ZBrushCentral

Best TABLET PC for ZBRUSH modelling

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi everybody, this is my first post here.

I’m looking forward to buy a tablet pc for ZBRUSH modelling.

I’ve heard that the Hp Tablet Tx2 1270 Us X2 and the Fujitsu T5010 Table Pc would be good choices.

Other people said that the best thing to do is buy a high-end notebook, with very good processor and memory and just use a Wacom Bamboo. But I would like to work directly on screen, anywhere I am.

Do you know (or have) a good option for Tablet PCs?

#2

I use an Asus high-end laptop and Wacom Cintiq 12WX when traveling. I couldn’t find any high-end tablet PC’s that seemed to fit the bill. I carry them together in a 17" rollercase/briefcase from Targus.

-K

#3

I did an insane amount of research on this subject, and didn’t find much helpful information out there in the way of people who actually used tablet PCs for artistic functions. It’s a little mind-boggling to me that tablet PCs are marketed to business people and contractors, but not to artists. I’m especially surprised after using one and finding it to be completely fabulous for art.

I think I’ll do a post all about it, since I learned so much; and I don’t have time now, but here’s a breakdown:

After considering all the factors, reading dozens of reviews for all candidates, and laboriously weighing pros and cons, I ended up buying a used Lenovo Thinkpad X60 tablet. It has a core duo @ 1.83GHz, 3GB of RAM, a 320GB 5200rpm HD, and of course the Wacom penabled display. (no multitouch).

I am running Windows 7 on it, which is fabulous. It works great with Zbrush 3.5r2, Photoshop CS3, Maya 2008, and Modo 302, and Artrage and Sketchbook PRO are like a dream come true. These programs actually have fairly modest system requirements compared to the abilities of modern computers, and even a small tablet like this one can handle them readily. I was mostly concerned that the integrated graphics card would crumble under these apps, but to my amazement (although it won't play any 3d games whatsoever) I can Zbrush and Modo-render away with no problems so far.

Some specific pros:

  • 8 “programmable” buttons on the screen bezel. (I’ll discuss my special way of hacking these for rocking the tablet experience if I make a post on the subject later)
  • Long battery life compared with other tablets (especially HPs)
  • Pressure sensitivity is completely fine. (You {probably} won’t miss your Intuos…)
  • Fantastic portability, and “spurofthemomentpickupability” (use sleep mode instead of shutting down, and fingerprint login to never be more than 5 seconds away from jumping into an idea/sketch/model.)
  • And of course you get the fantastic Lenovo build quality and the best keyboard in the laptop market to boot.

I haven’t done any massive 3d scenes or billion-poly meshes yet; but for the price (under $500 on Craigslist…) it’s literally the best technology purchase I’ve ever made. The perfect digital sketchbook for me! :smiley:

#4

Most notebooks seem to have enough proccessing power and RAM these days. I would think that levels of pressure sensitivity would be the key factor.Alot of those tablets only have one level, like a mouse click.