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Aloys Crunch · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2000 5:20 pm

Don't laugh at the topic, but I've got a big problem with tablets.. Being a left handed pencil drawer I never get used to the over-smoothness of tablets; I use one for three years by now and I still can't trace a straight line :/
One great thing wiht tablets -wacom at least- is the possibility to put a certain amount of matter on top of it and still being able to draw through this. So I use to put a sheet of paper to get back to this granular feeling and not have a pen that act like an ice skate... The problem being that when using the pressure, because of the paper you can't go to 100% :<

So I came up with the idea to sand the movable plastic sheet on top of my tablet to see -no I didnt did it yet- But there could be better ways...

Anyone an idea about that ?

Loki · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2000 5:27 pm

Years ago I worked on a Quantel Graphic Paintbox (that thing was a fridge-sized hardware system) and they had Wacom tablets hooked up that could hold up today - the pens were even better than the ones right now - and the surface was slightly rougher than what were used to today, which felt really good.

If you sandpaper the surface though, the tablet will gobble through the spare nibs like crazy. But, maybe you want to try using a thin matted piece of glass over your wacom - tape it into position and give it a try ...

[too many crazy ideas in my head right now?]

waylon · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2000 6:59 pm

You can always adjust the sensitivity of the tablet too, so that you don't have to push quite as hard for the tablet to report "100%". That works well when you've got paper over it.

osk · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2000 7:05 pm

I didnt like the smoothness either . even with the pressure setting tweaked.. so I just completely took the plastic sheet all together .. is not attached all that much .. just glued on really really well .. so its possible to just pull it out carefully without destroying it ...... the result .. you get a stable , very well leveld sorta rough, but rough enough surface ...

chrisk82 · member Member # Joined: 16 Jan 2000 Posts: 91 Location: CO

I hate the smoothness of the tablet as well, I never thought about using paper over the transparency sheet though - very good tip, even if you didn't mean it to be

Oh, and don't sand the tablet! What happens if you don't like it, you just gonna throw a few hundred dollars down the toilet like that? Well, if your rich, go right ahead

Danny · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 2:11 am

The plastic sheet is made to be removeable so that it can be replaced by a new one if it gets damaged. (scratches can be VERY annoying). I share the opinion that the sheets are too smooth. It's easy to loose control. I just got used to it's smoothness over time. However it wouldn't be a stupid idea if Wacom decided to manufacture a range of sheets with varying degrees of roughness so that the artist can choose whichever one they prefer... Any Wacom employees on the forum??

Danny

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Nex · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 2:24 am

if you put a piece of paper on top your wacop pen tip will not last very long.. I guess thats why this pad is so smooth after all, to reduce friction on the tip (and they are expensive man!)

Freddio · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 2:39 am

Yea Danny.. I got this tiny tiny little scratch on the plasctic barely visible by the eye... And it is very annoying..

Btw where du get all these wacom bits and pices from anyway?

SushiMaster · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 2:45 am

Now I can't guarantee the truthfulness of this info, but I do believe the pressure sensitivity is NOT in the surface, but in the pen. So having a sheet of paper on top should not affect the sensitivity in any way. Your WACOM settings will, however.

Daniel

Danny · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 6:31 am

Freddio,

I contacted the Wacom helpdesk about this and they were very helpfull in sending me a few spare sheets for free. This was some years ago so I dunno if they still do this.

Danny

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Kenzo Tanaka · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 7:57 am

Remember those cheapie drawing things with the red plastic pen? They had a clear sheet on the top and whenever you wanted to clear off what you drew, you just pulled back the sheet. Toss one of those over your wacom and you can actually see what your drawing. It's goofy, but it works... and best of all it soopah cheap. Well, cheaper then buying an 80 dollar ball point pen stylus.

AliasMoze · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 8:00 am

It seems like if the plastic had any texture, the pen would wear grooves in it before long.

B · Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2000 3:53 pm

i think someone should send the link of this particular forum page to Wacom to see if they'll do anything about it,.