ZBrushCentral

Graphire or Intuos Tablet - Need your Help!

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

I am looking to buy a tablet for my computer and I would like some advice from some of you who own one.

I am looking at 2 different tablets.

  1. The Graphire #4 (4"x5")
    Levels of Pressure sensitivity: 512
    Pen Tilt Support: No

  2. The Wacom Intuos #3 (4"x6")
    Levels of Pressure sensitivity: 1024
    Pen Tilt Support: Yes

Pressure Sensitivity
Q. - Does ZBrush or Painter/Photoshop need 1024 Levels of Pressure sensitivity or will 512 levels be sufficient? and will the difference be noticeable?
Someone siad with less levels of pressure sensitivity I will have to change my brushes more often.

Pen Tilt Support
Q. - Will not having pen tilt support greatly affect my painting or sculpting?

So I know that the Intuos Tablet is better, but it is also approx. 4X times the price of the graphire. Is spending the extra $$$$ on the Intuos worth it or will the Graphire perform well enough?

Please tell me what your experiences have been and if you have bought either a Graphire or Intuos tablet and what you think of it?

Thanks :slight_smile:

#2

I recommend Intuos3, 9x12 or 6x11 model (match your screen aspect ratio) as the preferred desktop tablet. The Intuos3 4x6 Wide is a good portable tablet to accompany laptops. If you’re just getting started and accept that you might want to upgrade in a year or so, then any of the Graphire4 are nice “starter” tablets, but as you become more practiced, you will possibly find that additional pressure sensitivity allows more “gaceful” or smoother strokes.

-K

#3

Q1. You wont notice much difference between the two. ZB brushes arent that sensitive.

Q2. ZB does not make use of tilt so that feature is wasted in ZB.

Get the Intuous only if you also plan to do a lot of digital painting in something like Corel Painter or frequent editing in Photoshop. For ZB use a Graphire is more then sufficient.

You probably want a bigger tablet then 4x6 though.

#4

I’ve got an old graphire 3 and have just purchased the intuos 3. The thing that sold me on the intuos was the assignable buttons on the side of the tablet, i hardly ever touch the keyboard when painting in photoshop or sculpting in zbrush, i can place the tablet on my lap and sit back and use assigned buttons for the most used keyboard functions. The surface of the intuos is much better to draw on and the grip pen is more comfortable to use. If you see yourself useing a tablet a lot i would definately recomend the intuos, i thought i’d save money by buying the graphire, but found it a false enconomy in the long run as i ended up buying the intuos.
Both do a good job, but the intuos does it in style.

#5

wacom!! intous 3! get nothing else! highly recomended from industry professionals. :+1:

#6

intuos is a very good one but graphire isnt bad neither. as mentioned before, zb isnt that sensitive.
im not satisfied with the intuos buttons, they feel a bit…uhm…hard. the only cool thing is/are the touchpad(s)

i´m not sure if intuos is worth the money. the only important thing is “wacom”.

#7

Intuos 3 ! :wink:

You will not regret the extra money.
It’s worth it.:smiley: