Wacom Cintiq 24HD interactive pen display So the Wacom Cintiq 24HD shows up at my door and it's huge. Seriously, this marriage of 24in display and graphics tablet tech needs two people to lift it out of the packaging and there are step-by-step instructions on just how to do it. This is definitely a professional piece of kit and, costing around £2000, I reckon unless you …
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"This crazy positioning is obtainable because of the 40kg counterweight in the base giving it great stability."
I am really hoping that you mean "4kg". As a sanity check as to units, I had to think.. I'm 6 ft 3, and not tiny, and I weigh 90kg, I'd be a bit scared of a tablet that is nearly half my body weight...
1920 x 1200 may be HD on a 24" TV screen but not on Computer.
You need roughly 3000 x 1700 pixels for a 24" Widescreen to have the resolution of 1600 x 1200 15.4" screens ten years ago.
http://xkcd.com/732/
Nice product though. But a trifle pricey for a low resolution computer monitor and resistive panel, though of course it's a bit more than both.
I have a the 21UX sibling (2010 model), and I tell you now, if you're an illustrator or you do artwork on computer in any volume, you have no idea what you're missing.
They're not perfect, calibration is a bit annoying sometimes, especially when Wacom release new drivers that muck everything up, but for speed of working, and just getting into the art of it, Cintiqs are awesome. I'll be entombed with mine.
The only downer is software support. They're great with Painter and Photoshop, but Sketchbook Pro (and Design) should be amazing - and they are to a point, but because neither Sketchbook has customisable controls, you can't set up the screen's shortcuts at all, and it they have no Cintiq profiles of their own (brush size rotates the screen, wtf...).
The only thing stopping me from getting a 24HD is the weight and the fact that you can't mount it on an arm (21UX can be, and the standard base allows for rotation...important when drawing on paper). So it should be mentioned that 24HD is more like a draught board...much more suited to anyone working on a board.
The stats say it weighs 29kg with stand attached, and 13.7kg without. My maths says that makes the stand a mere 15.3kg. Sounds a little more manageable.
Want one! Got the 12ux at the moment, and love that, but am prepared to finally concede, after many years of being told otherwise, that size is important after all.
...and they're still out of my price range.
Back in the late '80s I did tech illustration for a (now defunct) computer company that was a beta test site for a company called Qubix Graphics Systems. Qubix had a pen-based "draw on the screen" UNIX-based workstation that was an illustrator's/draftsman's dream. The Qubix system was also fully adjustable from vertical to horizontal to mimic the illustrator's preferred drawing board set-up (Of course, since this was a honkin' big CRT screen back in the day, the adjustment was accomplished by an electric motor in the pedestal!). Ms Orr is correct -- there is NOTHING like the immediacy of working directly ON your image. Having to go back to drawing with a mouse on a horizontal surface while watching a vertical screen when I left the company was a wrenching experience.
Qubix, of course, got leapfrogged in the vector illustration market and put out of business by Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Freehand going directly to the personal computer which were, if not as exceptional an experience as the workstation, good enough and cheap enough that most everyone could get in on it. Coincidentally, the company that I was working for was heavily into the "mincomputer" business and ALSO got bypassed by the PC explosion and is no more. There's an irony there...
what I don't get though is the resolution. I have a couple of wacoms - a wee portable bamboo for on the move, and a big A2 tablet for home use. they both have very high DPI (500-2000 per inch). This makes sense because you can get a lot of detail in a small drawing space. i.e. there is no direct link between the DPI of the tablet, and the screen.
With the Contiq's this ain't the case... so you have a 500dpi 'tablet' tayer onto of a 70dpi screen.
I don't really get that? I'd be interested in user's takes on it, but when I used one, and in fact it was the reason I bought an acer tablet pc back in 2004 (it had full pressure sensitive wacom support) I found it nasty to sketch on, as I was always limited to that screen DPI effectively for feedback.
stu
These aren't even in the same universe as Tablet PCs, it's completely different technology. I don't even consider the resolution of the tablet, I've never thought about it. Specs are usually just marketing anyway BS anyway...how many people can 'feel' all 2048 levels of pressure? :p
Needless to say, I get really bored when using my old Intuos wacom tablets now...they just feel so clumsy and backwards. If you draw or sculpt (i.e. Zbrush) for a living, Cintiqs are the business.
...most of them (there are other stylus sceeen systems). Currently the proper stylus PC ones such as HP TouchSmart TM2-1010 are typically touchscreens as -well-. But you may not get the pressure sensitivity, the point of which, for art, I think, is... it's enough. It's plenty.
Mind you, there's David Hockney pootling around on an iPad and having the results exhibited in the National Gallery of Ginormous Print-Outs, so it just goes to show.
1920 x 1200 is a total dealbreaker... I know the wacom tablet-screens have always been low-res, but that is ridiculous for a 24 inch screen!
It's like they don't want my money:
I almost bought a 12WX, i mistakenly thought it might be somewhat portable, then I noticed when I saw it in person the giant power/control block they hide in all the photos that happens to have a million cables coming out of it.
So then I took a look at the 21UX, but the screen was horribly underspecced, a measly 1600x1200 on a 21 inch screen!
Now the 24HD comes out and they giant sized the screen, but kept the super crappy resolution??!
Plus on both the 21 and 24 a crappy 550:1 contrast ratio -- half of what you'd expect from, oh, let's say, an apple desktop display?
Seriously, I would have laid out all kinds of cash for this type of equipment over the years IF IT DIDN'T SUCK SO BAD. I can't wait for their patents to run out so that there can be some competition using similar pen technology.
sorry, rant over...
I agree with the resolution comments - it's irritating but then these were being put together probably just before everything jumped up to 2500+. The contrast ratio probably has a lot to do with the coating on the screen - it's actually has a very fine texture. Feels nice when drawing on it, but you pay for that in gamut.
Can't agree with your closing lines though :) Just because it's not as good as a new monitor doesn't mean it sucks, because it doesn't. If you make money as an artist and you don't have one, you're cutting off an arm to spite a leg.
Wacom have zero competition in this market. Until someone brings something else along that's better (hell, not even cheaper - I'll pay for results), there's nothing better (or nothing else).
I love my old Cintiq tablet. As others have said, you can't beat the experience of actually drawing directly on the screen, with a pen. It becomes so 'natural' feeling after a while that, on a couple of occasions recently, when drawing in a real sketchbook, I've thought for a split second of hitting "undo" after making a mistake.
The big problem is the weight, the three trailing cables [powerbrick, USB and video] and the need to attach it to a computer. This makes casual use of the Cintiq pretty much impossible, as you need to set it up and sit at a desk to use it.
How I wish someone would cross-breed a Cintiq with an iPad and produce an all-in-one portable digital sketchbook. I'd be all over that fecker like the proverbial rash!
I have the 13" Cintiq. Don't obsess about screen resolution - it's just techy nonsense for those who like to read the brochure rather than do any artwork. I find the lag and the need to reset periodically more of a nuisance, plus the power brick and cables which make an already overcrowded desk a snake pit.
I'm also not thrilled at staring into a computer screen all the time I draw, which can be tiring (but others may have different experience).
For these reasons, I still use the Intuos more. After 12 years of using a Wacom, the draw-here-look-there thing is second nature (it felt natural after 30 minutes, tbh).
The iPad looks very interesting, especially after seeing the way Hockney and others use it (search YouTube for demo examples). It doesn't overcome the screen glare but it gets rid of the cables. I just need a way of getting the final drawing off the iPad once it is finished which doesn't necessarily involve wireless or another computer. Never mind HD, retina displays etc - I'll settle for a USB socket on the iPad 3.
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