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nim_x · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2001 6:04 pm

Hi,I am really enjoying my digital artwork I have been working on and was seriously considering buying a tablet.I am on a limited budget, and I was wondering if a Graphire Slate 4x5 would be adequete for my digital artwork. I use photoshop 6 so does anyone have any experience with that tablet and ps6 that could give me some advice?

Thanks guys
NiM

roundeye · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2001 6:15 pm

its sad when a n00b has to direct another n00b to the FAQ, but hey. not to mention the fact that with a miniscule ammount of effort, you could have found countless threads about the exact same thing. dont take offence, the fact that im taking the time to write this means im trying to help you out...

oh, and no, IMHO dont get one. keep saving.

Dude · member Member # Joined: 27 Jan 2001 Posts: 144

[edit] Damn You roundeye (kidding) you beat me to it whilst I was typing mine own answer...heh

ya see that button labelled Frequently Asked Questions? Go Nuts!

beers...I mean cheers...heh

[This message has been edited by Dude (edited April 03, 2001).]

Zedex · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2001 6:24 pm

It'd be nice to get some feedback though rather than reading about the features of each tablet...does the fact that the graphire has 2X less pressure sensors than the intuos affect shading images and control of tools in programs like photoshop? I'd like to know from someone who has one, I can get a graphire now or wait a few more months and get an intuos, but if there's no difference between the two other than the graphire being 4X5 then i'll just get one now.

Dude · member Member # Joined: 27 Jan 2001 Posts: 144

well one of the big differences is that you have more control over the range of pressure and where you want to set it over the smaller size(which affects shading because you have a higher range of pressures with which you can decide harder or lighter shading techniques, me I got a graphire, but am going to be purchasing a larger one with more pressure sometime soon

[This message has been edited by Dude (edited April 03, 2001).]

nim_x · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2001 6:47 pm

Dude, I apreciate your non-condecending answer to my question, and also would you recommend a grahphire for the amateur?

Frost · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2001 7:46 pm

I have an Intuos 5x4. The graphire just has 512 levels of pressure instead of the Intuos' 1024... not a huge deal considering RGB is only take in 256 levels...

roundeye · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2001 8:10 pm

frost. thats levels of pressure. not colour.

Dude · member Member # Joined: 27 Jan 2001 Posts: 144

well heres putting it into perspective, it's the artists ability not just the tools that make the art good, the tools just make it easier and the graphire makes it easier than the mouse and the ones with more pressure levels make it even more than than the graphire, the graphire is fine for an amateur and thats why I got one but now i wanna better one, so I guess thats the can o'beans. So if you see yourself doing this proffesionally or taking it a little more seriously, then I would recommend to save a little longer and get an intuos

[This message has been edited by Dude (edited April 04, 2001).]

Subliminate · member Member # Joined: 02 Mar 2001 Posts: 81

It's not the size of the tablet, but how you use it. I've done a little playing around on the graphires....... you shouldn't have any complaints with it.

Frost · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2001 8:56 am

quote:
Originally posted by roundeye:
frost. thats levels of pressure. not colour.

Yes -- what I meant is that the tablet supports 9-bits (graphire = 512 levels) and 10-bits (intuos = 1024 levels) of precision for pressure levels. But photoshop works in 8-bit (256 rgb levels), so, you'll always have more than enough precision nonetheless, no matter what tablet you use, since you'll always be feeding more levels of pressure than photoshop can handle - for instance, imagine you have a white background and a black colored brush and you make a brush-stroke gradient from 0% opacity to 100% opacity, the tablet will report 512 or 1024 levels of pressure, but photoshop can only display and take in values from 0-255 (8-bit), thus being 2x (graphire) or 4x (intuos) times precision than photoshop can deal with. There is a BIG relation between the levels of pressure and the bit depth supported by the software. If one would be using 16bpp software then the pen would be the bottleneck offering less levels than the supported pixel bit depth, creating banding between pressure levels (not that many people would notice visually anyway at that precision).

So, in reality, one shouldn't be able to tell the difference between the tablets unless you worked under a 16 bit per channel pixel depth software package, which photoshop nor painter is.

[This message has been edited by Frost (edited April 04, 2001).]

roundeye · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2001 12:00 pm

ah of course, i was thinking in width, not opacity. i guess cuz im an inker, not a painter heh
good points by the way

stneil777 · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2001 1:31 pm

wellk seems to have turned into a debate,

this is what i have been told because i myself am still using a mouse.
Get a intous
thats what the company told me.
they said the graphire is no good for artist unless you want crap pictures.
and if you get the small tablet you will be drawing a small small line and on the screen its going to be huge if you want more accurate to size get the 6x8 which ever one you get do not get the 4x6 or what ever it is
and if you want to be real close then get the 9x what ever.

thsi is what waccom told me

vector · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2001 4:15 pm

quote:
Originally posted by stneil777:
they said the graphire is no good for artist unless you want crap pictures.

hehe