Wacom

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

So, to those out there using a Wacom Tablet. How often do you use it? We purchased 3 a month and a half ago, but I do think we are using them as much as we could.

 

Does anyone use them for modeling?

 

We have one guy who manages to model using the Wacom as a mouse in FormZ, but when we are in Max, it seems worhtless. Mainly because of the middle scroll button not really being an option.

 

Others opinions? ....only for Photoshop?

[Matt Starling]

I am currently using a Wacom Intuos 3 A5 tablet for both 3d modelling in 3ds max and for photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver in fact pretty much everything. I just find it a very comfortable and natural way of working. I did use a Logitech trackball but this began to give me a strain injury around my wrist and thumb.

 

The tablet that i use also has a scroll bar at either side that you can use with your finger to scroll up and down or to zoom in and out when using 3d max or photoshop. The tablet also has extra button that can be customized as keyboard shortcuts such as zoom extents for example.

 

Using the tablet does require some practice.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

it is good to here that someone is using it in max. i think i just give up on it to easy because i am so used to using a mouse. ...or maybe i drink to much coffee in the morning, so my habe is shaky.

 

we are using Intous3 9x12, which I think is about an A4 size, and I already feel that it may be to large. I might try and mess with the working space reduction tools. ..or whatever you call them.

[AJLynn]

I had a big one at my office desk for months and never managed to make it useful - only occasionally for Photoshopping. There's the Wacom mouse, but that's not really any more useful than a normal mouse. These things are better suited to people who do digital drawing and painting than cad and 3d.

 

One thing it's good for is if you want to trace a bunch of paper drawings in cad without the hassle of getting bitmap files in there (or if for some reason you can't), and you have the crosshair mouse - I had a friend whose summer job one year was to trace old maps, with a very large Wacom, and it worked well.

[Brian Cassil]

If I'm working in photoshop, I'm using my tablet. If I'm working in max, im using my mouse. For me, just the time spent in PS is more than worth the price for having the wacom tablet.

[reddy]

I'm really interested by this cos coming from an architectural background the similarity to sketching is attractive to me. Think i might be being a bit romantic about it tho. I'd love to try one out before i went and bought it. Interesting to hear about its uses/ disadvantages.

[AJLynn]

You should be able to find a good store that will let you try one, or a friend who has one. It is maybe a bit romanticized - for me what took some getting used to is not sketching on the surface where the drawing appeared - there's this weird disconnect between hand and eye. I got over it pretty quickly, but maybe that's because i spent too much time playing video games when I was younger.

[edub]

I use a wacom 100 % of the time. Cinema 4D, P-shop, internet, excel, etc.

I'm not really sure of the model name, but the area is 5.5"x4.5", which might seems relatively small, but works out fine.

 

I switched to the tablet because I was having CTS issues when using a mouse - once I got used to it, I find it preferable to a mouse - not just in comfort, but also in screen movement.

 

The only thing that it won't do well is REALLY precise work, as the pen tends to jitter a bit in your hand at all times (and not like a mouse can "hover" over a point on screen when you remove your hand from it).

 

The worst thing about it is that whenever someone comes to my desk and wants to sketch something on paper, they usually grab the tablet pen and start drawing on paper with it - fools.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I'm really interested by this cos coming from an architectural background the similarity to sketching is attractive to me. Think i might be being a bit romantic about it tho. I'd love to try one out before i went and bought it. Interesting to hear about its uses/ disadvantages.

 

i am not sure of their price range, but i am pretty sure you can buy a monitor/tablet combination, which would give a lot closer feel to traditional media. i was just talking to someone the other day how i would love the idea of having a traditional drafting surface complete with parallel rule and triangles, and such that was nothing more than a huge tablet that recorded what you were doing.

 

i am going back to mouse for the rest of the day, because i do actually need to get work done, and richt now i am far superior with the mouse than the pen regardless of whether i am working in photoshop or 3dsmax.

[mattclasvegas]

I use my Wacom for ervery thing when I'm freehand drawing curves and such in Coreldraw, Illustrator or doing work in Photoshop. I don't like it in Max because the mouse is much easier to rotate, pan and zoom. The Wacom mouse is horrible compaired to a nice optical mouse.

 

I've been using my pad quite a bit lately.

 

matt

[leoJones2002]

my wacom does not work well with the built in poly sculpting tools in maya. I use my wacom most for photoshoping.

 

Once you have you pressure settings to your liking, I could argue there is no better way to achieve the feel of the stylus and the effects you get with a wacom over a mouse.

 

Use it more. Intergrate it into your workflow.

 

I havent used it yet myself but I hear a wacom with zBrush is the business.