>>11753
Really doubd that's what you're looking for. You want a Cintiq. They're not exactly cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Cintiq-12WX-12-Inch-Display/dp/B00115OFJK

Yeah I'm looking for something I can afford. I mean, I could buy the Cintiq, but that's more than half of my savings. I was hoping that because of Wacom's brand recognition, this might be cheaper. The site ( http://www.vistablet.net/support/faq.html#6 )says they make ones that allow for direct touch, but none of the ones I can find on there say whether or not they can do that.

Besides which, a lot of the Cintiq reviews say it's a clunky beta-test thing. Sigh.

>>11754

For that much, I'd go make myself a second machine, buy a tablet, and a nice monitor to go with it.... :|

>>11756
It isn't, but it isn't a "must have product" either. Anything you can do using a Cintiq can be done with an Intuos. I think it's a bit of an unnecesary luxury item.

tc4400 perhaps? check them out on ebay.

From what I've seen, Cintiqs can make things easier if you've never used a tablet before, but people eventually get used to using standard tablets if that's all they can afford. Many of the best artists I know use non-view tablets, and I know a number of crappy artists who use cintiqs. I've also known absolutely outstanding artists who just use a mouse.

There's actually also a couple of benefits to using a non-view tablet:
- You can use the money you save to invest in a higher quality machine/graphics monitor (a good color gamut IPS panel really helps).
- You don't have to worry about smudging the screen.
- You don't block out parts of the image with your hand as you draw.
- You're not tied to any specific screen resolution. Most of the affordable direct-view solutions have extremely tiny resolutions, so fitting your image AND your tools on-screen is a big hassle. Not so with non-view tablets: they can be used on monitors of any size and resolution.

If you've never tried a standard tablet before, and you want to check it out, I suggest either a low-end Wacom Bamboo or a monoprice tablet:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=tablet&x=0&y=0

I have this one, and it's worked reasonably well. It's also pretty large for the $50 price tag.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=113&cp_id=11303&cs_id=1084101&p_id=6251&seq=1&format=2

That said, if you're set on a direct-view tablet, Cintiqs are one of the only viable options. A number of off-brand models have popped up in the past year, but they have almost no market penetration in most markets. The biggest one seem to be Yiynova. You can find a lot of their products from Amazon retailers:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=Yiynova+tablet

Their prices are generally:
10" 1024x600, USB ONLY - $300
15" 1280x800, VGA ONLY - $400
19" 1440x900, VGA ONLY - $500

The main problem with these is that they're still pretty expensive AND only support VGA or USB. There is also the worry that driver support could be bad, or dry up in time. However, they seem to have positive reviews right now, so they might be decent.

Another alternative is to buy a convertible tablet/laptop PC that supports pen input with pressure sensitivity. Unfortunately, these generally stopped being popular (and therefore stopped being made) a couple years ago. I currently use an HP TX-2510US, which is one of the last of the "Wacom Penabled" tablet PC's made. The problem with going with something like this is that you're tied to the hardware and don't get the benefit of having a powerful and upgradeable desktop. As of right now, I'm not aware of any software that would let you convert a tablet PC into a pressure-sensitive tablet with a beefier desktop doing the processing. Old tablet PCs will generally run you 300-500 used, and normally come with a screen size of 1280x800 or so. In addition, I'd say to skip the model I got unless you want to bring a cooling pad around, since they overheat and start crapping out pretty easily.

There ARE some new tablet PCs around, but they're as expensive as buying a dedicated 12" Cintiq new. For example, Lenovo makes a modern tablet laptop which you can get with a Core i7 and up to 8GB ram for about $1500 if you configure it that way. It starts around $1100 for an i5 with 4GB of ram:
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/xtablet-series/x220-tablet/

Another possibility is just buying a used Cintiq. You can find used Cintiqs on eBay from the most recent versions to old versions of questionable quality from a decade ago. However, even the cheapest used Cintiqs with horrible quality (remember how good LCDs were like 10 years ago?) still go for a few hundred bucks.

Another option is to buy a tablet with pen support. The cons for this are that, again, you are tied to the hardware. The only real option on this front that I know of right now is the Asus EP121, which uses and intel i5 processor and up to 4GB of ram. It costs around $900-1000, so again, as much as buying a dedicated 12" Cintiq new.

What does VGA mean?

Also, I'm a Mac user because I'm not good with computers. I'm feeling that I can either go direct-view or walk away. I tried one of those normal tablets a while back - there's no way i'm getting used to that.

Also, I've been out of the art game for the past 4 years or so, so there's the question of whether or not I should bother.

MukiHyena 2012/03/17(Sat)13:26 No. 11764 ID: c6ec33
File 133201598680.jpg - (24.02KB , 700x517 , 19-Kingtee-19MD-Professional-graphic-tablet-LCD-pe.jpg )

http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/108927/section/500041427-Interactive-pen-display.html

Here's another company that makes on-screen tablets. I don't know much about them other than they're about half the price of a cintiq and seem to have most of the same functionality.

Here's a review video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc6F7jeGw_Y&feature=related

>>11762

VGA

All you need to know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMVDejZH4kw

>>11763
See if you can find a store that caters to Mac professionals in your area and has some Cintiqs set up. Nothing beats getting a demo in real life.

You may be best off buying a used Cintiq 12wx. You can generally find them on eBay for around $600-800. If you don't like it, you can expect to be able to sell it off for pretty much the same price. You could also buy a new one - those are ~$900-1000.

But, obviously, that is NOT a small purchase for someone who's not 100% sure they'll get their money's worth out of it. If you use it for a few months and then have to resell it, you could be looking at up to a $300+ loss.

>>11763
>I tried one of those normal tablets a while back - there's no way i'm getting used to that.

It's just a matter of time until you adjust to the disconnect between the hand and eye. I believe that even a Cintiq will still take some degree of accustomisation before you can use it comfortably. And for its lavish price tag, you are probably just better off using something without a screen, as most digital artists do.

>>11771

Did I mention I tried it for a couple years and couldn't get used to it? The disconnect is just too much for me.

Two additional routes:
If you're willing to learn an entirely new program, you could buy an ipad/similar and use a capacitive touch pen (or something like the new Galaxy Note 10.1 that comes with a pen).

If you're the DIY sort, you can take an LCD and a regular tablet and put one behind the other, e.g.: http://www.bongofish.co.uk/wacom/wacom_pt1.html http://www.tabletmod.com/
This is significantly cheaper than a Cintiq, and still allows you to use a Wacom sensor rather than a slower and lower resolution capacitive sensor, but does require assembly.

Is there any chance the price might drop in the forseeable future if I sleep on it?

>>11792

I haven't seen the price drop since I've known about them.

Anonymous 2012/06/16(Sat)21:20 No. 13551 ID: c6ec33
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Sorry for the bump, but this product has popped up. Pretty low res, but higher pixel density than a cintiq.

http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Yiynova-Digitizer-Tablet-Display/dp/B005EDNAPU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=13320313
32&sr=1-2

Video review from someone who actually OWNS a Cintiq:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xZR4CFiQEsU#!

$300

- 10.1" USB Tablet Digitizer LCD.No VGA Input,No DC Power. Mode Switch Between Digitizer and Monitor

- Active display/drawing area (H x V): 222.72 mm x 125.28 mm (10.1" diagonal)
Digitizer:Tablet resolution(4000 LPI),Tracking speed(130 PPS),Pen pressure sensitive(1024 levels)

- LCD:16.7M Colors,1024x600 Resolution,0.2175 x 0.2175 mm Pixel pitch,8ms Response,650:1 Contrast

- Warranty: 1 Year with The Panda City; Support OS:Win7/Vista/X

>>13551

Quite a nifty tablet, thanks for sharing that.

>>11761
>Another alternative is to buy a convertible tablet/laptop PC that supports pen input with pressure sensitivity.

It doesn't really work that well. I use my Thinkpad X201 Tablet for oC sometimes, and hand-in-the-way-of-the-screen + imperfect-alignment-depending-on-how-you're-holding-it-relative-to-your-face + glassy-surface-slowly-gains-grease-and-friction + it-gets-really-hot (thanks for running the CPU flat out, oC!) combine for a less than stellar experience; see e.g. >>13511.

I totally prefer using my Bamboo. Still, at least this is useful for dev work and as a fallback. (Point of note, though, Lenovo fucked up the driver support and it took some chicken-waving to get it recognized as a damn WinTab device at all, let alone at the same time as a Microsoft Ink one.)

>>13556
Oh, and the other downside is that trusty old ^Z is folded away under the screen. The X201 has a rebindable panel button for it, but it's nowhere near as easily clickable as the bindable buttons on the Bamboo---really fussy about the angle and pressure you hit it at, and it's kind of stiff and recessed.

Plus if you want to natter while you doodle then I hope you like on-screen keyboards or handwriting telephone fish sandwich.

I just got the 10x6.25" Monoprice tablet mentioned earlier. It beats the pants off my old MTE-450 Bamboo Small, that's for sure.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=113&cp_id=11303&cs_id=1084101&p_id=6251&seq=1&format=2

...And the price just dropped even more. Now $40. It'd be a great deal at twice that price.

I am having some difficulties with the stylus's rocker switch in SAI. Not a dealbreaker since I don't use those much, and I may yet figure out how to fix it.

However, I have a different problem now. Moving to a bigger tablet, combined with having one of those goofy ergonomic keyboards, makes it annoying to reach keys with my other hand. I'd have gotten the model with hotkeys, but it doesn't work for lefties.

Can anyone recommend a good small keypad to use with my right hand? If possible, one with ctrl, alt, and space keys? Or with keys I can program to that effect?

Thanks.

>>14729
Maybe a cheap USB numpad + Autohotkey/glovepie/freepie/sharpkey/keytweak/whatever to remap the keys to whatever you want them to be.