Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Question regarding graphic design tablet sizes
ReMeDy
11-06-2011, 08:44 PM
I'm planning on purchasing a Intuos tablet for Christmas for a 23-inch Samsung SyncMaster 2333 for Photoshop and Illustrator. I noticed there are different sizes of Intuos tablets:
-Small
-Medium
-Large
-Extra Large
What I'm confused about is, what were to happen if I get a tablet that is too small? Does it just mean the tablet is extra sensitive to what happens on-screen? If so, couldn't I just compensate for a small tablet's size my zooming in with Photoshop?
What size should I be using? The current Intuos 4 tablets seem very expensive in large and extra large sizes, so I want to try going as small as I can.
kemingMatters
11-06-2011, 09:00 PM
What I'm confused about is, what were to happen if I get a tablet that is too small? Does it just mean the tablet is extra sensitive to what happens on-screen?
Yes. matching your aspect ratio is more important in my opinion, this allows you to make the most use of the surface area of the tablet.
If so, couldn't I just compensate for a small tablet's size my zooming in with Photoshop?
Yes. zoom is handy, I use a small tablet on a 27" screen and find no issue with it.
What size should I be using? The current Intuos 4 tablets seem very expensive in large and extra large sizes, so I want to try going as small as I can.
This is subjective, it really depends on the way you work, the amount of desk space you're willing to give up and the amount of money you are willing to part with.
Desk space is a really good issue to consider. I think I have a small and it works fine for what I do.
Yes. matching your aspect ratio is more important in my opinion, this allows you to make the most use of the surface area of the tablet.
In the tablet driver there are two main mapping modes -- how the tablet surface is mapped to the screen surface. Proportional and non-proportional. Non-proportional will give you the entire tablet surface to work with as a 'live' area. BUT, you try and draw a simple square and you're out of luck as it distorts if your monitor is anything different than the tablets area proportion.
Proportional gives you square-squares but again, if your monitor setup is different in ratio (as in a dual monitor approach), expect to lose a good portion of your lower part of the tablet.
Myself, I prefer proportional. And since I have a dual mon setup, it means I lose the bottom third of the tablet. Which is why I use a 12 inch tablet.
kemingMatters
11-06-2011, 11:15 PM
Broacher, I also prefer proportional because it reacts the way a normal pen/pencil/paintbrush would. This is why I mentioned aspect ratio, because when the aspect ratio of the tablet matches your screen, you have no dead space on your tablet.
I remember long, long ago... using a third-party tablet driver/app that was very customizable for the user and one of the things that intrigued me with this app was the ability to design customized tablet templates to assign functions and launches etc. to designated areas of the tablet. In particular, it allowed you to reclaim 'dead' tablet space for such functions. And it would print this out, you slip it under the plastic cover, and there you go.
Wish that Wacom would bring that into their drivers.