has the mouse now become mightier than the pen??!!

[JAY]

hi all,

just a question to all you experienced pattern makers and designers out there, when creating or minipulating images, especially portraits on the likes of the gimp or other programs you might use, do you use your mouse and is this adequate or do any of you use the pen and touch pad (like the wacom bamboo types)? and if so what benefits do they have?

...........now...... i know i'm jumping MILES in front of myself here (and i can feel the burn from my wifes eyes in the back of my head) as i haven't even finished watching all of Travis's tutorials!! never mind actually designed anything myself but i'm just asking out of interest are they worth investing in? a shop near me is selling them at a very reasonable ( reduced )price, didn't know if it was worth it for the possible future whilst they're going cheap and are a real bargain (and yes i do like my gadgets hehe ) or should i not even be thinking these thoughts?

please don't read to much into my obsession with gadgets and oooooohhhh shiny new things as i have been playing with gimp and didn't know whether its just a case of experience and practice with a mouse and the program or could a pen and pad be of use?

thanks ,

Jay

[Firedkm]

Jay that is on my wish list also. The pen has it uses as does the mouse. I have a friend that has one. I tried it out and really liked it. The down side is you need to get practice with it. Some designers dont have one and others do. The ones that do rave about it. If I was you and you had the funds and its a deal.........BUY IT! Your wife can only get so mad

[Travis]

I personally use a mouse and it's more than sufficient for what I need to accomplish. I find I have pretty good control over my mouse, so it really hasn't been much of an issue. Tablets take a bit of practice to get use to, but when you do, you'll probably swear by it. Those who own one love them. We have a list of tablets in the Village Store that you can use to compare prices and read reviews. They're all sold through Amazon and you can usually find some pretty good prices. If you get one, report back and let us know how you like it!

[frieke]

Hi,

I draw on a wacom CTF-420 graphics pen tablet, it's a little one . The tablet is 20 x 20 cm, and the drawing part is 13 x 10 cm. It's so easy to work on it. I payed for it only 29$, realy cheap, it was on a sold out.

I would like to have a big one, but that costs lot of money. I thought i try this first out before i buy an expensive one , and i use it almost every day. If you design a lot, and you have the money, then go for it.

You will feel very happy to draw on it, it's like drawing with a pencil. And you can use it in place of the mouse to do your other pc work.

Good luck

Frieke

[JAY]

thanks for all your comments!

did buy the wacom bamboo in the end and at the min very happy, even for someone at my level of design it does make things a little easier when using the paint brush and so on (for me at least), so with some playing and practice it'll hopefully come along nicely and aid me in my efforts to become a decent pattern maker

it also came with some free software: Coral draw essential edition 3 and Ulead photo impact 12

i've had a search around the web to get some price comparisons and it was coming in at around £79.99 and i picked it up in the end for £39.99 so pretty decent price drop and bargain i 'm hoping its also not too expensive for a first try as some of them look fantastic but have a price tag to match (not at that level by a long stretch ), so a decent entry level me thinks!!

i'll let you know how i get on in the future and hopefully you'll be seeing some of the results in designs soon!

cheers ....... Jay

[Firedkm]

Congrats on your purchase! Now make sure you post your patterns that you make!