Which is the right graphic tablet size?

I'm wondering which size is the best for which needs.

o Is A6 enough or is it too small and so unprecise?
o Too much scrolling on a A5 pad or for what is it good to have the double size of A6? Is A6 only good for drafts or what's the difference?
o If you're going with A5 do you better choose a standard A5 or a A5 WIDE?

I especially have the Wacom Intuos3 in mind and am currently working in front of a 1280x1024 screen which at some point will be replaced by a 16:9 display.

A6 is too small unless you have a 640x480 screen resolution. Don't forget that the Rect maps 1:1 onto your screen. The higher the resolution, the larger the tablet should / must be to make a sense.

if you choose a standard A5 or wide depends on your screen resolution again and if you have an application that can use it powerfully (like photoshop).

At your resolution I would say A5 wide is the pure minimum.

But when i'm moving my mouse i don't even use the space A6 delivers.
Don't you have to move a lot then and how fatiguing is it then?

What is the best size were you don't have to move a lot whilst still everything is precise?

I used to use an A5, but I'm using an A6 now.

For me it's much nicer to move the hand less. The precision is still more than enough for doing precision graphics.

For doing painting and freehand illustration work I'd recommend A5 as a minimum though, as it's easier to get good strokes on a larger surface.

Hello.

If you're not using the full size of your tablet it's because you've got it setup to use relative tracking. Setting it up as absolute will give you 1:1 representation, ie, the top left of your tablet is the top left of your screen and bottom right of the tablet is bottom right of your screen.

To answer your second question, if you're using relative you could use A8 and still have the same resolution.

I use an A3 tablet which is a lot of work; however, as I got it because of RSI in my wrist, I'm quite happy waving my arm around to get things done - your upper arm muscles are better suited to that type of thing.

Goodbye.

I think i mainly would use it in a 1024x1024 texture space, so better A6 or A5?

A5 intuos3 is the perfect tablet, its about the size of a laptop but much thinner. A6 is too small for fine work, and a4 is enormous.

Okay then it shall be an A5. Which format would you sugggest? A5 or A5 wide?

Personally, A5 is the size for me. I have used everything up to a 17x12,...not sure of that exact dimension, but it was close to that.

Anyways, anything 12x12 and up means you will be drawing from the elbow with large movements. Smaller sizes mean everything will be mostly finger movements, and the A5 size will allow you to draw with the wrist and fingers. It depends on what you are comfortable with.

My current setup is a dual screen, which is too wide for even a "wide" tablet. Normally I simply work with one tablet on the left, and use my mouse when I need to reach a menu on the right side. Another thing I have done is plug 2 tablets in at the same time, and map 1 to each monitor. This works great, but take up too much desk space for me to use all the time.

The latest Wacom drivers have an option that lets you change the mapping of the screen with a button. I set one of the tablet buttons to do this so I can now control both screens by toggling back and forth.

I use a 5x4 in my dorm room, which works just fine even though I'm running at 1680x1050. At home, I use a 9x12, which has more pressure sensitivity and is slightly more accurate, and also works much nicer for broad strokes.

I'm not sure what you gits use A5 and A6 for- do you just not like specifying precise measurements?

I would recommend A5 or larger. Larger size = greater precision + you start to use your elbow and shoulder more which I think puts less strain on your wrist.

Has anyone tried Wacom's new 'Bamboo' tablets at all? I'm interested to know if they're any good.

@Pure Cane Soda:

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size :

"This standard has been adopted by all countries in the world except the United States and Canada."

so I would call A5 and A6 a world wide (well, mostly) known precise measurement.

Talking about what you think is an precise measurement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch

"An inch (...) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems(...). Its size can vary from system to system."

I use a normal a5 on my ws monitor, no issues.

Okay, thanks!

You will not have any issues with the tablet itself, but if you draw a perfect circle on the tablet it will not be a perfect circle on the screen if the aspect is different. That is assuming you set up the tablet mapping edge to edge.

edit: and for what it's worth, I had to look up the whole A5/A6 thing myself. My tablet is roughly 6x9 (drawing area), so I figured it was an A5

Setting up the aspect ratio is a joke at least thanks to the included config software.

I got an A4 (9x12") Intuos2 here, and although the thing has more padding than I'd have wanted (it takes up a large amount of desk space...), its worked flawless for me, aside from the fact I had to set it up to work with my 5:4 monitor.

when you use a tablet you look at the screen, so your circle would still be round if you were capable of drawing one freehand.

Not if the aspect ratio of the tablet was not inline with the monitor's, which was Pongo's point.

Regardless, it's easily setup to work with odd aspect monitors, just be ready to sacrifice actual drawing space for it to work.
(as the config menu crops out some space for it to maintain the aspect, which in the 5:4 case, it kills a small bit of vertical space from the bottom of the pad)

What i meant is you'd draw a circle based on screen feedback so you would naturally adapt it. Intuos 3 also has quite a lot of border.

I like the 6"x8" ones. they make a good compromise between small and cramped and big and awkward. I still use an Wacom ArtPadzII which cost me 350 over 10 years ago. Someday I hope to have a cintique for a more natural feel.

I'm not one of those people that draws with my wrist and fingers and like to use my whole arm and do gestural strokes, so a tiny pad doesn't really work for me.

Wow, I can't believe so many of the guys here use tablets. I guess it is because you are all Indy developers and have to work on your own graphics?

I have a 5"x4" tablet and while it's nice not to have to move your hand much, it's really hard to draw straight lines with it.

But that could be because I suck at using tablets, or because I bought it in 1996 and the technology's improved. Not sure.

Anyway, why are you asking on a programming forum which art tablet is best? You should be asking on an art forum. And I bet I know what they'll tell you. Bigger is better. A bigger tablet would make it easier to draw straight lines. They'll probably also tell you that having one with a screen built in is the bestest thing ever.

Hiya,

Just in case you are interested the larger Asda stores do a Trust wireless 200 V2 tablet for £21 - yeah I said £21!

It connects to the PC via USB. It is a 5" by 4" tablet with pressure sensitive knib on the pen, I think a mouse comes with it too, the pen and mouse are wireless. There are soft function keys at the top edge and the overlay lifts so you can put small images underneath and trace them - brilliant for the price.

I have one upstairs and one downstairs, my kids love them and I find this more than adequate for the work I do.

IPete2.

@sswift
I think you already gave yourself the answer why it made sense asking here.

a monitor with built in tablet looks and sounds nice ... but at a price

as for the a5 a5 wide post up there somewhere
as a5 is (as pointed out up there somewhere too] a paper size doesnt that make a5 wide invalid ... unless its the area of the non tablet part of it thats bigger?

Taumel:
Unless you mean asking here was useful in getting my advice to ask somewhere else where people would know better, I'm not sure I did answer my question. :-)

Nope... :O)

Actually, bigger is not necessarily better, it's up to the individual though.

My job is an animator/FX artist, so I'm on my tablet every single day for at least several hours. My preferred tablet right now is the Intuos 3 (6x8). We had some larger ones, but got rid of them a few years ago, and the 4x5's are almost useless to us (too small)

Also, drawing on the screen isn't as big of a jump as I thought it would be, and I actually prefer to use the "detached" tablet for now. I'm looking at the possibility of getting a Wacom enabled tablet pc at some point, so I may change my mind on that. The Cintique that I used a while back didn't really set off anything for me, but it might have had a lot to do with the price.

Ryan Church concept artist at ILM

2. Wacom Tablet