one has an active area of 8.8 by 5.5 ins and might be a little larger than what is usually called medium size. Interesting that it's close to the 1/3 size suggestion on larger screens. Tough though as a larger screen and tablet related like that must mean more movement at any magnification on the screen.

Just checked the actual active area on the one I have and it's 6 1/2 in so a bit over 1/4 of the screen and would be much closer to the 1/3 on the previous one. I'm beginning to think it's not worth changing.

The cost of decent but larger tablet is getting on towards 1/2 the price of a 9-18mm zoom for m 4/3.

John
-

[Ady]

From a personal perspective; the bigger the better.

I find my current tablet (Intuos5 Pen & Touch - active area 8.8" x 5.5") rather on the small side, it is an excellent product but I am constantly thinking about upgrading to the large.

I use my tablet for everything from photo editing and page layout to general productivity applications. I don't have a functional mouse so I use the multi-touch capability at least as much as the pen. As Adrian mentions this along with the touch wheel (and other controls) on the Intuos range are very useful.

In the past I used a digitizer and puck for pre-press and graphic work with an active area that was a little larger than A3. Which meant you could take the sketches/drawings you had done during mock-up, lay the paper over the tablet and use that as a guide to re-draw or a do a straight trace of the pen and paper work. So I got used to using a digitiser in the same way I'd sketch or draw on an A3 pad, which probably explains why I find my current tablet too small for comfort.

I do make use of zooming in the application and switching the tablet between standard and precision modes and between absolute and relative positioning, which do help, but I'd rather just have a bigger active area to work with.

HTH,
Ady

[davidedric]

Following this thread with interest. I bought a Wacom Bamboo a few months ago, to see if I liked a tablet, because it was cheap enough not to worry if we didn't get on. I do use it, but don't find it as easy to get as fine control as I had hoped (it also doesn't work all that well with Nik plugins). So I have to decide whether to stay as is, revert to just a mouse, or spend a fair bit on a larger and more capable model. Looking forward to hearing other views and any conclusions.

[ajohnw]

I've weakened and just ordered a Hanvon medium artmaster 111 although Park's in the UK show it as a 1111. I was a little put off due to ebay listings as I could get the same tablet in A4 for less than the medium ! Turns out that the funny prices are actually imports so work out even more when the post office collects the VAT. This is the range

http://www.hanvon.com/en/products/ta...aster_iii.html

The other one I have is same make and model but 6x5in. The new one is 9x6. I found it fairly easy to use but tablets will feel a bit strange after using a mouse for some time.

When I looked around for the 6x5 I did look at Wacom but was influenced by a small one I owned some years ago so discounted some of the Bamboo's on resolution and accuracy. Might have been a needless worry. Looking now they have introduced a mid price range similar to Hanvon prices. Accuracy is down and they don't seem to want to mention the resolution. The Artmasters are solid pieces of kit so decided to stick with them. The other attraction for me is that there is a helpful gent in Germany who maintains Linux drivers for them. He even answered my emails. A group of people maintain Wacom drivers but for the same grade of tablets they cost more.

Daft thing is that I don't need the new one really but the cost is now under 1/3 of the super wide zoom. Sufficient
justification and I will find out if bigger is better. Actually I suspect there is little difference in practice providing the tablet is up to it.

Should add I have no idea how well this tablet works on Windows ect but there are bound to be reviews about.

John
-

[Donald]

bought a Wacom Bamboo ... I do use it, but don't find it as easy to get as fine control as I had hoped (it also doesn't work all that well with Nik plugins).

Dave - I'm interested in your comments, because this is something I don't experience with my, now, ancient little Bamboo. In particular, what is it you find doesn't work that well in respect of the NIK suite of tools?

[davidedric]

Dave - I'm interested in your comments, because this is something I don't experience with my, now, ancient little Bamboo. In particular, what is it you find doesn't work that well in respect of the NIK suite of tools?

Hi Donald. I add a Control Point, that's OK., the problem comes when I try to adjust it using the sliders attached to the Control Point actually on the image. When I touch the pen to the slider, it (the slider) can't be moved at first, then a circle appears around the pointer for a second or so, then the slider can be moved - but only sometimes. It makes editing a real pain and I usually go back to the mouse at that stage. This is consistent at least across Viveza, SE Pro, Colour Efex Pro and Dfine. FWIW I have a new and fairly powerful PC running Win 7 - everything else flies along.

Have you (or anyone else!) had a similar experience?

I also find it quite difficult to get precise movements of the sliders - but that could just be ineptitude.

Dave

[Donald]

Have you (or anyone else!) had a similar experience?

I haven't experienced that at all, Dave. I agree that the the sliders on the control points can be a bit tempremental unless you get the cursor right on them. But I still find that I have much more control with the tablet than with a Mouse.

[Colin Southern]

For what it's worth, I thought "bigger is better" and bought a Wacom Intuos XL (Extra Large), but to be honest, it's too big. If I bought another one I'd make it either a medium or (at most) large. Probably medium.

[CBImages]

Like Donald I use a Wacom Bamboo that is a few years old now and have it paired with a 27" iMac and I love it, in fact I hardly use my mouse at all now. I find the small size is ideal as you don't need so big wrist movements to cover the whole screen.
Oh - I have turned off the pressure sensitivity option as I found it unreliable.
The only minor problem I have with it is that the stylus doesn't have to. Be in contact with the tablet to register control of the curser, getting very close will suffice, this can be quite frustrating when I'm doing fine detail work like trying to add control points with the pen tool in Photoshop as points appear where I don't want them. To be honest I don't do this kind of work that often so I switch to my mouse.

[ajohnw]

There shouldn't be any problem mixing mouse and tablet use if needed. That is Linux but I would suspect the same should be true of Windows. Just put the pen in the holder. I believe at one time Wacom supplied a mouse with some tablets but don't know how that was used. Looking on the web they are still available and are used on the tablet and have the usual characteristics of a mouse - small movements for lots on the screen.

Maybe the problem mentioned is down to the eye candy Adobe have added - rings. I had to search anchor points to make sure they meant what I thought they did. I don't generally use that selection method. I haven't noticed any pen active before it's on the tablet problems using a Hanvon but for what I have used it for might not. There may be a setting some where that adjusts the pressure the pen has to sense before it's active. I think that can be done with the pressure curve in the Gimp under preferences, input devices. PS is likely to have something similar.

John
-

[davidedric]

There shouldn't be any problem mixing mouse and tablet use if needed.

No problem in Windows, I do it all the time. Tablet in right hand, mouse in left - keeps the grey cells alive . Only problem is the key board - nose is big, but not quite long enough. Found a solution to my other problem, and put it in a new thread.

Dave

[ajohnw]

The Hanvon tablet arrived. I came across a comment on the web that the linux Wacom drivers will work with Art Masters III so installed them and they do. Even identifies them correctly. Trust Linux to notice that there is a bargain on the market.

I had no problem using the air brush from can't see to thick black without touching the default straight line pressure curve but I did increase the firmness feel a little. Very little. The pen doesn't pick up until it's on the tablet. A little strange using sliders as they remain attached to the slider until the pen is lifted or moved some way from it when using KDE tablet set up sliders - about 5mm or so. No problems at all in the Gimp. I'd guess this is a stupid change on KDE that just applies to tablets. Not applications fortunately.

KDE offers setting of the stylus and pressure settings but they have forgotten the buttons on the tablet. There are 8 plus the wheel. I did use the keyboard and stylus buttons but am going to see how the buttons are programmed in Linux and go that way. No problem on Windows / Mac as the software that comes with it allows that to be set up. On these there is also an extra button that pops up a small screen with the current button settings on it. Buttons can launch applications or the usual short cuts.

Size - well it's a bigger tablet so more stylus movement is needed to cover the screen. I need a near pixel level view for very delicate work and don't think it will change that. On the other hand it might make using brushes on parts of a whole image easier to keep even.

A quality bit of kit in my view. It even well made. One beef, Parks, outer jacker ingrained with dust and broken along one seam. Inner box ingrained with dust as well. Slight signs that it has been opened - the usb cable bag wasn't sealed. The lead is as on the other one long enough to easily connect with a PC under the table. I suppose they get lots of people who just go in and buy a Wacom but I feel this one should have been sold shop soiled. Price wise over a similar Waconm. I would rather spend the 100 quid saved on something else. Or more like £150 for gestures and I suspect that would tie me to using certain software. On the other hand are 5000 odd lines per inch, 0.1mm accuracy and 2048 pressure steps needed. If not the medium bambo fun is the same price but they also do cheaper tablets.

John
-