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I have been searching and searching for a pen tablet that I would be able to physically put a piece of paper with an image on it, and trace the image to show up in photoshop, or whatever program. I know they exist, but it is never in the descriptions for the tablets. I really dont even care about price wise, I'm just getting sick of paying $40 for designs to be vectorized.
I myself am not good at vectorizing in the program, so I have been just saying "forget it, I'll pay the $40"... Any suggestions whatsoever on an alternative would be greatly appreciated.
The best of the tablets are Wacom...not cheap but the most reliable. But why pay $40 for vectorizing? do a search here for some vector sources. Some are as cheap as $15. And drawing a image in photoshop will NOT give you a vector...it is still a raster image. You could use the tablet in most any of the graphic programs
I just pay the $40 to the company that makes the transfers. But even still if I found a tablet that I can draw off of a paper to the computer it would save even the $15 fee everytime. And thats about right, because I pay $20 for the front image and $20 for the back image. So it's almost the same.
I got a refurb one (wacom cte-440 )off academicsuperstore.
I didn't think about paper tracing a image cuz I thought the pen had to contac the pad but it doesn't. I was able to put a printed color photo on it and trace. Wasn't pretty but not a guru but a dummy newbie but looked like it would work. I pd 40.00 for the tablet.
I use a wacom, which i think is great, but you really cant trace something on the tablet. I mean you can, but it is not going to look real good. However it does give you a more natural drawing feel when you are redrawing something. I would hate to have to go back to a mouse!
I have a Wacom Intuos 2. The surface of the tablet has a transparent sheet that a print can be put under to allow tracing. The Paintbrush and Pencil tool in Illustrator work well for tracing, but only creates a stroke line. Flash MX Brush tool responds to pressure sensitvity in the tablet, trickey to get used to.
But it would be a lot better to redraw by the scan than it would tracing the paper under the plastic. You are going to have to redraw your trace which would add a step.
We just ordered an Intuos3 6x11. I'll do most of my own designing in CorelDRAW and Photoshop just using the tablet, but I was under the impression that you could lay down a piece of paper that you hand drew on to trace it.
Don't get me wrong, you will be able to do that. It's just instead of looking down at the tablet and tracing, then looking up to see what you have done, then back down at the tablet again is more difficult than just scanning the image in and then drawing it. But this is just my opinion, you might like it better than me!
I have a Wacom tablet and I love it! I've never tried putting a piece of paper over it to trace but i'm sure it would work. Of course there's other ways of making the vector shapes, for instance you could scan in your image and then make it a template, dim it to about 50%, make a new layer on top of it and trace over it, once you're done hide or delete the template layer and you've got your vector image! That's basically what I do in illustrator because I prefer drawing my images out on paper most of the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by holyfudgemuffin
I have been searching and searching for a pen tablet that I would be able to physically put a piece of paper with an image on it, and trace the image to show up in photoshop, or whatever program. I know they exist, but it is never in the descriptions for the tablets. I really dont even care about price wise, I'm just getting sick of paying $40 for designs to be vectorized.
I myself am not good at vectorizing in the program, so I have been just saying "forget it, I'll pay the $40"... Any suggestions whatsoever on an alternative would be greatly appreciated.
I just ordered a Intuos3 9x12 tablet from Costco for $379, (cheapest place I found), list price is $449 at wacom's website. Should be getting it next week or so, very excited! It will make a huge difference on how we design t-shirts! (we currently have a 4x6 tablet, but its uncomfortable so we decided to go bigger, and then looked at a 6x8, and we were like for $30 more we can go to 6x11, then we were like for $80 we can go 9x12. lol
I have a 12" VisTablet that lets you see what you are tracing without having to look up at the screen to see how your drawing is turing out, You actually see the design on the tablet. I have Corel X3 and it works great. I purchased it soley for tracing as my drawing skills are null and it is easier to do than to sending out art work eac time. I purchased mine for $109 from JourneyEd. It is not available to the General public at this price only Students, Teachers, and Falcutly & Staff.
I have a 12" VisTablet that lets you see what you are tracing without having to look up at the screen to see how your drawing is turing out, You actually see the design on the tablet. I have Corel X3 and it works great. I purchased it soley for tracing as my drawing skills are null and it is easier to do than to sending out art work eac time. I purchased mine for $109 from JourneyEd. It is not available to the General public at this price only Students, Teachers, and Falcutly & Staff.
Veedub3
Do you have any problems with your VisTablet? I was looking into these as a low cost solution to buying a Wacom but this Vistablet company seems a bit shady and underhanded to me.
Do you have any problems with your VisTablet? I was looking into these as a low cost solution to buying a Wacom but this Vistablet company seems a bit shady and underhanded to me.
No I have not had an issue with my tablet it works great for what I need it to do but would be interested in why you think the VisTablet Company seems shady.
vector problems enough to buy a pen tablet? 
Re: vector problems enough to buy a pen tablet? 
Re: vector problems enough to buy a pen tablet? 
