I want to be able to get used to/good at using it. And I have a few questions for experienced users. And people who perhaps use them professionally.
Is the amplification a problem? What I am doing on a 7 inch (diagonal measurement) is being translated onto a 24 inch screen. That’s an amplification of approx 3.5. So my imperfections are being amplified 3.5 times. My pen skills are not that good at the best of times. Will I be able to train my brain to have it feel ‘normal’ to see what I do magnified 3.5 times?
What about hand/ink seperation? In other words the fact that where the pen tip is and where the ink appears are to completely different locations. Does that take a lot of getting used to? Do you arrive at a point where it feels just as natural as writing on a piece of paper?
And answer that last question for both. Does the amplification and position become as natural to you as when you write or draw on a piece of paper?
Any general tips for a novice? I don’t want this one to fall into disuse like the last one I owned.
It’s a wacom fun btw. I know it’s not the kind a pro would use (If money were no object I’d have something 1:1 and the image and pen are in the same place) but reviews are generally good for it.
Would I be better off configuring it to be 1:1 (so that it only applies to a limited 7 inch area on my monitor?
If anything, the hand/screen separation is easier to deal with when you’re using a pen than a mouse.
I’ve been using tablets for the past 10+ years, and find them quite natural. Certainly more natural than pushing a blocky mouse around.
So you don’t give up on it, and to tune your motor skills - use the tablet as your primary pointing device and ditch the mouse. This way, you force yourself to use it and get better at it. Eventually, double-clicking and right-clicking will become second nature.
Map the tablet to the full monitor. If you try to map it to a specific section of your monitor, you will become very annoyed with it as you’ll be forever moving Illustrator, Photoshop or whatever you’re working in with the mouse (and didn’t I tell you to get rid of that mouse?) so it’s in the right spot.
ETA: Nothing at all wrong with the “Bamboo Fun” except, perhaps, the fairly dorky name. It might not have quite the same resolution and levels of pressure sensitivity as an Intuos, but it’s still a very good tablet.
It didn’t take me very long at all to get used to mine. It feels very natural. I really prefer it to the mouse for my fine task work. However, I edit photos with mine rather than use it for illustration work. I haven’t done a lot of drawing with mine because I found the tools in Illustrator to be less intuitive than I hoped they would be for drawing. The pen tool was especially annoying. That’s just me though. I’m sure with time it would be fine. I just have no reason to spend the time on it.
For what are you using it? For general work as a mouse replacement, it’s actually better to have a smaller tablet, like the Wacom Graphire which has an A6 sensitive area. Basically you can address the whole screen without moving the heel of your hand. I’ve got an A5 Wacom too and I do prefer the A6 one. But for design work, the A5 is better.
Getting the right pen is critical. You want one with the buttons in the right place.
Use absolute, rather than relative, positioning. You’ll quickly gain muscle memory as to which point on the tablet is the corresponding point on the screen.
I really don’t like the newer pens, without the rocking switch. I love the rocking switch, and resting my finger on it is such second nature.
I have two computers, and therefore two tablets, one a Graphire 4 (which I really like), the other a Graphire 1 (which is old and crappy), but I use the older pen for both because the button is nicer.
I always have my fingers near the nib of the pen, as I use my fingertip to keep the pen a consistent distance from the tablet surface, and touch to left-click (as opposed to sliding the nib over the tablet and pressing to left-click, which I find potentially messy). So for that reason the switch is in exactly the right place.
You’re not alone. Illustrator has always felt as alien in it’s own way as AutoCad. CorelDraw doesn’t get anywhere near as much respect, but it is far more intuitive to my way of thinking.
I use Wacoms for photo/video retouching, combining it with a ShuttlePro that I use for macros, zooming and jogging from frame to frame. I also really got into them for 3D modeling. The pen might seem non-intuitive as a mouse replacement, but when you are sculpting for 12 hours straight, the more natural wrist position of holding a pen, compared to the rotation of your hand required by a mouse, is a life saver.
The single program that gains the most from a tablet is not Photoshop but Painter. It’s bounced from software company to software, winding up at Corel (unofficial motto: “Where Software Goes to Die!”) but it’s really an amazing program, and uses the pen in ways that Photoshop doesn’t even approach.
Do you use Z-Brush? Because that program mystifies me. It’s frustratingly different to all other apps and completely counter-intuitive. I don’t have the patience to completely relearn an entirely new kind of GUI.
I was mainly thinking of using it for graphical work - photo editing (advanced - like learning to do the kind of ‘shops’ you see on the internet) and a wide range of other tablet-related usage.
But I do find it quite neat to use it as a mouse-replacement.
I didn’t think about alternative pens. I do find the one that comes with it a bit too fat, and the buttons don’t feel like they’re in the most ideal place. I will obviously do some investigation, but as I am editing this reply I might as well ask: How easy is it to get new and ‘custom’ pens?
Try turning the tablet somewhat (relative to your body) as you would a piece of paper, when you write or draw. I always seem to have mine tilted at a 5 – 10º angle. I’m right handed, so it’s turned counter-clockwise. I’m using a 4x5 Bamboo right now, and keep it placed in front of my keyboard (and my keyboard is right beneath my monitor). I only use the mouse about 5% of the time, and mainly use the tablet for all interaction.
I just bought a Wacom Cintiq 21ux too. I still use my tablet, but for illustration, retouching and using Zbrush… it’s amazing. When I’m not using the Cintiq, I just stand it back up, and use it as a second monitor.
I have a tablet that I use mostly for doodling. I’m not a professional and I’m actually not even very good - it’s just a fun hobby of mine, doodling/drawing in Photoshop and online painting programs such as oekakis and whiteboards. I’ve been using them for several years and am on my second now, which is also a Bamboo Fun.
Others have had more technical answers, but believe me when I say yes, you will get used to it. I agree with what others have said regarding mapping it to the whole screen and practicing using it as your pointer instead of the mouse.
For me using the tablet was second nature right away. I literally had no “getting-used-to-it” period. I believe this is because for a couple of years beforehand, I’d been doing my Photoshop and oekaki doodling with a mouse, so I was used to moving my hand and watching the screen instead of watching what my hand was doing like when I draw on paper.
Maybe as an exercise, you could try drawing something with a mouse. Really try hard to make it look as smooth as you can. Notice how you’re watching the screen to see the effects of what you’re doing, and not your hand. Then try doing the same thing with the tablet. That is basically how I learned. Since I could draw with a mouse, using the tablet was a breeze in comparison.
But yes, if you keep at it, it will indeed become natural. I may have gone too far. I draw better with a tablet than I do with a pencil and paper. (Heck, I draw better with a MOUSE than I do with a pencil and paper!)
it doses. I’m composing this ising the tablet input pond of Vistas. It’s remarkably four on errors.
(ok, still some room for improvement).
I have just discovered that I’ve been holding the pen too far away from the tip! I find that if I hold nearer the tip I can handwrite much more naturally. The reason I was holding where I was was because of the buttons. And if you’re doing very fast flowy things it makes smoother curves that way. But it feels about 3 times better to hold it nearer the tip.
And it should be even better once I get my slim pen (this pen is too fat, even at the tip)
rinni your post does help because it gives me encouragement. I do know that you get good at anything if you just do it a lot, but it’s nice to be reminded of that fact.
this sorts sign off with some none topless input pond scrawling. (ooook… you can’t beat a keyboard for the typing stuff)
