Mouse in my house

[cnic]

No mice sorry.... but this is a mouse story. Or more, a recommendation.

I gave my old mouse to my friend and room-mate mike. He needed a new one, as he was using some piece of junk that looked like it came from a 97 pack bell.

So I gave him my MX1000 wireless, as logitech has released the "Revolution".

Even though I wouldnt say it is Revolutionary, it is a great new mouse. It has the same great feel, and weight of the MX1000.... a new cooler looking dock, which is not used as the USB connection. Now it comes with a small usb connector about the size of a small flash drive. This is great for laptop users as you could take this great mouse with you now, and not have to hook up the old wirey dock.

The new scroll wheel is great. You can use it in many ways. All the standard ways of course. Plus, if you press down on the wheel it changes from incremental mode.... into speed mode. Very cool. I havent found speed mode usefull for any programs, but it is GREAT for web and forum reading.

The battery life is great, and the gliders on the bottom keep the mouse moving with ease.

Get this mouse if your due for a new one.

You will love it! I loved my 1000 and I love this one even more.

.

p.s. if you work for logitech.... you can send my check to...........

[morea]

ooh, that's a sexy looking mouse!

[Danger_Mouse]

If I may say....that is one sexy mouse you have there ....heh heh

[Red Kittie Kat]

lmao DM I thought you might be worried when you saw the title ;)


Great looking mouse cnic .. I'm green with envy :D

[Danger_Mouse]

lol kitty...i noticed all the "cats" showed up quick too.

[morea]

Lol!

[mac.FINN]

Whoa... that thing has more wheels than my unicycle... which has one...only one

[CamarotaDesign]

lol kitty...i noticed all the "cats" showed up quick too.

heh heh heh, funny mouse.

[Broacher]

I'll stick to the stick. Wacom, that is.

[cnic]

I am dying to get a Wacom tablet. Broacher, which one do you have???

.... which one should I get?

I am ready to make the investment.

.

[CamarotaDesign]

I'd like to get a wacom as well. Got any good web resources for using it to the full potential?

[Alan G]

I'll stick to the stick. Wacom, that is.

Call me Mr. Gadget: I use the MX Revolution, Wacom tablet, NuLOOQ navigator and a gaming keyboard with 18 macro keys. How I acquired them all is a long story, but the only one I actually had to pay for was the Wacom.

I love my Wacom, and couldn't imagine working without it in Photoshop or (once in a while) Illustrator. It makes a dynamite combination with the NuLOOQ (where did they get that ridiculous name?), which also cuts serious corners in workflow time in Indy, Word and Bridge.

The mouse and the keyboard are recent acquisitions, experiments in workflow acceleration, and I'm still working them into my daily routine.

So far, the mouse is superb: the super-fast scroll works perfectly in Bridge when I have one of the filmstrip or detail views up, for skimming through long documents in Word or Indy, or scrolling mammoth font lists in PS, Indy or Illustrator. The little hickey you see on top defaults to something fairly useless, so I switched it to "minimise all windows" for those moments when I just want the desktop back. The side "wheel" brings up the running program list right at the cursor position, much more convenient than Alt-Tab. And it's very comfortable in use. Everything's configurable. Amazing stuff.

As for the keyboard, it's just "okay" to type on, which I expected. I don't expect gamers do the kind of text creation and editing that I do. But the macro keys... oh, what joy! Each program can have its own configuration, so I've been building one for Photoshop and one for Indy. A lot of the stuff you might do with actions in PS can be done quicker and more easily with the keyboard, and you don't have to set up new keyboard shortcuts. (For example, I often switch into Lab or CMYK mode when I'm retouching an RGB image, and of course I have to switch back. Each is now one keypress. Same for adding Curves, Levels, and Hue/Saturation layers.)

The default config obtains when at the desktop or where nothing's been defined, so I've set that up for single-key access to the programs I use most frequently. (I have one set to the GDF URL. Still trying to decide if that's a Good Thing.) You have the choice of a macro with delays and mouse clicks included, any kind of shortcut, or generics such as email, browser and media player.

Oh. And it has an LCD display that shows date and time, but also has a stopwatch/timer function: great for timesheet tracking -- way better than I was doing before. Apparently it shows various kinds of stats when you're gaming. Since I don't, I wouldn't know.

[cnic]

Alan... your the man. First for your great review... and secondly for all your sweet gear. One well decorated techie you are.

I have been playing around with the customizeable on my MX Revolution. Your right "amazing stuff" ......

as I'm sure you know, the mouse even has an auto detect for scroll speed. It will switch from incremental scroll to speed (free spinning) scroll when you spin at a high speed. Or you can shut that feature off......... witch I did, no one tells me how fast I can or cant scroll.

Anyway. Thanks for the great info.

But still, which Wacom should I buy? Anyone experience having one too small, too large?

Intuos???

9 x 12 ?
12 x 19 ?

12 x 19 doubles the price...??? HELP!
.

[Red Kittie Kat]

lol kitty...i noticed all the "cats" showed up quick too.


:D ... what can I say ... Mice get our attention :D

[Alan G]

Alan... your the man. First for your great review... and secondly for all your sweet gear. One well decorated techie you are.

But still, which Wacom should I buy? Anyone experience having one too small, too large?



Intuos has an interactive thing on their website to help you choose the best tablet. It's actually quite decent, if you're going to use the tablet for drawing a lot.

Here are some things I'd suggest from my personal experience. Your mileage may vary. (Offer void where prohibited.)

The tablet maps to your screen. If it's too small, you have a lot of screen being mapped to a very small space, which can make the movements too far, too fast, and things get difficult to control. OTOH, if the tablet is too large for the way you work, you'll find it annoying.

I have a 6x8, mapped to a 24" widescreen Dell monitor, so part of the tablet surface isn't used at all. (I got it before the monitor. One day I might get the widescreen tablet. Maybe.) But this works well for me. It doesn't take up too much space, and it's about right in terms of screen navigation as well as brush work in Photoshop. Remember the tablet overall is quite a bit larger than the active surface, so 6x8 turns into about 12x14 of actual occupied territory.

I have a desk with a sliding keyboard tray. The tablet sits on the tray, and the keyboard on the desk. I have a teensy mouse pad on the tray, and a regular sized one on the desk beside the keyboard. The NuLOOQ sits neatly on the left of whichever one I'm using at the time. The mouse, being tailless, doesn't care where it's being used. Occasionally it becomes a lap mouse, just for a change of pace.

BTW, if you really want the Cadillac tablet functionality, the Cintiq rules. I played with one at Photoshop World in September: 1600x1200, sits at any angle you like, and the mapping is (of course) 1:1. Unfortunately owning one requires a serious departmental budget or winning the lottery.

[cnic]

Winning the lottery indeed. I would love to have a Cintiq. I have heard good and bad about it though. I have heard that there is a delay between your hand and the on-screen result. Is this common with all tablets??

I will check out the wacom site for more info.... but since your pretty savvy on the subject..... I have two 17" monitors, plenty of desk space. Will having two monitors effect how the tablet will work. Or will the tablet only work on one screen (i assume so).

And if your not working 1:1 on your tablet... how do you work at all??? If you wanted to illustrate something, draw something, whatever... how do you ensure that what your drawing is accurate. Do you have to work at a specific magnification level?????

Thanks for your help on this by the way.

.

[panzer]

mouse mouseooo ooo oook
keep away mine my toy mine

oooo ooo aa aa

[Alan G]

Any latency in drawing is a function of the computer, not the monitor. You wouldn't want to use a tablet on a slow system, but then you probably wouldn't run a graphics app on a slow system either, so I doubt that's an issue. I've never seen any latency from the tablet.

You have a choice, when you set up the tablet, how you map it, so you could map it to one monitor or both. I only work on one monitor (the other I use for palettes, etc.), so I map only to that one.

As far as drawing is concerned, I have no problem using the tablet. It's not really different from a piece of paper, in the sense that you don't draw on paper at a 1:1 scale either.

A tablet takes some getting used to. Expect at least ten to twelve hours before you settle in with it. The difference between using a mouse, where movement and position are relative, and using the tablet, where they are absolute, requires a serious adjustment. Once you get used to it, though, it becomes very intuitive and much, much faster and more efficient than using a mouse. The ability to make opacity and stroke width vary with pressure, for example, saves tons of time and greatly improves accuracy working with masks, etc.

I still prefer the mouse when I'm working with the pen tool. It allows me a finer degree of control and positioning than the tablet. This is probably a function of too much coffee intake rather than any deficiency in the tablet, though. :D

[cnic]

Ok, ok..... well thanks a ton Alan. I will take this advise and start looking for a tablet. I will update you with my result..

Thanks Again!!!

[Broacher]

Alan brought up a good point about mapping to a wide screen-- that also holds for a dual monitor setup.

But the good news is that you can use both a mouse and a Wacom at the same time. Though, I couldn't say for certain if that's true for that 'super mouse' you just bought. You might want to try the Wacom user forum (the one in the UK seems to be the best) and ask the tech support people about that compatibility.

Wacom also supports customization by program. And you can also program the tablet buttons and pen switches pretty much to do anything (for example, I use a tablet button to run a macro that logs me into our tracking system and loads up my current docket list). Personally, I like the Intuous 1 and 2's top row function strip better, for my purposes. There was also a very neat third-party tablet utility out a while ago, but I'm not sure if they're still around--but what it essentially allowed you to do was use a setup program to create and print out custom templates for the pad area itself, that you would then place under the plastic cover sheet. It was very fully featured -- but the only thing it lacked (for me) was compatability with Wacom's own tablet driver's features... and in the end, I couldn't do it.

The other point about Wacom is the little switch that they have in the driver that allows you to modify the right click default so that you have to depress the tip BEFORE hitting the side switch to send a right click. I found that much easier to use than the default setting.

[cnic]

Wow Thanks Broacher.

I am very very anxious to go get a tablet now after all this talk to sweet features, and modifiables.

Thanks!!

.

[Alan G]

Holy moley, Broacher! A mouse and tablet at the same time sounds like an ambidextrous nightmare! I love using the tablet with the navigator, but I'm not "dextrous" enough with my left hand to use tablet and mouse together.

I tend to agree about the Intuos 3 vs. 2. I find myself using the second set of buttons very little. OTOH, I find the side rocker switch very handy for right-click and double-click on contact. Custom-by-program seems to be the norm. The navigator and keyboard are the same way. (I found some enterprising gamers have created a template for keyboard overlays for the macro keys on the G15. That's one wheel I don't need to reinvent!)

My system is almost comic to look at, honestly, what with the widescreen display, outrageous illuminated keyboard, tablet, navigator and supermouse. You kind of expect to hear "Warp seven, Mr. Sulu" at any moment. But the more I work with the new components, the more I'm drifting into "can't live without it" mode on all of them.