what do people prefer tablets or mice?

[WP_Graphics]

excuse my ignorance but what is a tablet? Is it like a drawing pad?

Gav

[Martin Pearson]

I have a wacom oversize A4 tablet Gray, I treated myself to it about 4 years ago when I had some cash, it wasn’t to use for business though. I was quite into photoshop and thought this might help as I find a mouse so inaccurate and awkward.
It has a pen and a 4 button cordless mouse, the mouse is just set up for shortcuts I dont use it for any drawing. I found it a big improvement right from the start even though it took a little getting use to. The pen is a bit chunkier than a normal pen or pencil but it is still comfortable to hold. Jon that works with me is very good at drawing which helps to keep jobs totally unique, without the tablet he would have to draw to a piece of paper then scan vectorise and re-edit as he is not happy drawing with a mouse. With the tablet its drawn straight to the screen with no mucking about. I also use it to trace stuff quite often it is much easier than scanning. The only draw back I can think of at the moment and its nit picking really is the fact that it’s sometimes quite hard to watch the screen and draw on the tablet at the same time. There are tablets available now where you draw straight onto the screen but they are a bit out of my league. Like Henry I have not seen any posts by people who regret buying them.
I would not like to be without it now but I’m not sure if I would have gone out and bought one for the business. It’s obviously not an essential bit of equipment as most sign makers don’t have one. I suppose like most things it comes down to what sort of work you are doing. Sorry I can’t be of any more help I just feel that its the sort of thing you have to try for yourself.

[Steve Broughton]

I bought a Wacom Pen Partner A6 size, about £70, usefull bit of kit, use it in Signlab find it far easier when cleaning up scanned vectors than the mouse, but still use the mouse for the usual stuff like moving things around etc. but on the whole a good bit of kit.

[JPH]

I’ve got the Wacom A4 tablet too… great bit of kit for Photoshop etc but the mouse is a bit of a let down. Feels cheap and nasty and not as comfortable as a MS Wheel Mouse. On my system the tablet and mouse can co-exist so for non drawing stuff I switch to the MS Mouse.

Biggest problem I have… getting up in the middle of drawing, pen in hand and leaving it somewhere I can’t find it… usually in vicinity of the kettle.

Jason

[Steve Broughton]

Jase I too have the same kettle related problem, it seems to attract all kinds of thing, knives, scissors, squeeges and strangest of all builders, it seems every time it boils there is a knock at my door and I open it to find a scruffy expectant brickie with mug in hand 😆

[Rab]

I would’nt be without my Wacom (A5 size), great for vector editing and photoshop work, however I still use a Microsoft scroll mouse file navigation, etc. as you cansometime ‘lose’ files by using the pen to ‘drag and drop’

Rab

[Steve Broughton]

Sorry to dig up this old topic again but my old Wacom PenPartner has gone to the great computer rubbish dump in the sky and I’ve bought a new one, a Wacom Graphire2 its better with the mouse, cordless, no batteries, USB2 and best of all it was £30 cheaper than the old one, got it from Dabs on special £49.99 usually about £75, did Gray ever get one ?

[John Singh]

Thanks for showing this Steve

Think I must get one of these, it looks quite dab

Might just treat myself

Q. Is a USB2 peripheral compatible with the earlier USB1?

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Gray, I picked up an Acecat Flair from Dick Smith electronics last November for $99 Aust. It’s a 5 x 4″ working area, on a mat the size of a mouse mat. USB connector. [edit- I didn’t swear, that’s this auto edit thing- you know the cahin of electronics stores named after Richard Smith, aka Dic$ Smith- maybe the system will let me spell a legitimate name that way…?]
I wouldn’t rave about it- maybe that’s just the learning curve. In photoshop, the pressure adjustments are good, and our kids love it, but I find my accuracy with the mouse is OK for me!
Perhaps a wacom would be significantly better, but I wouldn’t invest in the acecat without a test run first. Wacom’s are $200+ here, depending on the size. Some people say 6 x 8″ is the best size- too big and you have to draw too far to move the pointer on the screen. Others like the big ones!
I find it’s OK for tracing standard postcard sized photos.
Best wishes

[Rodney Gold]

If you use a tablet as input , the biggest advantages are that you “draw” naturally and can have a menu on tablet. The menu on tablet thing is by far the biggest plus – you should be able to define areas of the tablet as menu areas and you would then put a set of commands that are constantly used under the acetate that comes with most tablets.
Once you get used to this , your speed becomes blindingly fast.
The ability to trace directly is also a big plus , however moddern scanners and raster to vector software is pertty good at this anyway.
I have used tablets with Autocad for many years but find stuff like the Wacom (I had one) a little bit toylike and pretty limited regarding area and the menu ability thing.
Using it to screen pick menus like a mouse does defeats the prime purpose and does’nt really speed up anything , the chordless is nice and so is the pressure thing , but one rarely uses the pressure thing for variable line widths unless one is drawing freehand = I dont seem to draw much freehand.

[Gordon Forbes]

I personally wouldn’t be without a Kettle LOL.

[John Singh]

Is that with a USB connection?