I am using FLASH MX and I am tired of drawing with a mouse. My hands are starting to hurt. How does it actually work, do u see your computer screen on the tablet board, also say i draw a circle in Flash how do u fill in the circle with color using the Wacom board. Finally , what is the process of hooking it up to ure computer, is their software, does it go in the USB port.
thanks
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My newgrounds movie--->http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/247657
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/251906
You use a lightweight pen-shaped stylus to draw on a thin sheet of plastic overlaid over what boils down to more plastic. You don't see the screen on the board (that's known as a Cintiq) but the moves you make directly correlate to your cursor's position on the screen. To paint you would use the stylus as a cursor, select the paint button and color as you would with the mouse, and draw or fill. It's essentially no different than a mouse except way easier to draw with naturally. Any of them that you'd like to buy come with either a serial or USB cable (you decide by which one you purchase) and install with drivers off of a CD. To my recollection there was no accompanying software but that's not always the case. Often times limited versions of Photoshop or Painter kind of software come with.
Just to rehash, because I feel like typing this morning, it's basically a mouse shaped as a pen with some more options (like position and pressure). And it's really helped out with the RSI pain I used to have in my wrist. I use it for everything now.
On XP the USB installs right out of the box, but the included drivers add a lot of functionalitly. You can get a serial version, too.
Their website should list the software. I just got an intuos 3 about 6 months ago (upgraded from my graphire 1). It came with stripped down versions of Painter and Photoshop. Both were pretty usable, and most, minus professionals, probably won't miss many of the things that aren't in there.
It does make drawing on the computer much easier for most people. However, be warned that it isn't exactly like drawing on a piece of paper. There is some getting used to it that needs to happen (I'd suggest using it for everything you can on the computer to get used to it).
If you've never used one but are really interested, I would suggest getting a Graphire. They're usually sub $100 and work great and I think they have a 6x8 (my favorite size) now. Try it out for a while and see if you really like it. In a year or two upgrade to a larger Intuos if you feel like you need the extra size, buttons or pressure support.
Also, don't just go for the biggest one you can get. See if you can try out different sizes first. Personally I find that anything over the 6x8 is too big (for my desk and using comfortably), but I know people that love the larger sizes. There are a number of different options for different people. It's nice.
Good luck!
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
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It's not really an upgrade though, to get an intuos, unless you can find someone to take the graphire off yours hands.
Good point remembering the pressure and the tilt. It makes a huge difference in the range of marks you can make.
I have an intuos2 which is down to about 230 dollars new fully loaded. They practically give them away on eBay. Plenty of safe and successful shopping to be had there, but I like buying "retail."
I also second 6x8. It's enough to get arm movement in there, but is very close in feel to a sheet of paper or most people's computer screens to the link in your mind is more direct to a surface you're comfortable in dealing with. It only took me or anyone that's used mine 20mins to an hour to get comfortable with it. Some people think they're slippery and tape paper over it, I really don't notice a difference in how it affects my workflow. I draw on the thing and it works. Great purchase.
Im getting a friend of mine to get me a graphire of Ebay, I wonder if my drawing style will look different?
I am also curious, when you were all 15,were you into animation, were u interested in it, did u make stuff on Flash or old aniamtion programs
?????
My newgrounds movie--->http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/247657
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/251906
If you had a nice enough printer, or one that printed in graphite or pen ink, nobody could tell the difference between what I draw with my tablet and what I draw on, say, a placemat at IHOP.
I literally don't remember a time when I wasn't interested in animation. As far as practicing it, that came with actually getting old enough to understand it was a real art and skill and not just the "magic" or "illusion." At 15, yes, I was definitely practicing, not with the ferocity I would've liked though because it was an unbalanced time of my life. I didn't deal with Flash till probably...I wanna say... a year and a half ago? I took a community college course, and the book for it was really simplistic, but useful. I got started and four weeks in I was building stuff with ActionScript. I found it to be really accessible. The teacher was great, and knowledgeable, but everyone learns at a different pace so it was held back -a lot- for everyone's questions and comments. Whenever he'd go to help people personally I'd dick around drawing things with the mouse. I grew to enjoying the ease of use of the timeline and it was one of the greater impetuses for me to get the tablet -- I wanted to draw in it to have a quick pencil tester for my not-as-elaborate ideas, or when I ran out of paper =)
My Wacom tablet changed everything for me. Drawing with a mouse is like dancing with an iron maiden. For about $100 you can get a half-way decent one. If you have any doubts at all, go get one if you can.
When I was 15 I was drawing and drawing and drawing. Flash was not available, and animation was a very difficult field to break into. I reluctantly got into Flash when it came out, and I'm still working on improving some years later.
You could dish out a couple grand and buy the Wacom Cintique... it's a monitor and tablet in one.
Lindsey Keess
Animator
When I saw that, I fell in love with it. My only fear is rubbing a pen all over the screen, over time it has got to do some damage.
For a total beginner is it worth picking up one of these,
or is it better to just go out and buy a board and start off with
pencils and ink?
Harlequin
I don't think it will damage you to use a Wacom, but then, I've been drawing all of my life. If I had a preference I like the event of drawing more -- I use the tablet when it's more convenient like the pencil tests I mentioned. But certainly if you go ahead and get one right now, it's not going to hurt you and could even help if you're quicker to understand the concepts. That goes for beginner, expert, God...
Is there anyway to constrain the coursor to the canvas, while I am drawing.
There's a setting on my model but I much prefer the free range, since I never got into assigning on-tablet buttons to functions, and thus I still would need it to be mouse-like that I might pick and choose my tools and then go onto the 'canvas' to use them.
Well I don't wont to experiment with the buttons, so could you tell me the name of the button you would use?
You may want to try mastering the shortcut keys of the drawing and editing tools of the program that you are using the pen with. In this manner, you don't need to move the cursor around the screen to select a tool from the toolbar; by using your other hand to type on the keyboard shortcut the cursor will stay on the position that you left it.
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Will this keep the cursor on the canvas? I have a 6x8 tablet, so I move the pen over the whole surface of the table, the cursor moves over the whole screen.
What are you using where you can't make the 'canvas' full-screen? Then all the tools you'd use could be along the top of the tablet.
I sometime run other apps while I am running Painter.
Nope, sorry, this will not keep the cursor on the canvas. Especially so when you are running other apps along with painter. Like I said, working with the left hand on the keyboard and using shortcut keys and the right hand with the pen may help maintain the cursor where you are looking at it. Another way that you may try is make the canvas full screen, like how Scattered suggested.
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CINTIQ
These babies cost a pretty penny and I wouldn't suggest to a beginner, but if you really want to "feel" like you are actually drawing, then there is nothing better.
They are, as mentioned earlier, a tablet and screen in one. You draw directly onscreen with a pen stylus. It's so much easier and intuitive to be able to see exactly what you are drawing. Sketching, animating, painting are all so much easier and faster.
We just got a new 21 inch Cintiq at the studio. It swivels 360 degrees like a light table. The surface feels more like paper.
If you want to animate, then the cintiq is the only way to go. I had a time as a traditional animator switching to digital (Flash), but I have been using a Cintiq for over 5 months now and the other tablets feel disorienting now.
only downside...the 21 inch is over 2 grand...
I decided to buy the wacom graphire 4 by 5, its pretty good for only $150 canadian , and it came with photoshop
My newgrounds movie--->http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/247657
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/251906
Excellent choice! You will be amazed on how well the wacom tablet and pen works with photoshop. It will be a marked difference drawing with the pen compared with a mouse. Have fun!
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ok im going to try and explain this the best I can, ok here it goes,, in photshop i imprted an image i drew in flash which was a simple house with a triangle top. ........... the thing is when I reimport it into flash as a bmp file it makes a square around my house, leaving a big white space around the triangle part?? is there anyway to import ecactly the house and not a whole box
My newgrounds movie--->http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/247657
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/251906
Graphire is a good idea. I totally dug mine. It opened a whole new world of art in Flash for me (not to mention Photoshop, Illustrator, and later Maya, amongst others).
And a side note on the slippery tablet thing. The Intuos 3 now comes with different nibs to simulate different mediums (graphite and brush tips to be precise). They both add a little to the experience, but really don't warrant an "upgrade" if you're happy with what you've got . Personally, I still use the standard tip. But I love the side buttons and scroll tab on the 3's.
And just to date myself a little, only the egg heads at the pentagon and MIT had heard of the "Internet" when I was 15. Flash was something that happened when you took a picture with your Kodak Instamatic in a dark room. I still remember the first time I heard of the Internet (other than e-mail and usnet) in '94 when a guy told me about a program called Web Crawler. He sounded crazy, as I'm sure I do. "But that's what's wrong with kids today," the old codger screamed at the nearest electrical outlet.
And no, unfortunately I wasn't interested in animating then. I would have spent much more time drawing than I did, and I'm paying for it now :(
Producing solidily ok animation since 2001.
www.galaxy12.com
Now with more doodling!
www.galaxy12.com/latenight