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Graphic tablet or smart pen ?
clairetoo - 10/12/12 at 08:09 PM

I've been wondering about a method of transferring hand-drawn sketches to my computer , so I can save them electronically .
Today I noticed a cheap tablet at LIDL . did a bit of google'ing - and found THIS
Would this do what I want ?

blakep82 - 10/12/12 at 08:29 PM

if you find it easy to draw stuff by hand, and not (yet) by computer, why not just draw by hand, take a photo on a camera/phone, and every now and then, plug the usb cable in to the computer, and copy over a load of picture files?
easy and won't cost you a thing

clairetoo - 10/12/12 at 08:57 PM

Thats an idea - but the problem I see with that is that it wouldnt be editable - any changes and I would have to draw it again........

austin man - 10/12/12 at 09:10 PM

Hi Claire

Scan the image and save it as a JPEG this then can be edited in photoshop etc any picture can be edited I think there is a free package called Gimp which will also allow editing

I would also get a graphic table Bamboo is a good one these allow editing via a pen which id far easier than using a mouse

[Edited on 10/12/12 by austin man]

austin man - 10/12/12 at 10:39 PM

one of these. Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch Small 5.8"' x 3.6"' Active Area, USB editing a hand drawn picture is no different than editing a photo

MikeRJ - 11/12/12 at 08:28 AM

quote:
Originally posted by austin man
Hi Claire

Scan the image and save it as a JPEG this then can be edited in photoshop


JEPG is not a good solution for line drawings, the compression creates artefacts which are hard to remove. For high contrast line drawings TIFF is probably the best.

A scanned line drawing can be converted to a vector drawing by many software packages, which I presume is what Claire wants?

hughpinder - 11/12/12 at 08:29 AM

I've only used tablets really. The better ones give more pressure sensing levels, more dpi (resolution) and can also detect tilt on the pen. This last is quite useful if you are using something like 'Corel painter' as it allows extra functions- for example if you are using a 'spraygun', when you tilt the pen the 'paint' will spray out, just like it would if you angle a real spray gun. It's quite a few years since I last used anything like that - the cost used to be horrendeous for an amateur (say 3-400 for the tablet and the same for the software). The wacom bamboo fun thing looks pretty good, but I dont think it has the 'tilt' function.
Have fun
Hugh

D Beddows - 11/12/12 at 09:47 AM

Actually getting the drawing onto a computer and even vectorising it is the easy bit - editing it afterwards is a whole other kettle of bananas on a basic level it's easy to do BUT using a graphics tablet isn't really anything much like using paper, pencil and a rubber, yes you can do it BUT it's not going to look great without a fair bit of practice........ probably about as much practice in fact as it would take you to learn the basics of CAD (draftsight for example).......

clairetoo - 11/12/12 at 10:05 AM

I understand it wouldnt look `great' - but would it (the one in my first post) do what I want ?
I've got assorted CAD programs loaded on my computer but without some basic tuition I cant even draw a line........I've wasted tens of hours trying to get started , and haven't a clue
All I want to do for now is create an electronic sketch that I can send to someone to turn into a proper drawing !

hughpinder - 11/12/12 at 10:54 AM

A tablet and pen is much easier to use for sketching than a mouse, but still requires some learning, like lifting the pen properly at the end of lines. There is a significant learning curve to CAD, even if you have someone to get you going, also I tend to find it takes so long to draw something that I can have a rough sketch by hand in a tiny fraction of the time, and for me trying to CAD it stifles the creativity. I'm not looking to send stuff out to be mass produced though, but if I was I'd probably do a rough hand sketch, make one, adjust and fettle and then draw up in CAD. This is probalbly more because I don't use it very often. The full time pros knock off drawings in no time.
How easy it is to do what you want depends on using appropriate software - you want a drawing/sketching package rather than painting or image retouching. For example, have a look at 'inkscape' or 'pencil' on this link, rather than gimp:

http://www.freevector.com/news/free-design-programs/

Have fun!

Regards
Hugh

ETA - seems like the reviews on that tablet indicate people like the smoothdraw software that comes with it.

[Edited on 11/12/12 by hughpinder]

MikeR - 11/12/12 at 12:12 PM

Claire, somewhere I've got a tablet i got from Aldi a few years ago. If you're in no rush (and prod me occasionally) i'll dig it out and you can borrow it for a couple of months to see how you get on.

If you don't like it then you've saved some cash.

[Edited on 11/12/12 by MikeR]

clairetoo - 11/12/12 at 12:20 PM

That would be awesome - and even better if we could do this sooner rather than later (I'm still off work and climbing the walls here )

D Beddows - 11/12/12 at 12:27 PM

That ^^^^^^^^ is probably by far the best idea - to be honest my job for over 10 years has been CAD so it's like driving a car for me in that I don't really have to think about it! BUT if I'm doing a sketch I'll do it on paper because I find freehand sketching with any software I've tried just too limiting in comparison. However you might take to it like a duck to water so it's worth giving it a try - I wouldn't splash out too much money though until you've tried it

coyoteboy - 11/12/12 at 12:59 PM

Indeed, I'd agree that sketching with a graphic tablet is nothing like sketching with a pencil on paper. At least not the ones I@ve used. I quite liked the ipad for sketching stuff but that adds another (expensive!) part to the equation. PErsonally I just sketch on paper and scan it if I need to send it to someone.