Wacom Tablets

grin

Well worth the justification. I use a small intuos3 for editing in photoshop - the control is much nicer than the mouse (or perhaps just more like the pencil I grew up on). It also works well with other programs and it's fun to mess around with the handwriting recognition.

I've got a medium sized Intuos 3, used an old serial/ps/2 Graphire before that, have tried a Cintiq 12WX and a Bamboo recently.

If you're doing heavy graphics work then pick up a Bamboo, it's a jaw-droppingly lovely Wacom tablet that's not obscenely expensive and will afford you a good few hours of sketching fun in photoshop before you get bored of it. It's also a good combatant to RSI (repetitive strain injury). If you get pains in your mousin' wrist you can switch to using the tablet.

The AipTek MyNote is also quite an interesting sort-of tablet. It works as a very basic graphics tablet when hooked to a PC, but it can also be carried around separately with a wedge of A4 paper clamped to it. You draw on the paper with a special pen and the tablet will digitize what you draw in real-time. Grabbing the files off the tablet and converting them to vectors for editing in illustrator is then trivial.

I wish the Cintiq was affordable. It's the badgers nadgers to use.

Interesting topic. My kid wants a tablet to draw anime with, she can draw it freehand well.
She now wants to get into it on the mac.
I've been looking at the bamboo. I hear the mouse sucks though.

I am getting a bamboo for my bday saturday so I'll let you know after that. I want it for photoshop becuase I find it very hard to use the mouse to do lasso's etc.

From all I've read its awesome... and for $70 you can't beat it

You will find generally that using a tablet mouse is unpleasant to say the least. Whilst a wireless mouse without a battery sounds nifty I've not liked the feel of the mouse in the Graphire and Intuos tablets and that's presumably why the Bamboo doesn't even come with one.

Unless by "mouse" you mean using the tablet in 1:1 mouse mode to work with the operating system? In which case it's not bad, but right clicking takes a little getting used to.

I have the benefit of being a leftie, so I always have a traditional mouse at my right hand in addition to the tablet which I use with my left.

A scanner is your best bet for getting freehand drawings onto a computer. I would then use the graphics tablet to digitally "ink" in the lines and the result in using photoshop layers. Some tablets have a transparent overlay which you can slip a sheet of paper beneath to trace, the results you'll achieve with this can really vary.

theyre great if youre strictly working with graphic design (photoshop, indesign) otherwise there isnt that much use. i have one and i barely use it. cuz i mainly do professional video editing.

I had a Graphire Bluetooth my high school years and that help during newspaper class. I had to scan and clean up comics and I would use it to trace the comics under the glass. But I hated the feel and so when my brother let me borrow his Intuos 3, he was going to a dorm and didnt have room for it for a year, the Intuos 3 6x11 with 6D pen and airbush are great. I don't do lots of drawing but tracing and cleaning are so much easier with it.

Graphire Bluetooth if you dont have to carry a USB cord.
Intuos 3 if your stuck to a desktop.

Cintiq 12" when your ready for the killer. Ill get one after paying for CS 4 upgrade.

They're great. I haven't used a mouse in 8 years - have the Graphire USB and Graphire 3, Wacom doesn't make these anymore but they still work so I can't upgrade 🙂. Both are the small A6 size. It takes a day or two to get used to the pen but it's really much more comfortable than using a mouse. Great for imaging and photoshop work, but also for regular navigation through the finder and other apps.

I have one and I use it all the time for drawing and doing illustrations as it is as others have said, similar to using a pencil to navigate with. To start with go to a store if you are by a big box chain or an Apple Store and see if they have any on display to play with.
The more money you spend on a given tablet the different options you will get in the long run. A Bamboo is nice to start with and offers a good amount of pen pressure (512 I believe) while an Intuos model will give you (1024). Also the more expensive units come in different sizes from 4x6 to 12x12, wide and standard format (both of which can be "mapped" to your screen size). Also with the Intuos models you can at a later time buy an airbrush "pen" or even other types of pens that have diferent uses such as mimicking a painting brush where as the Bamboo can as far as I know only use one type of pen and the mouse it comes with depending upon the model.
As most people that use them will tell you, it takes time and a good amount of use to become comfortable with using a pen since you can control just about every aspect of it's pressure (a little goes a long way).
So I guess it really amounts to how much you will use it and what you will use it for. The amount of money you want to spend will also determine what you can get but it really amounts to how the tablet and pen feels in your hand and again how much and what you will use it for.
Last once you decide on one there is a tutorial that will help you set it up to start with here: http://guides.macrumors.com/Setting_Up_A_Wacom_Tablet_Tutorial

NavySEAL6 said:

Does anyone have a wacom tablet? How do you like it and what do you use it for? I think theyre cool and im trying to justify getting one.

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I've used one since the Original Graphire. I've got a Graphire 4 right now.. but i'm planning on buying a Cintiq 12" in the next few weeks as well as the 6D pen. I do still use my regular mouse... but I LOVE my tablet. There is no way I could go back to drawing with a mouse!!!

I expect the Cintiq to speed up my workflow and help go more to a paperless environment. This way I don't have to scan and ink and then correct.. I can do it all at once. 🙂