Tablets: Wacom Intuos3 purchase advise / help needed

[ilegales]

Hi

i would like some advise from people who have experience with the intuos3 tablets

right now i am in consideration of 2 tablet sizes
- A5 wide
- A4 regular

Attached is a quick snap of my workstation monitors to give you a clearer view
so you can see i use 2 monitors -
the left monitor for cs tools and the right one positioned in a portrait rotation for the picture to retouch on. (this monitor can rotate horizontal or vertical) but i am mostly shooting in portrait format so i use the monitor also in portrait.(see more of image on screen at once)

i have included in cm the sizes of the heights, lengths of both monitors as i am unsure of which is the more useful tablet to get and i guess it depends on the space in which the monitors use

here are the measurements of the actual tablet area -
A5 wide - 27cm x 16cm
A4 reg - 30cm x 23cm

i would appreciate if someone can give me some advise on which tablet will suit the ratio of my monitor setup

many thanks

[ilegales]

Re: Wacom Intuos3 purchase advise / help needed

N.B

the length that says 32cm should in fact be 62cm

[Dave.Cox]

Re: Wacom Intuos3 purchase advise / help needed

Hi ilegales,

Unfortunately, you aren't going to be able to set anything to give you the same resolution across such a disparate arrangement of monitors. When you have the pen set up to work across both monitors, the resolution will be set across the entire span.

Fortunately, the Intuous 3 is designed to work with 2 monitors. So there are a couple of things that you can do.

Probably the best choice is one of the wide screen formats, such as the 6X11, or 12X19 may work best for you. These will probably give you the best control as you move from the left to right monitors. Since these tablets are wide screen, you will come the closest to keeping the movement up and down close to the right and left movement.

Also, when you need precise control, you can switch the tablet between both monitors to just the left, or just the right. A good way to do this is to set one of the programmable keys on the tablet to toggle between the modes. When you switch this way, it will affect all devices that use the tablet. That means you can't set up a pen for just the left, and one for the right using to toggle function. But you can set it to just one monitor, and use a regular mouse for both. Or you can toggle your settings as you need. Your settings for the Wacom table will not affect a normal mouse at all. The allows you to set them independently.

If you have more than one pen or mouse, you can set the pen or mouse to just a specific area, using the tool mapping function. In this way, you can set a pen to use just the left monitor, and another one to use the right monitor. You can also force proportions to be square, or set you proportions for the device for the screen area that you want, and for the tablet area that you want. You can do the same thing with a pair of mice (Mouses?).

I hope that this helps

Dave

[ilegales]

Re: Wacom Intuos3 purchase advise / help needed

Many thanks Dave for your time and well explained information

i am going to take your advise and after reading the wacom manual from the internet - the A5 wide is my best option for dual monitors.
i was just not sure that because i use my 2nd monitor in a portrait fashion then i should get a different one but now i am happy to go ahead and get the A5 wide. also it feels better on my workstaion as i made a paper template.

i was also pleased to see that i can switch between left and right monitors and still keep the full working space on the tablet. so thats a nice feature to have. also i can still use my desktop mouse when needed as with the A5 wide package it does not come with the intuos mouse.

so now that i have the tablet sorted out any advise on the grip pen -
i know it comes with some spare nibs - how long approx do they last ?
i also noted that there are some other nibs (fibre, spring mounts)
which ones to purchase as spare replacements for the grip pen

i will be doing photo retouching as i shoot mainly studio work..working in CS3

again many thanks - very helpful

Hi ilegales,

Unfortunately, you aren't going to be able to set anything to give you the same resolution across such a disparate arrangement of monitors. When you have the pen set up to work across both monitors, the resolution will be set across the entire span.

Fortunately, the Intuous 3 is designed to work with 2 monitors. So there are a couple of things that you can do.

Probably the best choice is one of the wide screen formats, such as the 6X11, or 12X19 may work best for you. These will probably give you the best control as you move from the left to right monitors. Since these tablets are wide screen, you will come the closest to keeping the movement up and down close to the right and left movement.

Also, when you need precise control, you can switch the tablet between both monitors to just the left, or just the right. A good way to do this is to set one of the programmable keys on the tablet to toggle between the modes. When you switch this way, it will affect all devices that use the tablet. That means you can't set up a pen for just the left, and one for the right using to toggle function. But you can set it to just one monitor, and use a regular mouse for both. Or you can toggle your settings as you need. Your settings for the Wacom table will not affect a normal mouse at all. The allows you to set them independently.

If you have more than one pen or mouse, you can set the pen or mouse to just a specific area, using the tool mapping function. In this way, you can set a pen to use just the left monitor, and another one to use the right monitor. You can also force proportions to be square, or set you proportions for the device for the screen area that you want, and for the tablet area that you want. You can do the same thing with a pair of mice (Mouses?).

I hope that this helps

Dave

[ilegales]

Re: Wacom Intuos3 purchase advise / help needed

the last question was not only posted to Dave but to anyone who might be able to share their experioences with the various grip pen nibs

i am unsure of what does what so i dont know which ones to get as spares..
i can of course get them later but i will get a good price as i am buying tablet plus extras..