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Geek Culture / Looking for a graphics tablet.

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Happy Cheesecake
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 01:50
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As the title suggests, I'd like to have some suggestions to what sort of tablet I should pick up, mainly because I have no idea what to go with. You've all previously helped me on deciding on an HDTV, so I place full trust in you with something like a tablet.

I sketch a lot with the classic pen and paper, but I don't have the physical supplies that I would like to have to bring color to them as efficiently as I'd like. There's just something about digital media that's always attracted me, so I'm curious which sort of tablet I would need. I don't plan on going over $100, but I do want something that won't screw me over in the long run. I haven't looked into it as much as I should have, since buying one of these is almost on a whim, but drawing is becoming a prevalent hobby of mine so I thought I might as well get some practice in whenever I can with a tablet.

I imagine things like how accurate the tablet is with a pen, the amount of pressure the tablet takes into account, and also the surface area the tablet will have are all important things to consider, but you guys know best. There are a dozens of amazing artist on these forums, so I'm sure one of you can point me in the right direction either through experience or pure recommendation.

I'd think a larger surface to draw on would be better, but I really have no idea, as people tend to draw differently. What's the thing to look for? I dunno, I'll spare you all my many questions for now.



tl;dr
Anybody know of a good graphics tablet under $100?


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Kezzla
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 02:10
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I strongly recommend wacom. I have a wacom bamboo fun. Its an a5 tablet and it is brilliant.

With the surface of the tablet, it is a bit different to real drawing, you need to look at your maximum stroke size and buy accordingly. for example, i always draw with pencils and pens, and my strokes are controlled by my fingers and wrists, so my stroke size easily fits inside the a5 size.
if you were a painter with strokes coming from the elbow then you may need bigger, if you stroke from the shoulder... go paint a wall

as for $100 I dont know if you will get what you want for that price, what is your currency? I got my tablet for 200 au and it came with adobe elements, which is great.
check out this site

http://www.buywacom.com.au/

there are a couple of other threads floating around the geek culture forum from the recent past with more information in them.

Sometimes I like to use words out of contents
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Happy Cheesecake
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 02:22
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I checked some of the recent threads and checked some of the links provided, but I just wasn't sure of the information given. I don't know, you could just call me really picky, heh.

Anyways, my strokes tend to pivot off of my elbow. I keep imagining myself trying to draw on one of the bamboo funs that I've seen suggested a couple times, but I don't see it feeling right. It's just hard to imagine myself drawing on something like that, but then again, I've never even used a tablet for drawing.

I'm going off of American dollars.

If I have to, then I'll settle with one of the bamboo funs, since they seem within my price range and highly suggested, but I'd rather not if there's something out there that would be better.

I'm not looking for something bundled with expensive photoshop software, by the by. I'll just scour the web for some freeware if I must.

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zeroSlave
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 02:27 Edited at: 24th Feb 2012 02:31
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Howdy there. I use the first generation of Wacom's Bamboo Fun tablet. They don't make them anymore and have moved on to the second generation which look pretty nice called the Bamboo Capture. I like the layout of mine, however, with the buttons on the top and the zoom wheel. The specs seem pretty comparible. Got mine for $100 and this is the same.

Quote: ", since buying one of these is almost on a whim"

As is how I got mine. I was in Best Buy, saw it and said, "You know, I've always thought about getting a graphics tablet. I'm going to get one now." Never looked back. If something bad happened to mine, I would definitely get another.

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Quik
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 09:51
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Quote: "Anybody know of a good graphics tablet under $100? "


for that you will either need to buy a used one, small or just bad one...

Like other said: Wacom
Wacom Intous is how I roll, but thats just because i got mine in B-day present x)

Quote: "you need to look at your maximum stroke size and buy accordingly"

I cant say this is true, if you have a small tablet and big screen, then i can guarantee your strokes will be more shaky than with a small tablet+small screen or big screen + big screen, because it reflects on the actual screen. I used ot have an A5 tablet and changed up to A3 this christmas, and the difference was.. huge.

I would say since youre just starting out and experimenting, buy an A5 just to test out and once youre comfy buy a bigger one


The result of origin.. Oh and ponies
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Van B
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 12:07
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It's a tricky one, as everyone agrees Wacom are the best, but also the most expensive. It's not just one aspect of Wacom tablets, it's the build quality, fluidity, pen, accuracy... I would actually pick an A5/6 Wacom over a cheap brand A4 tablet. I bought a cheap A4 tablet for £65, around about what your budget is, but really it was like drawing on sandpaper compared to the cheap A6 Wacom bamboo I have now. The pens don't take batteries, the tablet can comfortably sit on my lap. When I had an A4 tablet, it was just a nuisance, nowhere to keep it permanently - I prefer an A5/6 tablet as you can just grab it when you want to use it - no making space, no moving mouse mats or keyboards.
IMO for a hobbyist, someone looking to improve their texturing or photo retouching, Bamboo's are ideal. I guess it depends though - if you want to improve your detail work, using a mouse and tablet when painting (that's what I do) then Bamboo's are great. If you want to be painting more organic things, using the tablet to make original artwork, then maybe see if you can get a 2nd hand A4 tablet on eBay. You can get a new A4 tablet for that money, but that's only good if you need a new expensive mouse mat that will make you hate your life everytime you use it.

I don't have the current gen bamboo, my one has no touch screen, just a little pad and pen:


Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
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Kravenwolf
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 12:41 Edited at: 24th Feb 2012 12:43
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I just ordered a $70.00 Genius tablet from Amazon, it should be arriving this Monday. It has an average 3.5-4 star rating on Amazon and Newegg, and it seemed to be a good deal for the $$$. I can't afford to invest in a wacom tablet at the moment, and this is a replacement to my old $60 Genius tablet; which I've had for 4 years.

Genius G-Pen F610 Ultra-Slim Tablet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paACrphXgKI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1OSJ8_-_xE


Kravenwolf

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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 16:13 Edited at: 24th Feb 2012 16:17
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id get this if i were you http://www.wacom.com/en/Products/Cintiq/Cintiq21UX.aspx



dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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Diggsey
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 16:43
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That's $2,000... For a tablet...

[b]
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Quik
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 16:48
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yeah, for a FIRST tablet thats kinnda silly dont you think? I would LOVE to have it myself but its quite dang expensive~~


The result of origin.. Oh and ponies
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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 17:00
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Quote: "That's $2,000... For a tablet..."

a friend of mine got one and he says its totally worth it. normal tablets are kinda hard to draw on because of the hand-eye coordination thing for people like me who only draw on paper, Personally i think i could never draw nearly as well on a normal tablet than paper ot a monitor tablet above where i have a lot better control with a pen or a stylus if i actually see where my hand is moving instead of trying to vaugley guess my hand movements which wont be nearly as persice as if i could actually see my hand.


dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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Van B
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 17:40
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I'd kill or die for a Cintiq
You do get them for around £500 on ebay, older variants - I missed out on the first generation 1024x768 ones by £10 - thing went for £110!

That one Kravenwolf went for looks pretty good, my old cheapo A4 one looks Victorian compared to that.

Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
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Quik
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 17:41
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I thought it was uncomfy the first few hours
Anyway, if you have 2000$ lying around then yeah sure xD


The result of origin.. Oh and ponies
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Happy Cheesecake
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Posted: 24th Feb 2012 23:13 Edited at: 24th Feb 2012 23:14
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Hmm, I've tried to absorb a lot of what you guys are saying, and I think I've decided on the Bamboo Capture. At $100 it meets my budget, comes with some software, and from what I can tell after a little bit of self testing, the drawing area is suitable enough for what I'll be doing with it. Also, the thought of it also being compatible with fingers and multi-touch functions that are similar to the iPad/Pod make me giddy. I've seen reviews, and they say that those specific features might be a little less than stellar, but I'm not put off too much by it.

Unless anyone really feels the need to talk me out of this decision (which you should feel free to do so), all I can really do now to wrap this topic up is to thank everyone for helping me in my... sketchy endeavors.



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bitJericho
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Posted: 27th Feb 2012 12:41 Edited at: 27th Feb 2012 12:45
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Might I recommend an m200 toshiba?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/PC-Laptops-Netbooks-/177/i.html?_pppn=v3&rt=nc&Type=Laptop%252FNotebook&_nkw=toshiba%20m200&_catref=1&_dmpt=Laptops_Nov05&_fln=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1539

Can install up to 2gb ram and 2.7ghz cpu (maybe higher), runs xp great, but can run windows 7 if you find just the right graphics driver.

Anyway, you can pick one up for 100 bucks and it would blow away any dinky little wacom you can find. Has a super high def wacom-powered screen.

darkBIT TGC Torrent Tracker / File Server - AGK Chat: #agk : irc.devhat.net
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