I have been recently searching for tablets.Everyone says that wacom is the only good brand but i recently found this http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Medion-USB2-Graphics-Tablet-9x12-W-Cordless-Mouse_W0QQitemZ5832103316QQcategoryZ3680QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem .Its a generic tablet but all the reviews i have read say its just as good as a wacom(with the exception of compatibility problems in photoshop which i dont use anyway).Its also 9x12 which is bigger than a piece of paper so im sure it will big enough.
some reviews-
so what do you think? should i buy it or not? does anyone here have one? what are your experience with generic non-wacom tablets?
I've never heard of this brand but at least you get more bang for your buck with it being a 9x12.
just found this http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/19405572/ -sketches someone made using this tablet.
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/17634041/ -another made with this tablet.
its looking pretty good to me. :D
As long as the tablet does what it is suppose to do, then you should be ok. Wacom give somes features that helps me use it, like, I can map the tablet or computer screen. Mapping is a way to limit where the table will work so you could just use a small piece of your tablet and/or computer screen for your work. If you ever get rich, you should go for the Cintiq. Hummm...Cintiq.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
no,seriously..
well half seriously...
EVERYONE i know thats had a tablet other than a wacom has complained,bought it in for repairs cos its broke within a week,melfunctions,the whole sha-bam.
I'm not a brand name sorta guy,but its your choice.I've had my wacom intuos 2 for over a year and i've had no trouble at all.
animated ape doesn't have the wacom brand i think?
ANIMATION FORUM
Production Blog
I won't buy it, thunder. I think it's a German product, because it was a special offer in a German supermaket, which also sells many of these MEDION products sometimes. I tested it at a friend. My wacom is smaller though (Wacom Graphire), but it's much better!!
concerning non-wacom: be sure that there are enough pressure levels and the pen doesn't need a battery!!!
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
thanks for telling me bandita but i ahve to ask
why is it worse than a wacom?
don't know, what it was exactly, it should've had the same pressure levels as my wacom, but ist was another drawing feeling. Maybe the pen was havier or something. Maybe I'm just too used to my wacom..... :confused:
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
Don't buy it. The money per tablet real-estate does not make up for the lower pressure sensitivity. It will be unusable if you are use to the Intuo2/3 or Cintiq.
Oh and about your sketch thread...
Work on line quality. Try to create depth and form with the thickness of the line. Even if you want a "dead line" finish, concentrating on line quality in your sketches will inform that end. I like your drawings a lot. They made me smile.
well i know that alot of people are happy with the graphire(the same pressure sensitivity) and i have never even used a tablet before so im not spoiled or anything.Im sure it will be fine for a starter tablet and maybe in a few years i can upgrade to a intuo's.
and thanks for the comment on my sketches. :D Im wokring on line quality now.
If you are still a student you might want to check out places that have student discounts like The Academic Superstore. Here is a link to some of their Wacoms.
http://www.academicsuperstore.com/item/?tname=245846&sourcecode=s10113&promocode=EB0511C
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
thanks ape,yeah i have seen that site but i didnt know they sold hardware.
I have a few questions for you tablet users
1.is a 6x8 tablet a good sized tablet?
2.how much better would a 9x12 sized tablet be?
3.what matters more size or pressure sensitivity?
4.is 512 levels of pressure sensitivity bad?
5.is an intuos 2 any worse than a intuos 3?
6. I found another generic tablet that has the same sensitivity level as an intuos 3 but it is 6x8 versus the medion's 9x12.http://cgi.ebay.com/MANHATTAN-8-x-6-GRAPHICS-TABLET-CORDLESS-PEN-MOUSE_W0QQitemZ5830567043QQcategoryZ3680QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem if i had to buy one of these two tablet's which one should i buy?
thanks everyone!
go with the general direction of recommendation
esp. from those who's been there.
even if you don't understand their reasons
banking on your 'non-experience' to make up for
any shortcomings of the tablet is theoretically
bad perspective.
if other artists like you didn't like non-wacom tablets
how sure are you that you won't come across
the same perks-- and hate them?
i wish also that they'd come up with other wacom-like
tablets because wacom for me charges a bit too much
but no one hasn't.
their pens don't have batteries because they rely on
magnetic capacitance to induce signals to the tablet
which i think is what the price is all about.
hence they can design slimmer pens. others have
batteries and the pens are blockier.
plus the inconvenience of recharging/replacing batteries
and the stupid feature of your pen 'sleeping' if left unused
just to conserve battery. then you need to click to 'wake'
it up.
i have used 3 wacoms-- all worked perfectly, none ever
got broken. there's a huge wacom at the office but i
don't use the whole area for drawing. good for dozing
on though and eating packed lunch.
i've been wanting programmmable buttons on the tablet
for a long time. i hear graphire 4 has them already.
but intuos has a scroll even.
now if only wacom can make it work in a first person shooter....
Don't worry. All shall be well.
How can you wish for any sort of decent competition if your advice is "don't try any non-wacom tablet"?
I bought a non-wacom some years back and it never gave me any problems. The pen was slim and had no battery. Pressure sensitivity was not a problem. It worked fine.
If the product gets enough good reviews, and they all sound legit, and the price is right, why not chance it, at least for starters? Most tablets should at the very least be better than drawing with a mouse, and if you've never used a wacom, at least you won't know what you're missing. You could always get a real wacom further down the line(and most technology items come down in price eventually).
On the other hand if you do decide to put down the big bucks for a wacom, consider it a career investment. Don't let the money go to waste. If you wind up using it on an everyday basis, it will be well worth it.
Even if you don't use it every day, it will be well worth it. I've had my Wacom for three years, use it on average once every couple of weeks, and wouldn't be without it.
A friend who's an illustrator/animator said to get a smaller Wacom and draw small when using it. Looking it his results, it seemed like a good idea. I just did a buy it now for a 4x 5 Graphire 4 on e-bay a few days ago. It was $92.63 with shipping, which seemed reasonable enough not to go through the frustration of bidding on one.
Needless to say, I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival!