November 18, 2006
Upgrade!
I have been working with the program Painter since 1992, when I bought a copy of Fractal Design Painter 1.2, bundled with a Wacom Art II 4 x 5 tablet. I fell in love the first time I opened the program and touched pen to tablet.
Over the years I have upgraded my computer and printer several times, added to the input choices with a scanner and digital camera, the www has emerged as a wondrous source of inspiration, information and a place to post some of my work, and I have upgraded Painter several times. That said, I am still a bit stuck in the past as I am working in Painter 5 running in Win98.
I will eventually move on to more modern versions running under more modern operating systems, but for now this set up suits me. I know this program pretty well, although there are still vast areas I've yet to explore. I am never bored and never feel limited working in Painter 5.
One of the things I had not upgraded since '92 was my graphics tablet. In 1999 the original tablet fried when the wrong power cord was used. I bought a refurb identical replacement for a very cheap price and it has been remarkably trouble-free, needing only replacement of the stylus tip every year or so.
Wacom Artpad II 4 x 5
Lately I have noticed that the tablet's work surface has gotten very scratched and worn over the years. I have also had problems with the accuracy I could achieve working on such a small surface. So I looked into an upgrade, found the perfect deal, and yesterday my new Wacom Intuos2 12 x 12 Tablet arrived.
Wacom Intuos2 12 x 12, (not shown: a mouse which works on the tablet)
This tablet opens up a whole new world! I spent several hours working on it last night and I could not believe the improvements over my old tablet. Wow! Everything works flawlessly, there was no learning curve to speak of, and it certainly advances my drawing possibilities to unimagined levels.
In keeping with my objective to keep costs minimal by using less than cutting-edge technology, the Intuos2 is not Wacom's latest line (Intuos3), which is of course much more expensive and possibly less likely to like Win98. I bought a refurbished tablet directly from Wacom for a price that allowed me to buy a much larger tablet than if I had opted for a 3. I could not be happier with Wacom, they shipped fast and for a reasonable $10 handling fee (shipping is free), and the tablet has a 1 year guarantee. My last tablet was a similar purchase and it certainly worked out very well indeed!
¶ 12:43 PM
Over the years I have upgraded my computer and printer several times, added to the input choices with a scanner and digital camera, the www has emerged as a wondrous source of inspiration, information and a place to post some of my work, and I have upgraded Painter several times. That said, I am still a bit stuck in the past as I am working in Painter 5 running in Win98.
I will eventually move on to more modern versions running under more modern operating systems, but for now this set up suits me. I know this program pretty well, although there are still vast areas I've yet to explore. I am never bored and never feel limited working in Painter 5.
One of the things I had not upgraded since '92 was my graphics tablet. In 1999 the original tablet fried when the wrong power cord was used. I bought a refurb identical replacement for a very cheap price and it has been remarkably trouble-free, needing only replacement of the stylus tip every year or so.
Wacom Artpad II 4 x 5
Lately I have noticed that the tablet's work surface has gotten very scratched and worn over the years. I have also had problems with the accuracy I could achieve working on such a small surface. So I looked into an upgrade, found the perfect deal, and yesterday my new Wacom Intuos2 12 x 12 Tablet arrived.
Wacom Intuos2 12 x 12, (not shown: a mouse which works on the tablet)
This tablet opens up a whole new world! I spent several hours working on it last night and I could not believe the improvements over my old tablet. Wow! Everything works flawlessly, there was no learning curve to speak of, and it certainly advances my drawing possibilities to unimagined levels.
In keeping with my objective to keep costs minimal by using less than cutting-edge technology, the Intuos2 is not Wacom's latest line (Intuos3), which is of course much more expensive and possibly less likely to like Win98. I bought a refurbished tablet directly from Wacom for a price that allowed me to buy a much larger tablet than if I had opted for a 3. I could not be happier with Wacom, they shipped fast and for a reasonable $10 handling fee (shipping is free), and the tablet has a 1 year guarantee. My last tablet was a similar purchase and it certainly worked out very well indeed!
¶ 12:43 PM
