Gizmodo
Here's the video review for the new Wacom Cintiq 12WX, a tablet that allows you to draw directly on the screen with extreme precision, great feel and amazing results (even with butter fingers like mine). The Cintiq 12WX is probably the best peripheral I have ever tried. If you are not a professional illustrator or photographer, you may want to get one. If you are pro, however, you will be wondering why have you been waiting for so long for this 12" wonder.
Here's the video review for the new Wacom Cintiq 12WX, a tablet that allows you to draw directly on the screen with extreme precision, great feel and amazing results (even with butter fingers like mine). The Cintiq 12WX is probably the best peripheral I have ever tried. If you are not a professional illustrator or photographer, you may want to get one. If you are pro, however, you will be wondering why have you been waiting for so long for this 12" wonder.(UPDATE: Since there were so many questions in the comments, I've updated the post with new information)
Pressure-sensitive displays are common now in the Windows Tablet PC world, but not all tablet displays (or as Wacom calls them, interactive pen displays) are created equal. The 1,280 x 800 Wacom Cintiq 12WX has 1,024 pressure levels on both the pen tip and the eraser, with a +/- 60 tilt sensitivity. The difference is clear from the very first time you fire up Painter or Photoshop. The pen smoothly reacts to your actions like it would in the real world. The only thing you will miss is the drag of the actual pencil or pastel on paper.
I connected the Wacom Cintiq 12WX to my 24" iMac via DVI (using a mini-DVI-to-DVI adapter, only necessary when dealing with an iMac or some laptops). I connected it to the Mac via USB as well, to record the pen's data. The video and the USB, along with the power, go into a small box that you can easily put on the floor, as the cable that goes from the box to the tablet is quite long and allows for plenty of freedom of movement.
The process is pretty much plug-and-play. Once you are connected, the Mac or PC with Vista will automatically recognize the extra monitor, which behaves like any other display connected to your machine: your desktop will extend by 1,280 x 800 pixels and that will be that. You can also mirror your main monitor, but I like having the extended display. After you install the Wacom drivers (and I recommend you download the latest ones from the site), the tablet component will be live and ready to use to its full capacity.
The trackpads, thin strips of touch material similar to those on a laptop or an iPod, allows you to zoom in and out dynamically, just by sliding your finger. Those along with the buttons—which are programmable but come by default as modifier keys like Shift, Control and Command or Windows keys—allow you to draw and retouch constantly without having to use the computer keyboard at all. The top key on each side is, by default, configured to allow you to jump from the Wacom display to the main display. When you click on it, the cursor jumps to the main screen so you can select menu items or whatever you want. This effectively converts the Cintiq 12WX into a regular Wacom and completely avoids the use of the mouse in your system.
You probably recognize some of the illustrations in the video from Giz's pages. That's because I have been using the Cintiq for the past two weeks yet even so, I can only come up with two negative things to say about it. First, it has a very rare video glitch that I can't reproduce in other systems and, in fact, I can hardly reproduce it in my own. My guess is that it's a strange video driver issue, either with Mac OS X or the Wacom. The second "negative" thing is that it takes a bit of time to get used to those buttons and side trackpads but once you get in the habit, they can be real time savers.
Other than these two points, I can only say positive things about the tablet. The quality is great, the ease of use can't be beat and it just feels great in your hands. What's more: it speeds up your work because this is the way that you are supposed to work. After using it, trying to control Photoshop with the mouse—or regular graphic tablet—will feel like trying to paint holding a brick dunked in acrylic paint. In your mouth. Blindfolded.
For some people, the price for natural hands-on drawing and photo/video retouch would look excessive, however. If you are an amateur, the $999 price tag is hard to justify. However, if you have the money and you enjoy working on your images and digital paintings, I can tell you that it's worth every cent, if only for the joy.
If you are a professional artist that needs to retouch stills or video or draw from scratch, the Wacom Cintiq 12WX's price is peanuts. It saves so much time and could make the job so much more precise and better that it will pay off in a few hours of work. In other words, if you do this for a living and don't get one of these, you will be wasting your money. Even with that little glitch, which looked like a driver issue in my iMac, I can tell you that you won't be able to go back to a regular graphic tablet or, God forbid, a mouse. The two-year guarantee just sweetens the deal even more.
There's only one thing I miss in this thing. Like my wife would say: more inches. Or pixels. Or however she's measuring the size of my tablet these days.
UPDATE
Response time
The response of the tablet is great. There's is no delay between the pen moving and the actual pixels appearing on the screen. In the video some people perceive a delay but this is because of two reasons: first, the actual LCD screen is separated from the drawing surface a couple of millimeters. While you draw, you don't see this separation because you calibrate the tablet to match your point of view, so the tip touches the pen. However, when you film it from another angle, you see the separation of the pen and the pixels, giving you the illusion the trace follows the pen while this is not true. Another reason, while watching the video again myself, could be that I sometimes do the gesture a few times without actually drawing. This is something that happens to me—and most illustrators—naturally with both real media and the Cintiq. While filmed, sometimes you get the illusion that I am drawing and the line doesn't appear until later, on the second or third pass.
Software compatibility
The Wacom Cintiq 12WX is compatible with any software, including Photoshop (that's the whole point of it, not Excel.) It works transparently and, like I said in the review, it's completely plug-n-play.
If you have more questions, please use the comments.
[Wacom]
Comments
Too bad im only $1000 short.
Anyone had experience with the intuos3 4*6? Im planning to get one and I need a brief summary of what it does and what you like/dislike.
Does it use its own software or can it also integrate with Photoshop somehow?
Kaiser no function Cintiq well without
@zombo: As the article says, it works with ALL software. It's completely transparent to the OS.
Excellent timing: This looks like a totally awsome product, and I can immediately see the utility. Thing is, though, I'm a complete newb to digital photography (and not to photography or computing in general thank god -- or I'd be completely lost). I'm considering the purchase of a Wacom Bamboo Fun, at the other end of the pricing spectrum, just to get my feet wet with using a tablet. Does it make that much of a difference when working with photographs? As I said, the utility of the Cintiq is immediately apparent, but is a "blind" tablet that much better than a mouse/touchpad/whatever for editing photos?
So cool... this may sound a little expensive but a unit like this used to cost 2-3 thousand (a unit that allowed you to see what you were drawing on the surface where you were drawing it, and not some separate screen, or one where you had to own a tablet PC). I've always liked the Wacom products and software bundles.
@OldSchoolGadgetLover: I agree... it sounds expensive for a peripheral, however if that's your hobby or your job, this is a no-brainer to get. Kick ass product... wish I could justify it myself!
@Mandatory_Field: Yes, the blind tablet is better than a mouse. The Cintiq is just in a different league and makes the rest look primitive.
@Kumusata I just got one for christmas. I'm loving every part of it.
Honestly, it's got everything a good tablet should have, and I can't find any beef with it, other than the included mouse, which moves relative to the tablet pad, not your hand, so playing a game is near impossible. Looking left and right will make an arc, not just a horizontal sweep.
@Mandatory_Field: Just bought one for my nephew, and he loves it.
But it is a tablet surface that gets connected to a PC, so you have to look at the PC screen to see what you are editing / drawing, which takes some time to get used to.
Yeah... I have a Fujitsu tablet PC and never loved the feel of the digitizer...
I heard the Lenova convertibles were very much a paper feel to them, but I never tried it. I'll have to check this one out, as I do a lot of digital drawings.
Thank you both, Jesus and OldSchoolGadgetLover. I can't stop drooling at the Cintiq, and wishing I hadn't already bought myself too many Christmas presents....
Wow, nice drawing skills! I would love one of these...if i knew how to draw
@JESUSDIAZ
Your wife is probably measuring your, uhm..., tablet in minutes.
i'm already saving up to buy one of these. about a third of the way there.
i've been waiting for WACOM to release a smaller version of the Cintiq line. over 2 grand for the big model was too steep for my needs, but this one fits perfectly in my budget/needs. glad to hear it performs as well as expected.
I'm still not convinced about the response time. It seems like you are physically moving but the screen takes over 20 milliseconds to show your strokes on the screen. That's something I couldn't get use to.
Until they have instant feedback, I won't be shelling out the money for one of these.
@qbix: Not true. The tablet has ZERO response time. If there's any, you can't perceive it. It perfectly fits your motion. Where do you get that idea from?
skills like that deserves that pad! ...sigh....
Is the tablet surface warm after a while? I used to own a Gateway 14 inch widescreen convertable tablet and it was very warm to the touch after a few minutes, though that may have more to do with it being smushed up against the rest of the laptop. I dislike the warmth of the tablet surface and it made me avoid drawing on it altogether, so if this one stayed room temperature that'd be a real selling point.
@kumuasata:
I use the 6x11 intuos at work and love it, I have the 4x6 at home and it's really nice as well. The 6x11 is much heavier on the arm movement, whereas the 4x6 feels more wrist dependent. They're both impressive as hell :)
Man, that thing is ribs. I'd love to have one of those but I haven't picked up my camera in awhile. In a few years I hope the price drops. That would be a great addition to any photographers digi darkroom.
It seems like only one person here has ever heard of the Cintiq 21ux. If you want to see amazing, look there. It's been out for a couple years now. I work on one every day, as I am a designer, and you can't compare one of these to anything else. They beat pen and paper, and far beat a mouse. I use a Wacom Intuos 6x9 at home, the Cintiq is even way better than that. It feels perfectly natural, the pen tip is pressure sensitive, plus you can swap tips for spring loaded ones depending on preferences, and the whole unit swivels on it's base, slides flat to a table top, and rolls with ease. I hope never to return to pen and paper. There's simply no need to.
And indeed, as with any wacom tablet, it works seamlessly with any Adobe CS program, and the buttons are customizable for any command. The big boy is worth the money, all $2500. You can't beat the screen real estate. For sketching, it is supreme.
@russtophiles: it gets warm, but it's not unbearable.
And i just bought a new pen tablet!
@qbix:
you can percieve 20 miliseconds?
2 100ths of a second?
Ninja or Jedi? I would have thought that such a small period of time would be immesurable to a normal person.
@jesusdiaz: from the video it looks like the strokes on the screen lag behind your pen movements noticeably (I've noticed the same thing myself), not sure if this is the video, the tablet or whatever drawing program you are using.
@kumuasata: I've got $2 for you. In this, our first ever Let's Raise Money to Buy a Deserving Dude Some Gear event!!
@jesusdiaz: From the video itself, just look at the beginning of bender's drawing when he's drawing the first lines for the head and the ink doesn't show up on the screen right away.
I admit I haven't tried one myself but I've seen people working with it at Siggraph. It may be a matter of getting used to it, but personally, any sort of screen lag kills me whether I'm working or playing games.
Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome product, but Wacom has no competition, so they don't seem too concerned about improving their product too drastically each generation. I just hope they release an instant feedback tablet one day.
Jezus; out of curiosity, how is this different from the Sony Vaio PCV-LX900 I picked up in Hong Kong in 2001? It was also a Wacom made display and if memory serves right, it too had a pressure sensitive pen.
I'm just wondering what Wacom did to improve on the product in the past 6 years. Besides the price of course, considering I paid $3400 for my Vaio back then...
I've dreamed of owning one of these for a long time :\
@rexplex: Yeah, it seems weird to think of it that way. I just go by what I know I'm susceptible to in LCD response time numbers. To be honest, I would say it's more like 200 real milliseconds, not 20. It's probably wrong to use gray-to-gray response time measurements in this case, so I should clear that up. I've tried 25ms LCDs with time-sensitive games and the lag feels about the same as the table in this video.
When Jesus is starting to draw bender's head, that's when it's most noticeable in my opinion.
Smudges, Jesus? What is the most comfort position (tabletop, lap, etc.)?
As a Wacom Intuos 3 user, what will I most probably make of it? Is it worth the upgrade for people who already own "blind" tablets (Graphire/Intuos) and tablet skills/habits?
fuck the new imovie, the only good thing is direct youtube upload. i cant find in the help page how to adjust speed
@What dreams may come: You may be perceiving that because of the distance between the surface and the actual LCD. It's a millimeter or two.
The result is that it appears the trace is chasing the tip of the pen. But this only appears like that on the video. It's an optical illusion. The fact is that the response has zero delay. It's like real pen and paper.
@qbix: Ah! I know why you see the delay. You're looking at the tablet from a different angle than Jesus was! You can't see it, but there's a layer of glass between the pen and the display part of the screen, and the depth's compensated for from one viewing angle, but not the one the camera's at, so it looks like the pen's a bit to the side from the actual point on the screen which it's corresponding to.
@AznSmith: I love the new iMovie. I find it much more intuitive, easy and enjoyable than the old one, which is just a mini-Premiere. It lacks some controls, but I find myself editing and enjoying it, rather than editing and suffering.
@QBIX:
i went back and watched the scene you described and saw this "delay".
I've never actually used Painter (or Painter Essentials) but could the "delay" perhaps be the pressure sensitivity of the display at work?
Meaning, could his first stroke have been extremely light (kinda like when you're making a sketch in real life) and therefore not registering on the canvas?
anyways, I got to use the 21" Cintiq at a demo they had here at work and it was pretty seamless in Photoshop. I'd buy if I had the money.
I always thought that was a font that looks like simpsons handwriting, not your actual handwriting. nice!
Argh! I need a new camera with that $1k before I need a tablet. But this gave me the most serious case of "I want"s I've had in a while. My biggest question before going into the video or article was if it was Leopard compatible - and my question was answered with a "woohoo!" about 2 seconds into the video. Looks like I need to work some OT or go buy some lottery tickets...
@Reilaos, Original Asus Fanboy: Good observation. :-)
So I guess by this you're drawing attention to it?
It seems quite specular. Optic works out for ya.
@god.DLL: I use it over the table just fine. But any position I've tried works great. If you place it flat over the table, depending on your arm position while drawing you can interfere with the side trackpads, so you just have to angle it accordingly.
@The Chad: Yes, I have a font for Groening's handwriting. It's called Akbar (no relation with the General). That drawing, however, was written.
@ STRIDER_MT2K: That makes me Groen. That's right, I'm Groening....
The biggest improvement is size(thickness) and the implementation of the programmable buttons I got to play with a citiq about 4 years ago and now they are much sleeker. I have a 9x12 intous3 I like it but I don't use it very often. I can tell you it's durable. Oh Jesus I didn't see a mention for the other bigger brothers of the 12 inch citiq