Cintiq 21UX

[bastard]

I was at some internet coffee shop the other day and saw a guy working on some flash animation... except he was drawing directly on the screen with a pen. I then went to wacom to investigate and found this: http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/index.cfm

My father is a children's book illustrator but is hesitant to integrate the computer into his process-- he says he cannot draw or sketch using the computer. His birthday is coming up and I was wondering if this tool is actually viable for drawing/painting/sketching...

If any of you out there have this tablet, let me know how you use it, what are the ups and downs, does the screen get scratched easily... do you still use it? or is it laying around somewhere...

Thanks
:smokey:

[johnq]

For $2500 you'd better be sure he'll be comfortable using it. I'd try using Painter and a conventional tablet first.

The effect of drawing directly onto the screen is nice but it ain't all that.

[Random Hero]

I would imagine that you'd want to already have fair knowledge of say Photoshop or whatever paint program you'd be using, since that's the other half of this tablet equation. There are definite advantages to drawing this way, but johnq's right, for $2500 you should probably make sure he's not just going to throw it in his closet.

[hmurchison]

Cool product but hard to get a hold of. Could be constrained until August from what I'm hearing.

[bastard]

thanks for your imput guys, my dad uses photoshop but does not draw in it... i would like to know if this tool is actually viable for drawing/painting/sketching... or is he better off drawing on a paper and scanning it in?
please reply if you actually are a visual artist and have used/use this tablet.

[johnq]

please reply if you actually are a visual artist and have used/use this tablet.

<crickets chirping>

This tablet isn't available yet.

<tape hiss>

[ghoti]

This tablet isn't available yet.

True, but the 17" version is. And things like this are used in movie post-production, etc., so there might be people who have experience with it here.

[bastard]

For $2500 you'd better be sure he'll be comfortable using it. I'd try using Painter and a conventional tablet first.

The effect of drawing directly onto the screen is nice but it ain't all that.

If its not out and you have not tried it, why tell me drawing on it is nice but it ain't all that?

those kinda answers leave people with more questions than answers...

[johnq]

I was going to leave this alone:

You said "please reply if you actually are a visual artist and have used/use this tablet."

I thought "this tablet" meant, well, "this tablet", that's why I implied not many people are going to respond under those strict conditions.

As for "If its not out and you have not tried it, why tell me drawing on it is nice but it ain't all that?"...this isn't the world's first display-based drawing tablet.

I've tried other Wacom display tablets. Even if newer ones are bigger, brighter, better, more accurate than the older ones I tried, that extra benefit you get from drawing on a screen (as opposed to using a regular tablet and only seeing the cursor on the screen, is not worth the money they are asking for it).

The little bit of hand-eye coordination that traditional tablets requires (for some it's more awkward, for others it's easy) is well worth the $2000 savings, in my opinion.

You can even argue that traditional tablets are more comfortable considering that the body has two distinct needs 1. for the arms/hands/shoulders to be comfortable and 2. for the head/neck/shoulders to be comfortable. A display tablet is going to combine things in such a way that you need to make compromises to each.

But a traditional display and tablet lets you move each to their most comfortable position. Display tablets only superficially feel "natural" because they are most evocative of the real world bad postures that artists are already so used to (hunching over, reaching out and squinting).

The new display tablets are not and cannot be "more ergonomic" I don't care what Wacom says.

I do love them, and all displays should eventually be capable of pen/touch input, but until they are so light and bright that an artist can just hold the display-tablet (with a computer in it?) casually and sketch onto it in any comfortable posture, then they'll cause more pain than enjoyment I think.

If it is as light as a sketchbook and I can sit under a tree in daylight and sketch for 10 hours, I'm sold.

[bastard]

john.. i dont want to argue but this topic is "Cintiq 21UX," not "Display Tablets" or "Cintiq 21UX and Other Tablets." I am aware that other tablets exist but wacom admits that the 21UX is the first one geared towards visual/sketching/drawing...
and that is why i am interested about people's experience with this tablet.

"The Cintiq 21UX is specifically designed for visual arts applications. It has a larger screen, higher resolution, advanced pen functionality, and an ingenious stand that lets you rotate and tilt the Cintiq to get exactly the position that you want. Rotating the Cintiq in its stand provides you the most natural sketching experience you can get with digital technology. The Cintiq 17SX is really not intended for this use." (http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/VisualArts.cfm)

[johnq]

:|

Feh. Forget it then.

Enjoy.

BTW it's a nice update to the series but it isn't a paradigm shift.
http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/specs.cfm

Don't suck up Wacom's marketing like it's blueberry Go-Gurt.