OT: Which Wacom would you buy for Vegas?

busterkeaton wrote on 12/29/2005, 9:56 AM
Onsale.com is having a great sale on Wacom tablets.

What caught my eye is they have the Graphire3 Gray 4" x 5" for $50 and then a $15 rebate.

Then I noticed they have the 6x8 Graphire3 for $90 with a $10 rebate.

The latest model is the Graphire4 which is said to have some improvements to the pen and the tablet. Anybody work with the Graphire 3 and 4? The 4 goes for about $80-90 for the 4x5.


The Graphire 3 comes with
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 2
• Corel Painter Essentials 2
• Color Efex Pro 2 GE

The Graphire 4 comes with
• 2 shortcut keys and a scroll wheel on the tablet.
• better mouse
• flat pen storage
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0
• Corel Painter Essentials 2
• Color Efex Pro 2 GE
• Ever-Note Plus
• JustWrite Office

I have never used a tablet. So should I get the best deal? At $35 this is pretty sweet.
Should I get the bigger tablet? Am I going to notice this extra surface?

Should I get the latest and greatest? The pen and mouse are said to be much improved.

Comments

GaryKleiner wrote on 12/29/2005, 10:14 AM
Buster,

If you are using a dual monitor setup, bigger is better to allow the stylus movement to go across both screens. It also depends on how much space you have on your desk.

The buttons and scroll wheel can be pretty sweet if you can program them to play nice with the Vegas timeline (and I believe you can).

Gary
Coursedesign wrote on 12/29/2005, 10:26 AM
Forget using the mouse that comes with Wacom tablets. Not because they're bad, but because they only work on the tablet surface.

Better to keep your regular mouse (wireless Logitech is my favorite), and use that with your left hand while "penning" the tablet with your right hand.

For those decadent ones who have widescreen LCDs (Dell 2005FPW, 2405FPW and others), Wacom now also offers a 6"x11" widescreen tablet.

For just user interface control, smaller is better (because the tablets are much larger than just the active area, larger sizes kill your desk space).

If you are going to paint a lot in Illustrator, Combustion, etc., then you want something bigger. Still, for this it's not likely you'll appreciate anything bigger than a 6x tablet.

The 9x12 tablets are huge, mostly useful for full time artists who are used to working with natural media, and they should consider Wacom's 21" LCD on-screen tablet anyway...


MH_Stevens wrote on 12/29/2005, 11:12 AM
I have the PTZ-930 and love it. Comes with a good software bundle too including Photoshop Elements 3 and Corel Draw.

Mike S
TShaw wrote on 12/29/2005, 1:34 PM
Buster, I have the Ruby, and 4" x 5" and it work great but if it should ever die I will get a bigger tablet.
I have to agree with Coursedesign about the mouse, I use my trackball instead.

Terry
MyST wrote on 12/29/2005, 2:48 PM
I just got the Intuos3 4"X5".

I called Wacom before buying, because I wasn't sure which to get... the 4X5 Intuos3 or the 6X8 Graphire.
The rep told me if I planned on using it more than for just hobby use, I should definitely get the Intuos3. It's built more solidly, and the warranty is double that of the Graphire. In her words, the Intuos is built for 24/7 use. The Graphire, for the hobbyist.
I should also mention though, that my use for the tablet is graphic design and painting.
Maybe you should call Wacom and tell them what exactly you'll be doing with the tablet, then they can recommend a tablet in particular.
For example, the Intuos3 pen has angle sensitivity. Excellent for airbrushing, probably much less useful for audio/video.

Whatever you do, stick with Wacom. There are cheaper brands that aren't recommended at all on the graphic design forum I participate in. Lousy drivers for one thing.

Mario
Rod Van Nortwick wrote on 12/29/2005, 8:07 PM
I've been using an Intuos 12x12 since 2000, bigger is better...