[Petri.J]

Well basicly, is it worth saving for? It costs 2860� here in Finland.

I own Toshiba Tecra M7 tablet PC. As a computer, it's very good, but the monitor is just pure poop. There is also delay in the cursor movement, but that doesn't disturb me as much as the monitor that crops the tip off from all three color palettes. Monitor also can not display the colors as they should be. I have tried every thing to calibrate the monitor, but I just can not get anywhere close to the right colors. Or actually I DID manage to get the colors close to the way they should be with one program, but it cropped 1/4 more from the colors, so I was able to see 1/3 of the color palette. That wasn't obviously worth it.

So, anyone who has cintiq (and uses win-XP):
Is there a delay in the cursor?
Is the monitor good?
What are the downsides of it?

I'd be very happy to hear users expiriences of it rather than read any reviews from persons that is just kissing some wacom ass, or say that it is very good, and later find out that he was testing it with Microsoft Excel.

Thanks in advance

[Max]

We have 16 of these thinsg at my university so I had the chance to work alot with them.
To be honest, I don't like them that much.
I'll only tell you about the negative stuff now cause others will point out the nice things anyway

My hands are infront of the monitor. That bugs me to no end (I know thats weird)
The pressure sensitivity isn't as good as most people seem to think.
If I draw really fast the curser is about 3 centimeteres behind where the tip of the pen is. That's so cunfunig, will never get used to it.
And, it's hard to calibtrate those things perfectly. If you make a single little point it won't be exactly where you want it to be...might be just a half millimeter off,...that's distracting anyway.
The display gets hot after an hour and thats bothersome too imo.
It simply doesn't feel as comfortable as a tablet. Maybe that's just me. I have been working with a normal tablet for years and I got used to it. No cintiq for me : )

Oh, it is damn expensive. Way to expensive.


AND. Dual Monitor setup it rather useless. I tried it, Simply doesn't work. For me theres no life without two monitors,...
AND. Using the keyboard for shortcuts and such is a pain because it has to be at a weird position.
YOU have to be in a weird position painting with that thing anyway...

...maybe I am just totally stubborn and love my old intuos2

before buying it, you have to test it by yourself. these are pretty subtle things I mentioned...

[Petri.J]

[Nag]

I use a cintiq at work aswell and I have to agree with Max on all accounts. However I found a dual monitor setup that works for me. I have the cintiq laying down infront of me on the table (like you would with a normal wacom) and then my normal screen is in the table behind the cintiq, so the setup is just like you would normally have your tablet and screen except replace the tablet with the cintiq. Now in the wacom options you can define a hotkey on the cintiq to change the cursor from screen to screen so you can with just 1 click of a button on the cintiq use it either as you would use the cintiq normally, or jump up to your regular monitor and use it as you would normally use a tablet.

It kinda works this way and you get best of both worlds cause you can switch between monitors and have a copy of what you are working on on both screens. And switch between working modes easely. The Cintiq is great for certain types of work, detailing, character sketching etc, (more drawing types of work)

But i�m not sure if i would say that the Cintiq is worth it all, I could deffinetly survive without it. Some people at work like it immensily and other don�t. It�s also just what you are used to I guess.

[Petri.J]

[Nag]

Took this to clarify.

I don�t have a copy of the monitor onto the cintiq, I just create another window for the document, (window-arrange-new window within PS. That way you have 2 copies of the document you�re working on. If you get my meaning.

As for the delay, I can�t say I notice it... but then again I might be very slow myself. =)

[Spawn]

Nice setup Nag, I'm getting a cintiq soon myself.. Good thread!

[gtrogers]

I bought my Cintiq a couple of months ago and overall I love it. I agree with almost all of the assessments posted previously, in particular all the downsides.

I think the Cintiq, as a product in general, is fantastic. I think the pricetag here is what really makes it hard to swallow, especially since you can do almost everything the Cintiq can with a regular Wacom tablet... for thousands of dollars cheaper. However, that said, the Cintiq really is fun to work on. If you can afford it, it makes for a great monitor and personally I love the colors. They feel bright and vibrant and I much prefer it over my old trinitron. It also doesn't take up much desk space either like my old CRT did and of course it weighs a fraction of it as well, but then again almost any monitor these days will have these benefits as well.

There is a little bit of a gap between the pen tip and the mouse cursor especially when drawing in the corners of the screen. Honestly I think this is impossible to avoid with current technology, at least until we can actually draw on the screen-material.

With default settings I haven't noticed any discernable pressure-sensitivity issues.

One really nice feature is to be able to grab the thing out of it's stand, sit "indian-style" on your bed and have the whole damned monitor in your lap! That's awesome beyond all belief. Unfortunately, I do use the keyboard for a lot of shortcuts and I haven't figured out a working setup to have the keyboard next to me when sitting, so I just sit at the desk as usual.

Cliffnotes: The Cintiq is a fantastic product.... if you can swallow the $2500. Will it make you a better artist over using a regular Wacom Intuos? I highly doubt it, but I guarantee you'll giggle with glee the first time you move the pen around and actually draw on the screen.

[M@.]

Nag : haha, awesome! I never thought of working like this. I'm gonna do this way now .

I've had a cintiq for almost 2 years now, at first I loved it, and I thought it was much better than the normal tablet. Having the hand on the screen doesn't bother me at all (though I heard a LOT of people around me being extremely bothered by that ), neither the warmth of the screen. The slight lag and the very clumsy way of calibrating the cursor bothered me though, but you get used to it.

I find the screen colors great, all the book covers / printed magazine material and stuff was pretty much the same to what I see on the screen.

The thing I prefer about it is the fact that it feels like a drawing pad, you can take any position you like while drawing o it, turn the screen like you would turn your canvas, etc. (and to those who will say "you can turn the canvas in painter", I say, it's not the same thing at all, because with this it's not just a question of turning the canvas, but anticipating the curves your hand will do while drawing by taking the position you want, like on a real piece of paper, which is something almost impossible to do with a normal tablet, where you really need to keep the same pose)
.

Yeah, it really feels comfortable (to me).
But, since I got the cintiq, I've had some work periods, where I was in a studio with no cintiq, so I had to go back to a normal tablet, and actually, now that I can really compare, I don't think there's that much difference in productivity between both .
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