Recommendations for a mid-range Graphics Tablet

[Webby]

CrazyMonkey, I offer the same advice as previously in this thread

1. Wacom good
2. £100 your looking at either a Graphire 3 or 4 (A5 tablet)
3. Graphire 4 has soft keys, Graphire 3 has a mouse.

The choice is yours

Oh and see my previous post for the link to Wacom's webshop used section.

[X10]

Depressingly, it's Tuesday morning and my tablet has still not arrived.

[X10]

Right well, as requested I thought I'd update you all on the Graphics Tablet.

It actually arrived about 30 minutes after I posted last week, so that was good. I then spent an hour trying to get to grips with it by making a small card with some graphics in Photoshop.

It's certainly not easy to get to grips with, at the moment I've got the entire tablet area mapped to the entire screen area - is that how everyone else has it?
I have to say that I would never have it as a replacement to the mouse, it's nowhere near as fast. I can move my mouse an inch in any direction and I've covered the desktop area, it's far more accurate and responsive than a pen in that sense.

I did start to get to grips with the pen towards the end of my session, once I'd relatively finished doing what I had intended to do (or at least ran out of time to dedicate to it), so I can see I will get better at using it.

One question I have remaining, does anyone out there use a tablet with any Desktop Publishing software?
If so, which software would you recommend?
I have no idea about DTP software and realised that making a card in Photoshop was probably not the easiest or prettiest solution.
I'll generally be using it for card making and other creative things that will eventually get printed out I expect.
What say you guys'n'gals?

(Oh, also, I've noticed that when I use the pen on the tablet I get a high-pitched clicking sound coming from the PC - not the speakers or headphones - has anyone else noticed this phenomenon??? It's directly related to the pen's use, so if I move slowly the clicks slow down, fast then they speed up, etc. etc. - it's odd, and very annoying)

Thanks again for the help, it was much appreciated and look forward to any helpful further advice you may have.

[DecomposingStar]

Right well, as requested I thought I'd update you all on the Graphics Tablet.

It actually arrived about 30 minutes after I posted last week, so that was good. I then spent an hour trying to get to grips with it by making a small card with some graphics in Photoshop.

It's certainly not easy to get to grips with, at the moment I've got the entire tablet area mapped to the entire screen area - is that how everyone else has it?
I have to say that I would never have it as a replacement to the mouse, it's nowhere near as fast. I can move my mouse an inch in any direction and I've covered the desktop area, it's far more accurate and responsive than a pen in that sense.

I did start to get to grips with the pen towards the end of my session, once I'd relatively finished doing what I had intended to do (or at least ran out of time to dedicate to it), so I can see I will get better at using it.

One question I have remaining, does anyone out there use a tablet with any Desktop Publishing software?
If so, which software would you recommend?
I have no idea about DTP software and realised that making a card in Photoshop was probably not the easiest or prettiest solution.
I'll generally be using it for card making and other creative things that will eventually get printed out I expect.
What say you guys'n'gals?

(Oh, also, I've noticed that when I use the pen on the tablet I get a high-pitched clicking sound coming from the PC - not the speakers or headphones - has anyone else noticed this phenomenon??? It's directly related to the pen's use, so if I move slowly the clicks slow down, fast then they speed up, etc. etc. - it's odd, and very annoying)

Thanks again for the help, it was much appreciated and look forward to any helpful further advice you may have.

If you have the tablet synched to the screen (ie, each corner of the tablet represents part of the screen) it's actually quicker than using a mouse. You can train yourself accuracy by unpluggin your mouse and forcing yourself to use the pen.

the high pitched noise is odd. Is it like the old MIDI beeps? The type of noise that you hear when you press too many buttons at startup? If so, it's probably not healthy. Search to see if other have the same problem, or contact the manufacturer for advice.

[vinnyT]

I use it with Serif PagePlusX2, and have been using it with all graphically related sw.

You can download, and use, free of charge a previous version of PagaPlus (I think it's the se version), this is fine for cards, etc. and you will be able to use your tablet. You can also dl other Serif graphics related sw for free at this site

FreeSerifSoftware - free software downloads

Serif have a good forum

The Serif Forums

[X10]

If you have the tablet synched to the screen (ie, each corner of the tablet represents part of the screen) it's actually quicker than using a mouse. You can train yourself accuracy by unpluggin your mouse and forcing yourself to use the pen.

I can see it being more accurate over time & with practice, but it certainly won't be as little effort as using the mouse (having to move a pen from one corner of A5 area to another for example vs. a small wrist movement to get the mouse placed that same screen distance).

the high pitched noise is odd. Is it like the old MIDI beeps? The type of noise that you hear when you press too many buttons at startup? If so, it's probably not healthy. Search to see if other have the same problem, or contact the manufacturer for advice.

I don't know what the old MIDI beeps are, but this is a very quiet high pitched sound, almost inaudible (I have sensitive ears). Like the sound a flourescent tube light gives off when its on).

I might contact them but I fear they'll just fob me off with some rubbish, as is the way of most tech support when they don't know the answer.

X10

[DecomposingStar]

I don't know what the old MIDI beeps are, but this is a very quiet high pitched sound, almost inaudible (I have sensitive ears). Like the sound a flourescent tube light gives off when its on).

I might contact them but I fear they'll just fob me off with some rubbish, as is the way of most tech support when they don't know the answer.

X10

You're sure it's not coming from your speakers? It could just be interfearence with your graphics card/motherboard causing slight noises to be registered from your soundcard. I get this sort of noise when i'm scrolling down pages sometimes.