Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Does anyone have experience with the Samsung galaxy note 10.1 as a sketchbook? It's got a Waco digitizer and pen which seems ok in the model I played with for 10 minutes. Have an opportunity to get one cheap but not sure it's well suited to sketching. Didn't see any mention of it up thread.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Megaspel posted:

Don't rely on it for any thing sort of resembling professional work. It may be fun to doodle on some times, or sketch down an idea or something.

Yeah I'm thinking of using it primarily for sketches and thumbnails, nothing that would be at all final art. Although looking at that painting the Surface Pro seems like it does a great job. Don't have that kind of $ though...would probably get the new 13" cintiq if I did.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Bored posted:

If you get this, root it asap. My husband had a galaxy note for work and it was useless for even doing tiny doodles on until he rooted it. Also, check out the ipad 4. It looks like it's about $100 more, but procreate and adobe ideas are great to work with, imo. You might also be better at internet shopping than I am and be able to find it cheaper. I didn't know anything about the surface pro when I bought my ipad so didn't have any clue why the newest ipad was cheaper than the previous model was.

Edit: If you get an ipad, don't waste your money on the artrage app. I love artrage for pc, but the app kind of sucks, no matter how proud they are of it. It's also the only drawing app I've had that lags.

Edit 2: Looks like they are planning on coming out with a surface pro 2, so maybe the surface pro 1 will drop in price soon. Just a fyi thing, since the article popped up when I went to search prices on the surface pro. Amazon's price on them is higher than they originally were.

Well I ended up picking this up (it was $100 because the SD Card slot is broken). So far it's ok, it's not a terrible little tablet.

I haven't rooted it but it seems fine for doodling. But that's really all I think i'll be using it for. Where drawing on my wife's iPad with a capacitive stylus felt like drawing with a sausage, drawing with the Note stylus feels a bit like drawing with a toothpick. The stylus is really light, and due to it's short length requires a different hold than my intuous or a regular pencil. The actual line quality is pretty good (i'm using sketchbook pro android) and the pressure sensitivity is actually really good but the screen is pretty low resolution (1280 x 720) and so even though you can set up large canvases it's a bit like drawing through a tiny window.

So we'll see, it was super cheap and makes it easy to doodles and thumbs in boring meetings, but I think that's about as far as it's capable of going.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Frown Town posted:

http://cintiqcompanion.wacom.com/en/

Cintiq Companion (starts at $2000, Windows 8) + Companion hybrid (starts at $1500, Android) just announced - this is Wacom's standalone tablet.



The Companion Hybrid is interesting because it functions as a standard Cintiq when hooked up to a computer; when not, you can run the Android OS and use apps to sketch in the wild. The Companion operates as a PC in its own right.

If I were in the market for a 13 inch Cintiq, I'd consider the hybrid since I already run around with a Mac laptop.

Huh this is cool. The Hybrid is pretty perfect for me too - I usually have my laptop with me but can see just using it as a standalone sketchbook and then a 13" cintiq with my MBP. Wonder when they plan on shipping.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Well I got to spend some time with a Surface Pro over the Canadian Remembrance Day long weekend, and it was pretty cool. Having Photoshop/Manga Studio on a tablet with a Wacom pen was very flexible. But I realized that it wasn't what I was looking for. I'm not looking for a mobile studio, I don't travel all that much other than when I commute which is only a couple times a week if that. Around the house I'm perfectly happy with my rMBP and Intuos tablet.

So it was kind of cool, but I know that the $'s on the Surface and Companion aren't good for me. I wish the Samsung Note 10.1 had worked out, I think all I want is to replace my paper travel book.

Also, I'm kind of missing Procreate. poo poo, I might end up full circle with a new iPad and a sausage stylus.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Andrigaar posted:

I scribble on my Note 10.1" a bunch when I head to a local cafe. Mostly in Sketchbook Pro and to a lesser extent in Artflow (due to rather lame pencil emulation tools.)

What about it didn't work out for you? I mean, it's far from perfect, but it seems a really good replacement for a spiral sketchbook with occasional coloring.

The Note was ok and I think it probably works for a lot of people. For me it was a tad too large, I normally sketch on the train in a 5.5x8" moleskine knock off - so the larger form factor was difficult as the train doesn't have a lot of room (this isn't unique to the note, I had the same issue with my ipad and the surface would be worse).

Also I didn't like the stylus at all - the pressure and responsiveness were good but the form of the stylus was too thin and fiddly, it felt like drawing with a toothpick. I could have bought a different stylus I think but I also found the Note screen to be sub-par. The low resolution felt clunky and the colour reproduction wasn't great although that's not really a big deal for me.

Lastly I didn't care for the build materials and design of the tablet.

It's actually a pretty good machine just not for me. Admittedly I'm an edge case - I'd love a nexus 7 / ipad mini retina with a Wacom digitizer and pen. But that's not going to happen heh.

Edit: although there is the note 8. I might need to look at that.

squirrelzipper fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Nov 18, 2013

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

On the off chance has anyone played around with Airstylus (https://avatron.com/applications/air-stylus/)? I'm very skeptical but even for just playing around it could be cool. I have a full size tablet, so I don't have a pressing need but when travelling which I do about 1 week out of 5 it could useful. I'd bite right away just to see but it's $23 which isn't all that much but is still high if it sucks balls.

Who am I kidding I'll watch this thread for a few days and then buy it with a belly full of wine and the best intentions. (This is why I have a $80 stylus for my iPad)

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

KinkyJohn posted:

That video demonstration looks really laggy. Like brushstroke ... > line. brushstroke ... > line. brushstroke ... > line. To the point where it seems to be unusable. This thing would be great if they could sort that out though.

Trip report. Nope, not even for a rank hobbyist like me. Lag is too much when using anything beyond a 4px pencil, any width variation makes it close to unusable. Wish they'd gone with data over lightning/USB like display duet, that might've been usable.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

mutata posted:

Whatever makes it so you keep drawing is what you need. After you've started and are continuing and you want to accelerate or refine your learning, then we can talk about best practices.

Yeah, the one thing I find between paper and digital is that I have to consciously not use undo, on paper there's quite often happy accidents or good mistakes that you don't realize until later. Keeping that digitally can be harder. But yes, if you want to draw pick the medium you enjoy drawing in.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Just kind of stumbled across MediaBangPaint and thought of the thread. It's basically a product similar to MangaStudio/ClipStudio with a couple differences:

1. It has support for windows/os x/Android/iOS
2. It has fewer features, but
3. It's free.

I haven't installed it on my Mac as I have ClipStudio but I've played around with it on my iPad with an Adonit pixel pressure stylus and it works well, palm rejection particularly is nice as it basically ignores any input except the stylus. Don't know if the brush engine is as good as Clip/Manga studio, I imagine not but for roughing in thumbnails or layout work on the go or as a free way to get paneling and sketching etc.

Anyway, it's http://medibangpaint.com/en/

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Kenlon posted:

I bought a Wacom Intuos Draw CTL490DW for my daughter, since she's been doing plenty of sketching/drawing on paper and wants to try digital art. What would be a good (free) program for her to start out using?

There's a free art program, mostly for comics, for all platforms in the post directly above yours, that might be a place to start. GIMP is free but I'm not a fan. I think Autodesk Sketchbook has a free version as well and it's very nice.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

neonnoodle posted:

Want to hear something kind of gross? Almost all the "serious" artists I know/follow on social media are getting iPads Pro. :gay:

Ew. Why would anyone get a large screen tablet with a great pen that has software like procreate? Gawd I hate those appletards.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Dr. Memory posted:

The new Surface Studio: http://surfac.ms/1026YSO

I crave it mightily, but at $3000, it's too rich for my blood.

I want to see it first hand but it looks great and honestly I can't see Apple producing anything I want to replace my 2013 MBP with given what's leaked. At $3000 this is a definite possibility for my next workstation. My iPad can do 99% of what I need on the go.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Argue posted:

Clip Studio (aka Manga Studio) just came out for iPad and it's got almost every feature from the desktop I can think of. It's also mega huge and took forever to install, but as far as I can tell, it's a solid port. Annoyingly, unlike the desktop app, it's subscription-based, not a one-time payment, and costs about $9 a month, but it's free for the first six months if you install it by December!

On that note, has anyone figured out how to import all their brushes from the desktop without having to register each of them as materials individually then syncing via the cloud then recreating your brush palette manually from the materials?

It’s pretty cool, it’s the full EX version from what I can tell and is free until May 2018. Of course I just purchased astropad last month primarily to use my Pro as a tablet is Clip Studio...

I reinstalled my brushes from Dropbox rather than synching and it was bit tedious but not too bad.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Yeah it was pretty simple. I put my .sut brush files from my mac in Dropbox. Then opened Clip Studio on the iPad and Files on the iPad, went to the dropbox location where the brushes are.



Then click on the little cloud download icon, which downloads the brush and then click the share icon and choose Copy to Clip Paint



And then hit ok in Clip Paint



Was a bit tedious as I have a lot of 3rd party brushes but I only installed the ones I use a fair bit.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Smets posted:

Thanks! I kept looking for a way to import directly through the Clip Studio app. Still can’t figure out how the cloud stuff works but this will help a lot.

Yeah I’m just setting up the cloud stuff as I wasn’t using it before. It seems there’s a 10Gb storage included and that seems the easiest way to move clip files onto my laptop. But for brushes and colour palettes the file import seemed quickest for me.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Wowporn posted:

I downloaded and used clip studio on my ipad for a couple minutes, seems cool to have the full functionality of it (having crop tool and resize ability whoooooooooo)

My fear that it wouldn’t run super smooth is a little true, working at 600 dpi and resizing/panning around feels a little chuggy. If I turn the smoothing up to 100 each stroke lags behind by like 2 seconds, turned down to 25 it’s more manageable but a little sad considering one of the things I like so much about the iPad is how little input lag their is on each stroke compared to my Ugee tablet monitor. Also I feel like the default painting brushes are not nearly as good/as many as there are in the desktop version of ex? I have Frenden brushes I can import but as detailed above that process seems like it’ll take a while to get all like 60whatever brushes

Weird, I've been playing around with it at 300 dpi and haven't had any issues with performance. I agree importing brushes via dropbox/files is a pain, but it was a one time thing for me. Now if only the quality of my work matched the breadth of my tools!

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

GATOS Y VATOS posted:

You sign up via iTunes and you get charged every month. I think tomorrow is the deadline to sign up and get the first 6 months free

They’ve removed the deadline FYI, it’s now free for 6 months anytime then a sub after that.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Listerine posted:

I would do a trial to make sure the sensitivity works before throwing money at a software upgrade, cloud based software is a horrible idea. It's super annoying when the software you paid for won't run because your internet went down.

I mean I get the dislike for the CC business model but unless your internet goes down for 30+ consecutive days the software will run just fine. It doesn’t require a network to run.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Listerine posted:

I fundamentally do not like the model. If I've paid for the software, I should be able to use it any time I want once it's installed, without having to check the internet. But more importantly, there are cases with my laptop where I'm working either without a network or behind a strict firewall, or I haven't used it in a month. And if I'm lecturing I do not have time to run a license check, I need the software to work immediately, not in 1 minute, not in 5 minutes, not next time I get near a network, I need it that moment. So personally I avoid that poo poo as much as possible because while most of the time it works, that one moment of inconvenience happens to be a burden too great, and I'm not interested in getting burned again.

Cool. But this

Listerine posted:

It's super annoying when the software you paid for won't run because your internet went down.

doesn’t happen, at least not with CC.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Neon Noodle posted:

It’s OK, it has some features and design similar to Clip Studio. I have a soft spot in my heart for Sai and I don’t think Medibang is all that similar, but it’s a good free/cheap option to have. Sai is just a special, wonderful little app :3:

Yeah that’s how I felt, mediabang was cool but I didn’t use it much and now I have clip studio on my iPad so I’ll likely never look at it again.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

gmc9987 posted:

Not strictly tablet related: I am going to need a new computer sometime soon and finding out through this thread that Apple ditched USB was the final nail in the coffin for me, I guess I'm gong to have to go back to Windows in the next laptop.

What bullshit.

Apple didn’t ditch USB? PC pro slim laptops also are moving to a similar design. Honestly this is kind of a bad post - if you don’t like Apple laptops, don’t buy one, not sure anyone else cares how many ‘nails in the coffin’ there are. Go buy a Dell. Be happy.

Edit: the XPS 13 currently still has a USB port, next year it won’t. So buy that.

squirrelzipper fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Mar 17, 2018

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Yeah but everyone is going to drop those ports, so the whole ‘final nail, what bullshit’ hyperbole was more the issue.

Like omg where is my SCSI/Firewire/parallel port you bastards!

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Claes Oldenburger posted:

The current ipad pro has the magnetic thing on the side though, so wouldn't it work through there?

Probably not the same - the new one has induction charging presumably and there’s likely other changes ie pairing etc.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Xun posted:

Yeah I think it's the battery too, tablet wont turn on anymore so I guess it's rip. Ah well time for a new one! I would probably be able to get a small Cintiq during the holidays, but is it worth it if I just draw for a hobby? The screen seems like it'll be really fun but I've been perfectly happy with small bamboos/intuoses so I'm not sure if that'll be overkill

Small cintiq is close to iPad Pro price, it’s a good option too imo, the iPad pencil is kind of magic.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

the_lion posted:

Start with blender 2.8, and then give zbrush a try once you've been doing it for a while. Blender is great, particularly for free. Zbrush and Zbrushcore are a bit on the pricey side, but it feels more fluid than Blender to me. Zbrush you buy once and you get unlimited upgrades.

Photo editing, I think Photoshop is $10/month. Affinity sell a good photo editor, that's just a once off payment but probably not as good imo.

Just to add, Photoshop is great I spend a lot time in there, but it has a ton of capabilities that if you’re just interested in photo editing are overkill. Affinity is really really good and performs better than PS, I would seriously consider it if you’re not locked into Adobes products. Blender is awesome.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Koramei posted:

I don’t really understand why everyone is down on the photoshop subscription model, is everyone forgetting how the buy-once versions used to be like $800? Paying $120 annually by comparison is just like...I don’t really understand how anyone can think that is worse. Unless you would have only bought it once a decade before it’s not costing any more money, and this way you get the updates too (and while this year’s kinda blew, the 3 years prior had all been amazing stuff).

Sucks that a lot of other companies have started going subscription for things that weren’t stupidly expensive before, but I don’t really get why adobe is always the scapegoat here.

I mean I need Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. So that means I pretty much have to get the complete CC which is $80 a month Canadian. So $960 a year. As a bonus though I get Premiere and AE which I do use. My primary complaint isn’t cost though, it’s performance. The CC suite is really bloated and slow and doesn’t get better, it just gets worse. In every category it’s competition is way faster and more responsive. It is what it is but the cost and lack of any real focus on improvement is what irks me. Some of their stuff is great (like web font access & XD).

Anyway I don’t hate them, it is what it is.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Lumpy posted:

I imagine Huion installs a PRC written rootkit or something as well. Was debating picking up a new tablet, but :tinfoil:

Huh, maybe that's why they're discounting the 16" PRO by $200. Just got the Kamvas 16" Pro for $369 CAD with a free stand – helps that I had a $300 credit so the final tally for it was $74 CAD. I have a 10.5" iPad Pro that I've been using in sidecar and it's awesome but a little small now that I'm using it at a desk, still great for on the go. Will report rootkit 0wnage or just look for PRC shill posts on this account.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

lofi posted:

A goon review of it would be really appreciated, I'm maybe looking at getting one soon. I've heard it can have parralax issues, have you noticed anything like that?

It’s a laminated screen so apparently that’s not too bad but there does seem to be a reported issue on tilt brushes.

Mine gets here Wednesday so I’ll post some impressions once it’s up and running.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Ok so I had some time yesterday to play around and get the Kamvas set up. A couple details – I bought this version https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07R4JFY2X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . The only reason I'm linking it is because for some reason Amazon has like 4 SKU's and they all seem the same but the one I bought had a $200 promo code and came with a free stand. In addition I had an unused balance so I didn't really pay much for this thing. (This is the stand https://www.amazon.ca/Kamvas-Drawin...CQS7HZ2EAMRN7WT)

Anyway overall impressions:

• Build quality is way higher than I expected. I've only used Wacom and iPads as a comparison, and I'd heard that Huion was good but not as well built as the top tier tablets. The Kamvas Pro is really solid. The back is metal, not plastic, and it doesn't have any weird edges or poor fit at the seams that I was expecting from a budget offering. It's sleek, very thin, solid and has a very nice tactile feel of metal and glass. It actually feels really nice, like a Macbook does. They say it's portable and uh, I won't be hauling it around. It's bigger than my 16" MBP. If portability is a thing for you they have a 13" I guess. iPad>All for me there. B+ on the build quality! (docked a bit because the USB C port that the sole cable plugs into is more recessed than I'd like and makes it a bit awkward to plug in).

• The screen. The screen is great. It's laminated so even in my quick tests I didn't see any parallax. The draw point is *right* at the pen tip and the responsiveness (which speaks more to my laptop than the tablet but...) is fluid. It's a 1080p screen which I thought I might have an issue with, but I don't. Color is really good although it's still an IPS panel. Huion claims 120% sRGB Gamut coverage. I know what that means intellectually but it's not a meaningful metric for me as I don't do work where color accuracy is particularly important. Overall the display is bright, and the pen position and response are exactly what you'd expect. B on the screen, be an A if it was higher resolution.

• Drawing surface. But isn't that the screen you ask? Yes, yes it is. But one of the things I dislike about drawing on my iPad is the interaction between the pen tip and the smooth screen. It's not a huge deal and I know you can get matte protectors but that just seems fiddly. However, the Kamvas has a 'chemically etched glass' screen and it's great! It feels like drawing on sheet of paper that has a bit of tooth to it, the pen doesn't slide around and the matte finish prevents reflections from obscuring the image. I really really like the texture, even just doodling felt closer to paper than anything I can recall save my older Intuos pro that also had a textured drawing space. A+ finish. We'll see if it wears off/down as it's used though.

• The pen. Meh, it's ok. It's a passive pen, which is nice because it doesn't need charging or batteries, and has 2 programmable buttons. It comes with 10 replacement nibs and a litte donut shaped holder. I don't have any complaints about the pen and it seems comparable to the last Wacom pen I had in terms of quality – my major thing is I've been spoiled by the Apple pen(cil)s and prefer the slimmer profile. But the function and ergonomics of the pen are good if unremarkable. One thing to note because it's a passive pen, the tip has to be really close to the screen for the buttons to activate. B-

• Software. Ok, so the software thing is a bit weird and it might just be because I haven't had a dedicated tablet in a while. First, it's not a driver the way I was expecting. I'm on MacOS so I was expecting a System pane but it's not, it's an app you can install anywhere. The first time you run it though you have to give it elevated permissions in the Accessibility Security settings (Hello Xi!). Once you've done that the tablet is recognized provided the cables are plugged in and it's powered on. Other than that the software is pretty lightweight. The tablet has 6 buttons and a slider that can be programmed in the app. The slider defaults to zoom. One thing I imagine would annoy some people is that there is no ability to set different buttons and slider keys by application. For me it's not an issue as 90% of the use is in Clip Studio so I don't need a bunch of alternate settings, but if your workflow is split across several programs I could see that getting annoying. There's also the ability to play with pen curve and calibration, I didn't mess with that as I tend to set my curves in the brush options of Clip Studio so prefer a linear mapping as the default. C+

• Cabling/Connectivity. It's got the standard 3 to 1 cable. So on the tablet, it's a USB C connector and on the other end is a 3 pronged connector for USB, HDMI, and Power. It works. The cable's too short, not extremely but I could see if you had a large desk with components spread out it might take some jury-rigging to get set up comfortably. C. (Because I only have USB C on my laptop, this thing takes up alot of the ports in my dongle thingy and is annoying and I wish it was just one USB C cable but...)

• Extras. The tablet comes with the previously mentioned pen/nib holder. It also comes with a right handed drawing glove. I've never used one. It's kind of nice I guess. (Could maybe fit left handed actually, I didn't try). It also comes with a micro fiber cloth for cleaning. Big whoop. BUT the package I got came with a stand, and I'm really glad it did. The stand is aluminum, seems pretty sturdy and has rubber contact pads to keep the tablet from sliding. The angle is adjustable to 20° , 24° , 26° , 46° , 48° and 50°. This tablet needs a stand, it's too big to hold and drawing on it flat would probably suck. The one thing about the stand though is I suspect it's a universal part and so it feels a bit small for the 16" as it has to accommodate the 13" as well I bet. But it works and was free so... B+

• Usage. I do mostly 'pencil & ink' style line art with either watercolor style washes or design marker style colors. So I don't know how well this thing would be at more natural media use (ie. mimicking thick oils or charcoal). Also I haven't actually done anything other than a few quick doodles, but the pressure range is easily as good as my iPad and there was zero noticeable lag or parallax issues. The lag would be more due to the computer anyway but thought it worth mentioning that the rootkit doesn't seem to interefere with driver responsiveness. Oh also, there's a left-hand mode that allows you to flip the tablet and have the buttons on the right hand side. Didn't test it, not left-handed.

I'll be using this a fair bit over the weekend on a project so if I have any additional comments I'll put em here. I should also note, I don't make a living doing this it's a hobby so take that for what it's worth. I wasn't really ever going to drop $1200 on a drawing tablet, but $399 was better and the resulting $75 was awesome so that probably colors my opinion.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

ijyt posted:

Really wish the iPad Pro > PC situation was better, Duet is "okay" I guess.

I never used it on PC but Duet on the mac was never great, good news is Astropad is coming to windows and on the Mac anyway it worked really well. Maybe keep an eye on that?

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Old Boot posted:

So, I'm a hobbyist these days with a deep disdain for Wacom's lovely gatekeeping re: the Cintiq, am not super impressed by the ONE given its limitations, and am not really into the idea of dropping $700+ for a low-end Cintiq (w/ stand) when there could be something better out there.

I've heard a lot of talk about iPad, but I don't really know that I want to pay that much for what would effectively be a drawing tablet. Yes, it'd be nice to use at work, but at work, I'm mostly using traditional media anyway, so it's not a niche that needs filling, save maybe to save on space in my work bag. Given the price of an iPad, is ProCreate worth it?

Huion is the one that keeps floating to the surface, and I've been eyeballing the 16 Pro for a while now. I saw the earlier review of the 13, and something mentioned about the tilt pen? Anyone feel like filling me in on the current Cintiq alternatives and their pros/cons, or linking posts in this here thread that I can pick through?

EDIT: To be more precise with what I'm looking for--

Though I'm a hobbyist, I still like to sketch/shade/color in my spare time, and have been doing it a lot more these days. I'm mostly looking ahead to the model that I'll eventually want to purchase rather than going the baby steps route, so-- larger screen, fully featured, etc. Or would baby steps be more worthwhile here, in spite of that ultimately costing way more money?

I've primarily used Wacom's Intuos line for going on a decade now, and while my recent Pro has been serviceable, it's five years old, and I just-- really want a display tablet already.

I’m a hobbyist and have a 10.5 iPad Pro and posted my thoughts on the Huion Pro 16 which I also own two or three pages back in this thread. It’s a great tablet, I don’t use it that much but have done about 30 hours drawing and doodling on it and am perfectly happy. The Pro has a laminated screen, there is no parallax issues. I’ve used Cintiqs when i was doing paid work in Illustrator a few years back, I don’t think the Huion is inferior to the 21” cintiq I used to use in anyway. Ymmv. It’s a very good tablet for the price. The one issue that had cropped up is occasionally the zoom strip randomly activated and my browser or excel or w/e zooms in and out until I unplug the Huion USB cord and plug it back in. Assume that’s the Malware acting up.

squirrelzipper fucked around with this message at 06:53 on May 1, 2020

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Oxyclean posted:

Anyone have any solutions/devices they like for solving keyboard/tablet positioning troubles? Got an intuos 5 medium so it's fairly big tablet that rests flat and I've been finding it hard to position the keyboard and tablet in such a way I can use my keyboard hotkeys comfortably (and the buttons on the tablet themselves don't really cut it) - I've seen some like, gamer peripherals that are like mini-keyboards, kinda wondering how well that would work beside a tablet. (Though I might need to change hotkeys to fit the buttons available which could come with a learning curve)

Also wondering if I just maybe don't have good drawing ergonomics - a year or so back I had to change up the way I computer to avoid some hand pain. I used to sit almost leaning into my desk, arms resting on it. Now my desk is much lower & I use the arm rests of my chair. This has been good for my hands for keyboard + mouse but i think it's lead to drawing being a little less comfortable (particularly if I'm trying to reach for a keyboard I've pushed away to make room for a tablet) - anyone else have a similar setup / recommendations?

Depending on how many shortcuts you need and uh, whether you have a Switch, you can pair a joycon and just hold it in your non-drawing hand and ... you know what never mind this is an awfully edge case solution but it works great!

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Oxyclean posted:

All i've been able to find is the Tartarus V2 - which goes for 109$ Canadian. (Think it's like 79$ US?) There's some other models (Tartarus Pro and Orbweaver) but it looks like they go for more. The V2 does have a scroll wheel though. I've seen some cheaper brand-i've-never-heard-of-before keypad/half boards for around 30-40$ Canadian. I might be able to get cheaper still second-hand, but I don't really like to go that way for peripherals.

I dug through my post history and saw that I apparently asked a very similar question some time ago, and this suggestion also came up. :v: It's a curious idea since it might be a good option for at least an easy undo/redo button that I can rest just about anywhere. How much of a hassle is it to pair & unpair the joycon with the PC? I remember having a lot of headaches dealing with an XB1 controller through bluetooth, and I'm still gonna need to use the joycon with the switch every other day.

I'm on Mac OS but a quick google seems to suggest it's as simple - just add Bluetooth device and it shows up. Not sure about key/button re-mapping on Windows but it's worth a shot.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

PSA If you're on Catalina the OS now thinks any Huion driver is a virus and won't run it after a restart. You have to delete and re-install. Apple has saved us from Mao, but it's a hassle.

(to be clear, Huion tablets don't install a preference pane driver, it's an app that requires elevated accessibility permissions that you run once when you set up your global curves etc. We joked earlier in the thread that it was stealing all your data - i don't think it is but it's a /funny/ coincidence.)

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Kingtheninja posted:

Ah that sucks, wonder why it only works for those. So my options would be third party then?

You can still buy the first gen Apple Pencil, it’s recommended for the non pro iPads.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Dogwood Fleet posted:

The problem with getting her into Photoshop classes is it's only going to work if she really wants to learn Photoshop. It's not as good at painting as painting programs and there's just so loving much of it. I'd let her tinker with it for a few days, talk about some of the things it can do and its importance as a skillset, and ask if she wants to go all in on it.

Yeah to second on this, Photoshop isn’t really the be all or even that important to painters/illustrators these days. I hire freelance artists a lot for my work, PS is still good to know but for digital art it’s been overtaken in a lot of ways. If you’re doing photobashing concept stuff or 3D texture prototyping, sure, but just learning to draw/paint digitally it’s almost a bad option now.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Macksy posted:

Thanks for the feedback. I'd prefer not having to use ios, but I'll keep it in mind. I don't know if I could drop that kind of money on a tablet if the drawing programs or apps are inferior to what I normally use. If tablet apps are only good for sketching or light painting/illustration work are there cheaper alternatives to the ipad? I used to have an old samsung note, but the spen was pretty shite for pressure sensitivity, but it's been a long time since that. Are they any better now?

Clip Studio and Procreate on iOS are not at all inferior to any other platform imo. The pricing model on clip studio is annoying though.

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

kefkafloyd posted:

Luna has a windows version coming in the fall, if you can wait till then.

Not for android tho, the astropad guys are former iOS iPad apple devs, I don’t see them doing anything for Android.

E; that said it seems duet might have something in the works for an Android client, worth checking out, I wasn’t crazy about their solution but that was a long time ago.

squirrelzipper fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jul 20, 2021

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

squirrelzipper
Nov 2, 2011

Of those options the latest Air is a really nice device.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply