tablet

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macitect
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: California

tablet

Post by macitect »

Does anyone here use a tablet for any of their design work? If so can anybody tell me if it works with/is useful for HighDesign?

cheers,
d

jda
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:59 pm

Post by jda »

Derek,

I've decided to test the waters with one, so I'll let you know how it goes. (Actually, I'm diving in head first, since I'm ordering a Wacom Cintiq today.) Once I've had a chance to work out the bugs, I'll post back.

I'm combining it with an X-Keys keypad, and I'm hoping the combination of the two will make a big difference.

jd

macitect
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: California

Post by macitect »

Thanks for the reply.

I'll look forward to an update when you've had it all running for a few days.

cheers

jda
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:59 pm

Post by jda »

Macitect -

Sorry it's taken so long to get back, but the place I ordered the tablet from had it back ordered. I finally cancelled my order and got one off Amazon. It cost me $50 more, but at least now I've got it. For those who don't know about the Cintiq, it is essentially a touch screen monitor.

The short review: unbelievable, fantastic, perfect.

The longer review:

Well, it does what you think it does. I find drawing on it to be very natural - I was trained first with a pencil, and I've always found the mouse/monitor arrangement to be very awkward and unnatural. Working with the tablet is almost exactly like working on a sheet of paper, yet with the advantages of cad. It was a little weird the first few minutes, but I found myself working faster than before in no time at all. I also feel more concentrated on the work for some reason. One of the things that makes it great are all of the programmable keys and buttons which make it very easy to pan around, zoom, shift-select, constrain ortho, etc. The eraser tip is killer - just flip the pen over and tap a line to erase, just like a pencil (I actually can't figure out how it works, since I can have a group of lines selected yet erase at will with the pen without effecting the selected objects - weird). Another great thing is being able to quickly export a tiff out of HD, open it in Photoshop and start sketching on top of it, or even doing red lines. I can then very quickly bring the tiff back into HD as an underlay to use as a rough guide for modifications.

There are a few caveats, of course. The first is the parallax issue of not having the cursor precisely lined up with the pen tip. You can easily calibrate this in the control panel, but I find that since I don't sit in one position while drawing that it's really something that can't be completely eliminated. But I think it just takes getting used to - training my brain to concentrate on the cursor rather than the pen tip. Other minor issues: the zoom bar isn't as smooth as I'd like; if you have an older G5 like I do, you'll need a new graphics card; it's difficult to position both it and a full keyboard optimally (the solution is simple); the pen nib isn't quite as rough as I'd like (it comes with different points, for different feels, and I prefer something with slightly more resistance - an obviously picky comment).

Actually, the thing I'm finding the most difficult is the very thing the tablet was designed for - drawing. I hope to eventually go completely digital, and I'd like to be able to do my sketch elevations in photoshop using the tablet. The problem I have is that the resolution of the screen isn't tight enough. I typically draw schematic elevations at 1/8" on trace with a .01 or even a .005 marker. So I find that in photoshop I'm drawing at just about the pixel level. That makes for some awkward looking linework. I think what I'll have to do is recalibrate my eyeballs to draw at a larger scale, and then reduce them for printing (not my eyeballs). On the other hand, because it's so easy to pick different brushes, colors, textures, etc., I think my drawing technique will expand and improve.

So about the keyboard, I definitely wouldn't get the tablet unless you also get a small, programmable keypad like an x-keys to sit beside it. Otherwise either the tablet or the keyboard will be uncomfortably far away. Of course, I'd recommend an x-keys with or without the tablet. It really speeds things up.

Anyway, go get one - you won't regret it. Unfortunately, with all the changes I'm making to my workflow I'm also switching to Vectorworks, but send me a pm if you want to know more.

jd

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