Thanks, Gav

[Wafath]

Thanks for the effort for today's strip. It is crazy how hard some of these problems end up being when you don't have all the right technologies, but thanks for doing it.

W

[CodeGuy]

Thanks Gav! It was a good strip, and worth the effort to me.

Here's a thought: talk your family into getting you a tablet PC for Agnostica. I've been using one for awhile now, and it's great. You can draw directly onto the screen. So unlike a Wacom tablet, you can spin it around and draw at any angle, just like drawing on paper. Add in magnification for details and the ability to hit ctrl-z on mistakes, and drawing gets much easier. Then when you're done, there's no scanning.

[Erzengel]

Here's a thought: talk your family into getting you a tablet PC for Agnostica. I've been using one for awhile now, and it's great. You can draw directly onto the screen. So unlike a Wacom tablet, you can spin it around and draw at any angle, just like drawing on paper.

or just like a wacom tablet... Of course, Wacom doesn't care which you get, as they're a part of TabletPC, too.
For the road, though, TabletPC is probably better--after all, you can't forget to take your Wacom tablet on the road without forgetting the whole computer.

[CodeGuy]

Actually, for me it wasn't just like a Wacom tablet. I tried the Wacom Tablet first, and it was vastly harder to use. The problem is, you can't see the drawing on the Wacom tablet. So if you pick it up and spin it around, the screen is now at a different angle than the tablet. Plus, the Tablet PC can work without a cord, which also makes it easier to move around to various positions.

The great thing about my tablet PC (which is a Gateway, btw) is that when I turn it, all the stuff I've already drawn turns too, just like paper. Muuuuuch easier to judge the proper angles that way.

[Erzengel]

You didn't click the link. Wacom has "Pen Displays" as well as "Pen Tablets". In fact, Wacom's Pen Display technology is incorporated into the TabletPC. So with the TabletPC you're using a Wacom tablet. The differance is that the one in the first link lets you work with any computer rather than being confined to the TabletPC.

[CodeGuy]

Ah, OK. I clicked the second link, but I didn't notice the first one. It didn't occur to me that you meant anything other than a regular Wacom Tablet, since I work with those all the time but have never seen a Display version.

I've never seen someone use one of the Wacom tablets with a screen, but I've looked over the ads before. They're really expensive, even compared to a Tablet PC (which is costly, but better than a tablet and a laptop seperately). I got my Tablet PC refurbished, so I'm sure prices would be somewhat better on the Display Wacom Tablet, but I doubt it'd be a better deal overall.

They are better quality, though. If someone cares about super high accuracy, pen pressure, and all the other stuff that high end Wacom Tablets are good for, then they're the way to go. I don't care about any of those things, so my comparatively less expensive Tablet PC works very well for me. I have a lot of friends and coworkers who'd probably feel nauseous trying to work on something as low end as my machine, though.

Like you said, Erzengal, Tablet PC is mainly more useful in the situation that our beleaguered artists describes, where he's trying to throw something together on the road. It'd be pretty cumbersome trying to carry around the Wacom tablet *and* a laptop.

[Gav]

Anyone who saw me at Comic Con 2005 will realize how I feel about Wacom tablets.

I'd never used one before, and we were supposed to draw things in front of an audience on it and I sucked really really big time! Honestly, I don't know how anyone can draw on something like that.

Later, I think I was able to figure it out. I need to rest my hand on the paper on which I'm drawing. With a touch-sensitive tablet, you can't do that.

Anyway, I'm not comfortable with any of the drawing process being on the computer, anyway. I like for the finished product to be all on paper, including lettering.

What I should buy is a hand-scanner that I can take with me on trips. Something about 3" wide. At some point, I should get a new regular scanner, too, as the one I have is way too slow and annoying.

[CodeGuy]

I hate Wacom tablets too, but I love my Tablet PC. And I rest my hand on it all the time. Because you're drawing on the screen, it feels pretty much the same as drawing on paper.

But if you really like having a piece of paper to look at when you're done... Luddite!