Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

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Gaston
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by Gaston »

Hi,
I've used my Wacom Intuos a long, long time and I was very happy with it.
Two years ago I want to upgrade to a Wacom Cintiq Pro 24. The quality was fantastic, as usual. But when I tested it, the fans was very loud. Wacom explain it because of the 4K resolution. But in HD it was loud too. So I've sended it back, with tears in one eye.
Now I work with a Huion Kamvas 22 Pro and I'm happy with it. The resolution is HD and there a no fans.
BTW: The old Wacom Cintiq 27 is ok too.
Last edited by Gaston on Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:41 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by Greenlaw »

Gaston wrote: Sun Aug 16, 2020 7:18 pm BTW: The old Wacom Cintiq 27 is ok too.
The Cintiq 27QHD is what my wife uses. It worked great for about 3 years then it suddenly had trouble staying on for more than a few seconds. We sent it off to be fixed last week. She's already missing it very much. :)

Her only complaint about the tablet is that it's a bit too big...the tablet literally covers her entire desk area. She thinks she might have been fine with the 16-inch version I have. (I think the 16-inch I have is fine, but the native resolution is too high for this size and I had to reduce it.)

BTW, today I looked into key remote devices for tablets. Since newer Wacom tablets do not have Express Keys on the bezel, a remote is almost necessary.

I've used Wacom's Express Key Remote at work. It's nice but it's expensive and also has some design flaws. For example, it keeps powering down after 10 minutes, which gets really annoying. Also, while I think the EK Remote fine with the full-sized Cintiq I use at work, I think it might be cumbersome with my much smaller Cintiq Pro 16 at home. TBD; I placed an order for it today and will report what I think. (My wife has one for her Cintiq but unfortunately for me, the remote's wifi dongle was attached to her tablet when we shipped it out.)

I also put in an order for the XP-PEN AC19 (link to product page on Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/XP-PEN-AC19-Sh ... ast_sto_dp. This device is an alternative to the EK Remote. It doesn't have as many buttons but it's significantly cheaper (about $36.) I got this for my daughter use with her Wacom One which also lacks buttons. Before I hand it off to my daughter, I'll try it out with my Cintiq Pro 16 and post what I think. Then, after she's used it for a while with her Wacom One, I'll let everybody know what she thinks.

BTW, the XP-Pen AC19 is a standalone device and is meant to work with any tablet, not just XP-Pen products. The AC19 apparently works well with Surface Pro tablet computers too. (This could make using a Surface Pro more appealing to me.)
Bluefountain
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by Bluefountain »

Just thought to add a happy shout out to the Wacom Tech guys in Germany
I have had Cintiq 24” ( I think it is) Seems like I had it for years until it died then promptly bought the 27”. I was all about to bin the 24” and thought surely somebody can fix it up and out of curiosity asked Wacom. They said send it over – (To Germany) Im in UK. I hate waste and thought it was worth it to have a back up as I practically live on the tablet. Anyway Wacom Germany sent it back, fixed and at no charge. Moral of the story - Not every electronic device is a throw away :) and thank you Wacom for a brilliant product.
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rafael
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by rafael »

I moved to tablets exclusively about ten years ago, and haven't looked back. I use them as a total mouse replacement.

Honestly, unless you're planning on doing frame-by-frame animation or a lot of illustration, I don't think you need to pop for anything big/expensive. I've had multiple pro-level Wacom tablets and easily my favorite tablet on earth, and the one I now use exclusively, is the XP-Pen G430S OSU. It's the smallest one you can get, and it's only $30 off amazon. It fits perfectly on top of the trackpad that I don't use. What this means is that I don't have to keep my arm extended all day long to reach the keyboard keys. Also, I can now use my laptop...on my lap! Which is actually a pretty big deal. If all that is available at a cafe is a comfy seat with no table, I'm good to go.

Heck, I don't even use the full size of the tablet, I remap the surface to be smaller so I don't have to move my hand as much. You can see this in the scuffed area on the tablet. It's roughly the size of a credit card. It makes getting around very fast.

That said, I do own an iPad Pro, which I use for drawing, some non-vector illustration, and frame-by-frame animation practice.

It'll take you a little while to get used to a tablet, but once you do, you'll love it. That's my 2c!

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Greenlaw
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by Greenlaw »

Good advice Rafael.

And cute doggy, btw. :)
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rafael
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by rafael »

Greenlaw wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:10 pm And cute doggy, btw. :)
Thanks, she's my friends dog! She can look and sound very imposing when she hears something outside but the rest of the time she's carrying around a tattered teddy bear, making whiney emotional sounds. haha
rocken
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by rocken »

please does this tablet work with moho?

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rocken
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by rocken »

please does the xp pen decomini 7 work with moho?
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rafael wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2020 5:37 pm I moved to tablets exclusively about ten years ago, and haven't looked back. I use them as a total mouse replacement.

Honestly, unless you're planning on doing frame-by-frame animation or a lot of illustration, I don't think you need to pop for anything big/expensive. I've had multiple pro-level Wacom tablets and easily my favorite tablet on earth, and the one I now use exclusively, is the XP-Pen G430S OSU. It's the smallest one you can get, and it's only $30 off amazon. It fits perfectly on top of the trackpad that I don't use. What this means is that I don't have to keep my arm extended all day long to reach the keyboard keys. Also, I can now use my laptop...on my lap! Which is actually a pretty big deal. If all that is available at a cafe is a comfy seat with no table, I'm good to go.

Heck, I don't even use the full size of the tablet, I remap the surface to be smaller so I don't have to move my hand as much. You can see this in the scuffed area on the tablet. It's roughly the size of a credit card. It makes getting around very fast.

That said, I do own an iPad Pro, which I use for drawing, some non-vector illustration, and frame-by-frame animation practice.

It'll take you a little while to get used to a tablet, but once you do, you'll love it. That's my 2c!

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rafael
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by rafael »

rocken wrote: Sat Jun 04, 2022 11:00 pm please does this tablet work with moho?

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Sorry, I haven't been on the forum in a while! It does work with Moho. It's just a tablet+pen, so it works with every software, just like any kind of mouse would work with any software.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by Greenlaw »

New tablet info.

My laptop is starting to have problems so a few weeks ago I got a Surface Laptop with the Slim Pen 2 running on Windows 11 to eventually replace it. This is a nice tablet computer and Moho so far appears to run well with it, but there are definitely some quirks.

The Slim Pen 2 is physically different: it's flat like a carpenter's pencil, and the side button is awkward to press with your index finger. However, if you place the button under your thumb, it feels a bit more natural. It's not bad...just takes a a little getting used to and I seem to have adapted to is pretty quickly.

There two buttons, one on the end. The side button is a single switch and not a rocker like on a Wacom pen. This means you can't assign a middle mouse button to the finger switch because it has to be used for right-clicking. Annoying. So far I've found a few workarounds:


1. Assign middle-mouse button to a keyboard key or to an external key pad like the Huion Key Dial. I'm using the Keydial but personally, I wish the pen had a rocker switch. Using a separate key works ok but it sort of defeats the reason to use a tablet computer.

2. There are a few third-party programs available that lets you assign an on-screen command for middle-mouse button. The one I'm trying now is called Tablet Pro. It seems very comprehensive but may overkill and overly complicated for how I want to use it. TBD.

Back when I had the HP tm2 tablet computer, I used a third-party widget that added all the modifier keys in a small moveable window. That was many years ago though. I hope I can find something similar to work with modern tablets like this Surface.

3. Get a different Stylus that has the rocker switch. This basically what I did years ago for my tm2 tablet computer and it worked out well, I just bought an alternative pen with a rocker switch called Renaisser R530 but I haven't spent enough time with it yet to comment. Oh, this pen is also compatible with Tablet Pro.


The Slim Pen 2's button on the end can be used as an eraser, and when it's clicked or double-clicked, it can be used to launch programs and other simple tasks. It can be used like a middle-mouse button though and I'm not even sure how that would be practical.

The way the pen works with Moho (and other programs) takes a little getting used to. For example to click on buttons that open a menu list, like the Bone Constraints button, you need to first press and hold the side button then tap. If you try to simply tap on the button, Moho ignores it. Same for r-clicking on a layer; press and hold the side button and then tap. This isn't just in Moho but also in other programs, so this behavior is apparently by design for the Slim Pen 2.

But how well does Slim Pen 2 draw? Actually that part is quite nice! Pressure sensitivity seems very good for drawing thick and thin and opacity. The real test will be when I use it to draw a comic, which I hope to do this weekend. (After that, I'll draw another comic to test the Renaisser R530.)

So is it worth it? Not sure yet. I've used a lot of different tablets and styli over the last couple of decades, and they all have some quirk I needed to workaround or adapt to. The Surface and Slim Pen 2 are not an exception, and may be a little more extreme. So far, I'm enjoying the drawing quality but it does get frustrating when something doesn't work as expected. For example, in any web browser, I can't undock a tabbed window by dragging it with the Slim Pen 2 like I can with a mouse, and the steps to do this is really silly:


1. press and hold the side button.
2. tap on the tab. A context menu will open
3. release the button
4. select the menu item Move Tab To Another Window >New Window. Browser tab is undocked.


I'm not joking, that's really how you do this with the Slim Pen 2. BTW, if anybody knows a better way to do this with the Slim Pen 2, PLEASE let me know!

Now admittedly, I still a lot to learn about this tablet and pen but I can post more info as I figure things out.

Just thought some users will find this info helpful, interesting, or maybe just amusing. 😸
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Greenlaw
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by Greenlaw »

I played around with the Renaisser 530 stylus this evening. It's a nice pen, especially for its price (under $40.) Metal body, nice weight, dual switch rocker side button and eraser switch, 4096 levels of pressure and tilt, and 100 hours of use on a 1hr charge.

Sounds really good except the second side button can't be set to middle-mouse like a Wacom pen. Sigh...I'm beginning to feel that if you want Wacom stylus features in a tablet computer you need to get a Wacom. The Huion Key Dial works well to give the pen a 'middle-mouse' button, just like the Surface Slim Pen 2...an acceptable solution since the Key Dial gives you a lot more functionality like providing physical modifier keys and function keys, as well as a multifunction dial, Bluetooth or USB C connectivity, for a decent price ($50.)

I also tried using the Slim Pen 2 to draw with the Freehand tool in Moho. Not 100% sure but I think this pen works better than a Wacom pen for Moho freehand drawing? So far I'm not seeing the odd curlies and other errors. I'll try comparing it directly against the Wacom pen and post what I find when I get the chance.

Later this week I'll revisit the Tablet Pro software for the Slim Pen 2 and Renaisser 530. The software is supposed to somehow give these pens direct middle mouse capability. I had the software installed a few weeks ago but removed it because it was more complicated than I wanted to deal with at the time but I think I'm ready to try it again.

Stay tuned. 😺
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SuperSGL
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Re: Should I Purchase a Drawing Tablet?

Post by SuperSGL »

I have the Wacom medium and have to agree the bluetooth just doesn't work for me. I bought a new one last year it worked for alittle while then stopped. I use the old one for the laptop. I do like having the 8 buttons for short cuts. Nice response.
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