Tablet Pc Vs. Pc Tablet?

[zedd56]

Alrighteh. I haf got myself teh job, and now i aer haf teh moneys!

I am looking for a way to draw into flash by hand.
i can say i am getting along fine mouse-animating (but don't let that be judged by my ng movies as they are old and i have gotten at least 5x better... dont have time to ever make more movies TT^TT)
but i know for a fact that if tablet animating isn't better, it will at least be faster.

I was thinking about getting myself a tablet pc (those laptops that fold in to activate a touch screen) as opposed to a simple drawing tablet.

Obviously a tablet pc is ideal, but much more expensive.

So this poses the question: does the convenience of a tablet pc outdo the cost of a tablet?

Please post an educated response with persuasive details... i don't like useless posts :(

[dadancinman]

think about it. Tablet PC has built in tablet so you can only use it with the Laptop its built into. And the cost is wayyyyyy high.

A PC Table has the same functionality, and you can plug it into any PC. And the cost is wayyy low.

[beast-unleashed]

i have a tablet i say a tablet pc would probably help alot more cuz a simple drawing tablet is a little more complicated since you cant see were the hell your drawing without looking at the screen every 2 seconds. but it could be just me

[zedd56]

and here is why that argument doesn't work with me:

1- i need my own computer anyways.
2- im only gonna be using one pc for animating
3- it's obviously easier to see what you're drawing on to than it is to look at one monitor and draw on a different tablet

these are also the main reasons i am actually posting this.

If it weren't these reasons (alongside a few more) i would just get the tablet and forget about the tablet pc completely.

Oh, and the tablet pc im looking into is $1k, compared to 100-300 for a good tablet :S

[Evan-Execution]

If you have the money a Wacom Cintiq is the way to go. I have a Bamboo and it works wonders. I havent looked much into the Tablet PCs so I couldn't tell you much about that. But it seems like all your reasoning points to the PC and not a tablet.

[Lopshire]

Based on your posts, it seems like you already know what you really want buddy.

[Moo12321]

My dad has a tablet PC so I use that a lot when drawing stuff for my games. I was able to draw some pretty cool stuff with it. It is EXTREMELY easy to draw with. There are some disadvantages though of course:

The tablet PC gets EXTREMELY hot after a while
The tablet PC has a battery life of about only 2 hours
You will have to transfer files to the computer you intend to animate with if you get a tablet PC
A tablet PC has a very hard interface to use for inputting things. I would not suggest it as a PC, but as a drawing and animating tool. Typing is nearly impossible without a separate keyboard

I can't give much opinion on a tablet though, as I have not used them. From what I know about them, they satisfy the cons that the tablet PC's have. Though, they aren't that portable, and for any that are actually affordable in price, it is a lot harder to tell where you are drawing on the screen. I think that like the tablet PC, you can "hover" the pen over it, and it will follow your pen. A good thing about both of them is that they do not track inputs from your hands or fingers, etc. This means unlike a regular touchscreen, you can rest your palm as you draw.

I hope I helped!

[zedd56]

hey i never knew that!

i was wondering about the tablet/tablet pc and the first thing that came to my mind was "shit man i have to like lift my arm or something?"

that's rly useful info :D

And yeah, i DO already know what i want.. i want the tablet pc. I think anybody would. It's nothing seperating them other then the cost factor.

I also looked into a cintiq, and that's what i TRULY want.
but it's WAY too expensive for what it's worth

the tablet pc on the other hand seems quite reasonably priced.

Thanks a bunch for the input, guys :D

i think im gonna get the tablet.

You can expect me to finally start animating for real this summer ^.^

[zedd56]

um sorry i meant im gonna get the tablet PC

oh and the battery life doesn't bother me... im gonna animate from my desk (external power :D)

[Lopshire]

Just to let you know, though. A Tablet is nothing to sneeze at. Adam Phillips used one for a very long time and his stuff is the cream fo the crop!

[Neophyte-Ronin]

At 6/12/08 09:27 PM, zedd56 wrote: and here is why that argument doesn't work with me:

1- i need my own computer anyways.
2- im only gonna be using one pc for animating
3- it's obviously easier to see what you're drawing on to than it is to look at one monitor and draw on a different tablet

these are also the main reasons i am actually posting this.

If it weren't these reasons (alongside a few more) i would just get the tablet and forget about the tablet pc completely.

Oh, and the tablet pc im looking into is $1k, compared to 100-300 for a good tablet :S

I suppose you get what you pay for, but I have a tablet, and I understand there are issues here and there with trying to master a new tool. I'm still more comfortable using the mouse and tracing over an image I scanned into the computer, or if I scotch-taped a basic sketch onto the surface of the tablet itself. That way, I can trace along the original sketch with visual results on the screen itself.

Thing is, if there's a method that doesn't tax your wallet, so be it. A PC Tablet is probably better because we always hear stories about people's computers crashing, leaving them out of the scene for months on end. One of the chief complaints I readily hear about concerning the "lateness" of any project generally revolves around when computers vomit and die. Now, what happens if you invested a thousand dollars on a PC?

Yeah, thought so.

The PC Tablet, on the other hand, can be switched to any machine that supports the software drivers (on CDs no doubt) and (generally) a USB 2.0 port. That means any computer you own, and as long as you treat all the parts real nice, it might actually outlive a whole string of computers over the years.

Thus, I say "Go for PC Tablet". Just remember: any new piece of technology is going to be daunting at first.

[Moo12321]

At 6/12/08 11:23 PM, zedd56 wrote: hey i never knew that!

i was wondering about the tablet/tablet pc and the first thing that came to my mind was "shit man i have to like lift my arm or something?"

that's rly useful info :D

And yeah, i DO already know what i want.. i want the tablet pc. I think anybody would. It's nothing seperating them other then the cost factor.

I also looked into a cintiq, and that's what i TRULY want.
but it's WAY too expensive for what it's worth

the tablet pc on the other hand seems quite reasonably priced.

Thanks a bunch for the input, guys :D

i think im gonna get the tablet.

You can expect me to finally start animating for real this summer ^.^

I also thought you could not rest your palm on it before I tried it, since I thought it was a regular touch screen. And because you can hover over it to see where exactly your cursor is, calibration on it is much less of a problem than drawing on a PDA or something. For PC tablets, you would not have to guess where you will be drawing, because as you hover your pen over it, it shows something like a preview. Though, I still think a better choice is something where you can draw on the screen. But because the tablet only responds to the pen it would really suck to lose the pen. With the pen, you can do things like erase by using the other end of the pen. A very cool thing I noticed is that they are pressure sensitive, and with certain programs you can adjust how the pressure you apply affects the opacity (alpha) and the width of the brush. One thing that I find pretty cool with the tablet is the ability to trace a drawing. I first tried this because my scanner was, and still is not set up. All you have to do is just place the paper right over the device and start tracing. It also gives it the great hand-drawn appearance as well. The tablet PC that my dad has is a Motion Computing PC (http://www.motioncomputing.com/buy/inde x.asp). I believe they use the same technology as Wacoms, but I am not sure, so for the Wacom PC tablets make that everything I say was actually correct, because I am not sure.