Do you use a Wacom Tablet?

[santajuana]

Hi, I've a 5x4 Genius tablet and it works for me. It has all the advantages as any Wacom, including a mouse. Try a Genius, it's great and it's not as expensive.

Silvia.

[Pilot44]

Originally Posted by Bryan L

I just got the Wacom Intuos 6x8 a few weeks ago. I would NEVER go back to using a mouse now.

I was trying to do some stuff on a mouse the other day to show somebody how to do something and I felt handicapped.

By far and away the biggest advantage is the variable brush size. Sure, I love having something that is like a pen in my hands but I really like not having to switch brush sizes all the time.

-Bryan

Do profesional techincal illustrations. Cannot do without the Wacom Intuos 3. As a "left hander" it is just what I needed. Cannot even consider doing grpahics without the pen! Airbrush is quesitonable.

[RL Design]

I could not work without my tablet. I have a large 12x12 Wacom. When I started retouching several years ago with a photo house, my boss MADE me use the tabet (which was very uncomfortable). But I am so glad he did. If I ever work for anyone else again, one stipulation before taking the job would be a tablet. One of the best features... PRESURE CONTROL! WACOM!

[kraigbart]

The stylus has been in my hand for so long, that even doing simple navigation tasks on the desktop are clumbsy with a mouse. So many features with a tablet, size and flow for instance or combinations of each, cant be done any other way but preasure sensitivity. I simply cant work with out my tablet.

[creeduk]

Glad I am not the only one who still uses a mouse most of the time. When Is started with PS many moons ago, I was able to persuade the company we bought all our equipment from (lots of it) to throw in a free Wacom. It was the lower model of the time but I had previously used a CAD system that used a pen on a huge tablet. So I jumped right in, learned PS and the tablet together. I swore by it. I moved companies and for a while my reliance on PS was minimal and I could not get a tablet ( and was not in a position to buy my own) I started using PS more at home than at work for a while and got used to the mouse, but the ball was annoying. Well another change of position and now I started using PS again at work, but still mouse. Well eventually mice lost their balls so to speak and that made mouse life so much easier, far less slip ups. When I was finally in a position to get a tablet I was really wanting one, but when I got it I was SO used to the mouse that it felt really awkward, so now I have to force my self to use the tablet and will do so for some jobs but then other jobs I still find I am still far more accurate with the mouse. Maybe if I was in a position to try the Wacom Cintiq it would be different as it changes your way of working, you don't stare at the screen while trying to draw off to your side, you draw right there on the image.

But for now, budget and job wise, I use 80% mouse 20% pen. I use the pen at home and any job be it a pen type job or not at work I do with the mouse. Some people say there are things you do with a pen that cannot be done with a mouse, this is not true, t may take a few different approaches but all can be achieved.

[pepperphoto]

I have been working with PS about 2 years now, mainly using it for restorations. For the first couple of months I was using a mouse, then switched to Intuos3 6X8. So I did not have a lot of previous experience/knowlege to transition from.
I use the pen for all of my computer work now, the mouse for the tablet is covered in dust and sits beside the monitor. Sometimes I come to my computer to work and see the mouse on the tablet and it looks real strange and I know my wife has been on my comp for something.
One or two times I have picked up the mouse at someone else's computer and it feels like I am using a rock to scratch a stick figure on the sidwalk.
Larry

[videosean]

Years ago, I started working on an Apple machine at a job that was new somewhere around 1995 I believe. It had Photoshop 3 and a large wacom tablet. I loved it. The wacoms they are expensive though, so about 2 years ago I bought an Aiptek 12x12 for myself because I get mad at my mouse often enough to warrant trying things another way. It wasn't bad and I did alot with it but recently my frustrations grew to new proportions. The AAA battery in the pen was just one of my gripes but I also found myself being continually frustrated (from the day it was brand new) by not being able to put it anywhere within 2 feet of my monitor or else suffer a jittery cursor. It's a good tablet considering the price - I think I just outgrew it. 2 weeks ago I finally broke down and got a wacom 9x12 Intuos3. All I can say is NICE! This one is USB (I recall looking at tablets once and being irritated that wacom was still using serial even though competitors were using USB) and doesn't have a seperate power supply/wall wart like the old one I'd used once did.

I do still use the mouse (my logitech not the wacom mouse) mainly and probably always will but there are times when I really need a pen. And being able to vary opacity, size and or flow on the fly as you paint/draw is just mandatory sometimes

[nokyai]

I'm using the Wacom Intous 9x12

I will never to back to using just a mouse.

http://homepage.mac.com/nokyai/PhotoAlbum4.html

[shellby]

Just placed an order for a Wacom tablet. Should arrive in a few days time. Looking forward to it.

[briarrose]

YAY!!! You're gonna love it, Shelby!

[jad]

I use a trust model graphics tablet which works fine, going back to a mouse
would be like using a pen with my foot!

[oceanjake]

at my studio we have 42" plasmas and wacom tablets on all the retouching stations. i believe in having the best equipment available in the shop to lure the hottest talent to work for us. also it impresses potential clients when they see the willingness to invest in technology.

that being said, i've employed/worked with lots of retouchers over the years. in my experience, the tablet does not do as accurate of a job at masking, outlining, etc. when people try and use the tablet to create soft masks over say, a sky, there are often holes where things are not painted at 100% opacity. a big no-no when dealing with high end agency stuff.

the mouse can do everything well. the tablet can do most things well. a lot of people feel the tablet is more "artistic"....as long as it's used for ONLY the artistic stuff then it's fine. people shouldn't use it for mechanical things. period.

[neen273]

I even surf the web using my tablet. Hee.

[pure]

Originally Posted by shellby

Just placed an order for a Wacom tablet. Should arrive in a few days time. Looking forward to it.

is this the one everyone would recommend? i heard from a company which sent them back as the pointer was jumping around, maybe a bug

i still work with an apple mighty mouse, which i enjoy very much. thinking of this, what if i had a wacom, i maybe would enjoy it even more? i tried it once in a studio. i had the problem of not knowing where the pointer is, when i remove the pen from the ground. thats why i left it.

[briarrose]

Absolutely--Wacom is aces! :-) Admittedly--I only tried another brand once, and over a decade ago--but I've been a happy Wacom user for so long now, that I don't see any reason why I'd try another brand. Why mess with success?!

I think that most people find the 6x8 size to be the most convenient combination of "small enough to be easy to manuever with a keyboard" and "large enough to be easy to use"--and if your budget stretches towards it, I'd go with their high end, Intuos 3, (more pressure sensitivity than their lower end, Graphire). I have a 12x12, and it's heavenly, but cumbersome, and a 9x12, which is a little more convenient of a size, but is probably larger than I need. (I WANT it that large--but I probably don't NEED it! ;-))

Give yourself a week, to get used to one--force yourself to use it in Photoshop for just one week...and I think you'll be a convert, too. The first week IS a little rough--getting used to it, I mean...but the Intuos line comes with lots of fun extra software, like Painter Classic (I think it's called Painter Essentials, now)--and I find it very relaxing to just pop over into that, when I need a break, and just doodle with all the fun paintbrushes (NOTHING like Photoshop--more like an artist's tools). That was very helpful to me when I was just learning to use my Wacom...