graphics tablet

If you have tendonitis in your elbow/shoulder or even wrist I think a tablet would only exacerbate the problem. Can you draw without pain? I’d say you’d be better off with a trackball mouse which require very little movement at all. Also, a tablet with software like autocad isn’t very practical.

I’ve been using a tablet and mouse for about four years. I use a wacom intuos. good luck.

Not very well in my experience. I prefer to use a mouse with sketchup and autocad. A former coworker used a trackball for everything. The other advantage of using a trackball is that no one will use your machine when youre out of office.

I’d suggest using a tablet for just about anything else though, so long as you can move your shoulder, elbow and wrist without severe pain.

I’m thinking about switching over to the wacom as well for sketchup and photoshop work. How tough is it to use while doing 3d models?

A tabelet is not going to replace your mouse… it is nearly impossible to use a tablet with Sketchup and Autocad because you dont hava middle button for panning, scrolling, rotation, and menu selection, you could program the side buttons on some of the newer models, but this still would be awkward. If you are going to get one for Photshop or Painter then I would definatley go with Wacom, they are the industry leader and have great products. I would look at a Bamboo if you are going to do mobile/laptop on the road work, and the intuos line if you are looking for a desktop solution. I have a Cintiq which is a LCD integrated into the tablet and I love it, it does come with a heafty pricetag (roughly $1000) so I would only recomend this if you ar doing a lot of Graphics work.

Track balls are the thing I have head most for tendonitis and Carple Tunnel, there is also a device called the SpacePort that is a 3D mouse and works with Sketchup and i believe AutoCad, check it out here… http://www.3dconnexion.com/

Large Wacom Bamboo or mid sized Wacom Intuos III

Basic Tips… there are so many I will either post a blog or start a discussion on this if anyone wants it. My first poit would be to understand layers in Photoshop, and the multiply layer styles they will help out the most if you are adding alot of color to a work. If you have a black line drawing only, no textures or colors, export the image as a jpeg and set that layer to “multiply” now all the white space is transparent so you can put color layers behind the linework and you will not “muddy” your nice black lines. First tip!

Hi Charles,

I have an Intuos 3 tablet and I never use a mouse again. Working with a tablet takes some getting used too but it pays of in the end. It definatly solves the tendonitis issues (I am guessing you mean the carpal tunnel syndrome (arm and wrist pain)).
With a little practise you can even use the tablet for autocad, sketchup and illustrator purposes. The simpler tablets like Bamboo will probably work fine (its from Wacom so it can’t be too bad). I do prefer the larger drawing space of the Intuos to the very small one of the Bamboo. The bamboo will probably be fine for a beginning tablet user like yourself.