Wacom Tablets

[Bill Stein]

I've noticed that a couple of members have Wacom Tablets listed as part of their "goodies". How useful are they to those of us that are not retouching photos, producing original drawings, etc.?

In other words, for those of use that are using Corel Draw to produce vector cut lines and are mainly engraving text, clip art, logos, etc. is there any advantage to using a tablet over a mouse?

I do engrave a pretty good number of photos but I don't do much to prepare them. Mainly just crop, change to grayscale, adjust the lighting and engrave.

What about for other programs -- Word, Excel, etc. -- does a tablet add anything or get in the way?

Bill

[Bill Morrison]

If you want a Wacom for what you mentioned I personally don't think it's worth the money. I've got the 12X12 Intuos 3 but it's used for restoration and working with photos that I'm going to laser. I've got the tablet mapped out to use the whole tablet so for me it would get in the way just to work with Word or Excel. You can setup the keypads to do other functions that may expidite bring some things such as bringing up applications but I have a keyboard that does that also and it is a lot cheaper. My advice is to save your money but that is just my opinion.

Bill

[Doug Griffith]

My opinion is that tablets are best used for pressure sensitivity for organic editing or anything where you need "3D" editing ability (ie. x and y plus color, thickness, opacity, etc...). Otherwise a mouse can do what you need.

[Frank Corker]

I wouldn't be without one. If you want to alter photos then that is exactly what you need.

[Jim Good]

PC Mall has refurbished Wacom 4x5's for $39.99. These are typically $99. They have never been used and CompUSA returned new ones back to Wacom and they must sell them as refurbished.

This might be a cheaper way to test drive the tablet without a huge outlay. It seems a lot of people like the smaller size of this tablet once you get the hang of it.

Here's the link. http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/search/search.asp?search=wacom&NavID_Search=false&CurDSN=simple&calledfrom=1&incimage=on

I hope this helps.

Jim

[Lee DeRaud]

I wouldn't be without one. If you want to alter photos then that is exactly what you need.What he said.

But it's definitely not a general-purpose user input device like a mouse: it's really great at a few specific tasks and pretty much sucks at everything else.

[Dan Starr]

My wacom cliniq is probably the best computer accessory I have ever purchased. I use it to touch up photo's, remove backgrounds, click trace photo's to create vector drawings, and so much more. It probably saves me 8 - 10 hrs of work a week.

[Larry Bratton]

I'm with Frank. I simply would not do without creating Corel or Photoshop files. It works well in any application. I believe it's referred to as a "human interface device".

I am so "hooked" on my tablet, it is hard for me to use a mouse or a touchpad. I have the driver installed on the various computers I use and I just hot plug my tablet into the USB port and I'm up and running. Mine is a Wacom CTE630, been using Wacom's for many years now.

[Charlie Bice]

I had one that I intended to use for tracing paper plans into Corel/CAD.

Useless (for me). The screen could not be 'zoomed' during the job. Accuracy was poor (I need .010" or better).

In the end it was easier to have the paper file converted to pdf and traced in Corel.

When 'playing' with it in Corel I can see where it would be essential. Graphic arts. The airbrush function alone would be worth it. Very precise for artistic stuff. Could do studio grade stuff very easily.

charlie

[David Dustin]

Yeah it is a love/hate thing for most people.

I have one and hate it....

David

[Bob Cole]

I have one and it is sitting by the computer. My son is an artist but I can't seem to get him to use it. The different models have different pressure sensitivity. The one I have is fairly large so the few times I tried to use it the size is cumbersome.

If anyone knows of a good web site that has training on the Wacoms, I would be interested. Like the other things in our business, if you don't use it, you don't use it :)

[Frank Corker]

Bob, do a search on Youtube, there are quite a few videos on there for you to be encouraged by. I don't use my tablet permanently, just for the occasions where I am fixing photographs, it does take a little practice but after a while it becomes a preferred method.

[Steve Clarkson]

OK, so I went to Wacom's website to see how much these things cost, and OMG they had tons of different ones and tons of different pens/airbrushes.......so with so many to choose from, can anyone recommend a specific model and/or stylus/pen? Thanks!

[Wil Lambert]

The Intuos 3 is worth every penny. Most people get along fine with a 6" x 8" model.

[Frank Corker]

Steve it's very much dependent on your needs. I don't have a Wacom, but it is a tablet and it does everything and more than I ever expected of it. In fact mine is on the much cheaper end of the scale but very reliable. I have a Trust 400 V2 (the people who make scanners), I'm not even sure if they still make them, but I would not hesitate to go an buy another one exactly the same. Expensive does not always get you what you expect or want, although it has more chance than an entry level does. The reason why I'm going to such extremes to point out the difference with cost is for some of the reasons posted here, not everyone gets on with them, if you buy a cheap one and you don't like it you can throw it in the useless gadget drawer alongside the footspa, juicer and expresso coffee maker.

[Steve Clarkson]

If you're not using that footspa.........I'd be happy to take it off your hands.......

Thanks to everyone for their input......before reading this post I never would have thought to get one......since I'm shopping for a new laptop now, I think I'll add in a tablet.......but after the recent posts about Vista troubles......I'm not sure what to do there........

[Frank Corker]

easy - insist on them putting on XP!