Mouse vs. tablet

[Cartography Dragon]

I've been looking at getting a tablet and I'm leaning towards this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wacom-in...?skuId=4359301

It has 1024 pressure levels, is decently sized at 8.25x6.7 in., and has 4 ExpressKeys. It also costs only 80$!

What do you guys think?

[Steel_Wind]

I bought it last week (at Best Buy, as it happens). I have found it difficult to use for most tasks in Photoshop, but for pressure sensitive shading/shadows and scattering leaves across a map, it was very useful for that.

I am not unhappy I purchased it, but "a tool for every task".

[snodsy]

I have a slightly older Wacom Tablet, love it!, doesn't take too long to get use to it. I have a MEDIUM size one, I felt the smaller one was a little too limiting. One thing I would do, find out the size of the drawing area of the tablet and cut out a piece of paper that size and see if you are comfortable drawing within that size. Good luck, good price on that one.

[Cartography Dragon]

I bought it last week (at Best Buy, as it happens). I have found it difficult to use for most tasks in Photoshop, but for pressure sensitive shading/shadows and scattering leaves across a map, it was very useful for that.

I am not unhappy I purchased it, but "a tool for every task".

Was it unsuited for drawing lines, like say, mountains? I'm currently using a mouse, and I've heard that any tablet is superior to a mouse. It may not be the greatest for image editing, but I'm planning to use it nearly exclusively for digital art, mostly maps.

[Meshon]

I got a tablet that is just about as small and as cheap as you can get (I think it was about $70 on sale) and it made a huge change in how I work with Photoshop and Illustrator. I'm not particularly great at art yet, so my process mostly involves slamming down piles of pixels and then doing it again until it looks right! So I'm not the most demanding user for a tablet, but even a low-end tablet like this one has made a huge difference in how I interact with the digital page. Yes, there are times when I want to do a bunch of little lines close together and my tablet isn't so keen on that, but usually with a zoom and some care I can get where I want. I'd love to upgrade one day, but I can't emphasize enough how liberating it felt going from mouse to a pen.

Here's the tablet I own, I think, but the price seems way too high…
https://www.amazon.ca/Wacom-CTH470M-.../dp/B005HGBEZ2

cheers,
Meshon

[Steel_Wind]

Was it unsuited for drawing lines, like say, mountains? I'm currently using a mouse, and I've heard that any tablet is superior to a mouse. It may not be the greatest for image editing, but I'm planning to use it nearly exclusively for digital art, mostly maps.

Well, for your purposes it may be great. In the rest of my Photoshop work, I was not trying to draw with it, but place precise nodes with a pen, manipulate nodes, transforms, choose and apply texture and drop shadows, and moving objects around a battlemap.

All of those tasks require technical precision and for that, a mouse is preferable.

When it came time for doing a drawing task, namely, shading and using a scattered tip brush to build up random detritus - the pen and tablet worked admirably.

I do not mean to dissuade you from buying it. It sounds like you want to engage in more "art" than I do. I am not interested in doing artistic topographical maps; my interest lies in creating new battlemaps for use in a VTT where technical art demands of the underlying surroundings tend to be more precise and exacting. Even still it was useful for aspects of "gussying up" those technical elements.

Your planned maps seem different than my own needs, so you will likely find even more uses for it.

If hardcore drawing was my purpose, I might prefer to have bought the more expensive medium size model. That would be my only caveat to you.

[Cartography Dragon]

Well, for your purposes it may be great. In the rest of my Photoshop work, I was not trying to draw with it, but place precise nodes with a brush, manipulate nodes, transforms, choose and apply texture and drop shadows, and moving objects around a battlemap.

All of those tasks require technical precision and for that, a mouse is preferable.

When it came time for doing a drawing task, namely, shading and using a scattered tip brush to build up random detritus - the pen and tablet worked admirably.

I do not mean to dissuade you from buying it. It sounds like you want to engage in more "art" than I do. I am not interested in doing artistic topographical maps; my interest lies in creating new battlemaps for use in a VTT where technical art demands of the underlying surroundings tend to be more precise and exacting. Even still it was useful for aspects of "gussying up" those technical elements.

Your planned maps seem different than my own needs, so you will likely find even more uses for it.

If hardcore drawing was my purpose, I might prefer to have bought the more expensive medium size model. That would be my only caveat to you.

Thanks for the clarification. I did think about getting the medium, but sadly it's a bit out of my price range, as I'm a high school student who's only source of income is a summer job

[Midgardsormr]

Well, for your purposes it may be great. In the rest of my Photoshop work, I was not trying to draw with it, but place precise nodes with a brush, manipulate nodes, transforms, choose and apply texture and drop shadows, and moving objects around a battlemap.

All of those tasks require technical precision and for that, a mouse is preferable.

I find I much prefer my tablet over a mouse even for that kind of work. I'm a visual effects compositor, and I frequently need to place nodes on a spline with sub-pixel accuracy.

Here's a screenshot of what I'm doing right now, using my Intuos tablet as my primary input device:



I have become so accustomed to the tablet that the idea of placing those points with a mouse is abhorrent. So it's a matter of taste, I think. The only time I reach for my mouse these days is when I want to do something on my second monitor.

[Cartography Dragon]

Ordered my Wacom tablet, it should be here in about a week! I'm very excited, it can't come too soon!

[Caenwyr]

Hi all, just adding my two cents:

Instead of a tablet or mouse, I moved on to a Surface Pro computer with touch screen and pen. It's super mobile and super versatile. I can use it with the type cover (handy for Photoshop shortcuts) wherever I have access to a table, flip the type cover to the back and work with the screen only when I'm on the train in full morning rush, or when I'm home I can hook it up to a second monitor, I use it just like a Wacom tablet.

I used to work with a Wacom Bamboo in the past and I would still highly recommend it (especially considering the price compared to a full touch screen laptop!), but in the rush-and-bustle circumstances I tend to work on my maps, my current setup is just perfect