In the market for a decent drawing tablet

What do you guys recommend? Also what do you guys recommend as far as plugins/softwares to look into. Thanks in advance guys.

 

I have Wacom Intuos 4 for years, still doing good today.
If you are new to tablet, you may need some Jedi training before seeing good result(you will understand what I am talking when you start drawing). Just drawing primitive shape daily with you stylus pen to train your eye-hand coordination, and you will do better and better
You may need to adjust the pressure curve to a harder profile to easy your control when begin your first training.

Photoshop is the best if you consider to work within team, while Pixelmator is a nice alternative, and Krita is also great for drawing.

 

What is your budget?

 

I'm using a Genius drawing tablet.
And it works really well, with Gimp and Photoshop.
And as mentioned above, that Krita program is really good too.

Oh, I forgot to say:
That Genius tablet, works really well, with sculptris too.

 

I have an older Intuos CTH-680 and I love it.

 

My wife (and dev partner) uses a Wacom Cintiq and swears by it. She uses it for drawing and as her regular "mouse".

 

Does she use mouse mode for "mouse"? I can't staying on pen mode too long, sore in arm.

 

Yup she doesn't even use a regular mouse. When I get on her system to do things it always throws me off. I think she likes it like that, haha!

 

hmm, perhaps she is using mouse mode.
btw, I just think of a related question, let me raise a new thread.

 

For 2D Wacom Cintiq like Ony said. You can use it for 3D sculpting to, but... For 3D sculpting and texturing i would say Wacom intuos pro. That is my prefered choice. Cause i need two monitors, one for reference and one as working surface. On Cintiq i would need to raise my head all the time to look at the reference. But this way i only move my eyes left right, which feels a lot more natural.

 

I've got this one, and it works fine for Zbrush, substance painter, and photoshop. Don't see any reason to upgrade. This is the cheapest Wacom offers.

 

Been using a medium intuos pro for a long time now, well worth the cost.

 

Isn't mouse mode on a cintiq super weird?

 

I started using the iPad 9.7" with Apple Pencil, which supports angles and pressure sensitivity. I'm quite happy with it. Get an app that allows pencil support that can mirror your computer and draw/sculpt away.

EDIT: Added an image of iPad with ZBrush. Was just an initial test I did.

 

For me, yeah, but she zooms around in it like a mouse master maniac. (I can't believe I just typed that)

 

What app are you using?

 

So far the only one I found that actually works is 'Duet Display' which supports pressure sensitivity. However, angles I'm not sure about as that stuff has to be pre-programmed according to research - per application.

But I had to stop using that one and use Splashtop (no pressure sensitivity sadly) and cost more.

Duet Display at least for now (despite being the recommended one) for Windows (Supports Mac as well). But the Windows desktop version broke my windows (Start and Search bar) wouldn't work any longer until I uninstalled it.

All my programs are for Windows, just got me a Macbook (mid 2010), so not using it for Mac until I have apps for Mac
that can support it.

There is also 'Astropad' which is supposedly the best Mac version as well. But I haven't tried it because as mentioned, ain't got any programs for mac yet lol. But Astropad is at least a one time fee (According to their website), haven't checked the Appstore for it yet. But everyone recommends Astropad if you use mac. Just research Duet Display vs Astropad to make a determination for mac stuff if that's what ya want.

 

Cintiq is awesome. There is,also a,slightly cheaper altetnative from Dell which looks surely neat. Never tried it through. I never use a mouse either it just gives me a carpal tunnel in a matter of seconds...

 

Could Cintiq has an option to turn its display off and free the display resource for regular monitor, and act like an intuos?

 

There is s toggle screen button so that you can use it as an intros over multiple monitors.

 

Have no idea.

 

well.. just don't look at it i guess ?
you can always mirror the cintiq on a bigger screen and use it as an intuos

but to answer the topic, the best tablet i had (except my cintiq) was an old small wacom bamboo
size was really nice, light, and it worked like a charm
later i upgraded to an intuos medium size, and it just didn't feel right, too big for my taste
and you didn't even notice the higher pressure levels for 3d art or texture painting
the pen was better to grip (rubber) and it had more buttons, thats about it

edit:
and i hope i don't sound like a wacom fanboy, but the competitor products didn't really convince me. most of them need a battery in the pen, which i am not a fan of and many look pretty cheap made. also drivers have always been a problem from what i have read

 

I’ve used 3D slicer for generating 3D models. I’ve used the XP-Pen stylus and tablet for drawing the segments. XP-Pen has a Drawing tablet Monitor Artist 16 Pro where you can draw directly on the screen, which I think would be really useful in the segmentation process, especially for students with no drawing experience, it would provide more control. Obviously, the threshold tool is extremely useful, but having more control when drawing is always helpful.

You might want to try different tools as well. There are more than plenty 3D software out there (3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, MODO, Blender and Lightwave just to name a few) and the tool you're using usually affects the way you work a lot.