Wacom Intous 3 Impressions.

[PhilHolland]

So I picked up a Wacom Intous 3 9x12 last week and got rid of my other two 9x12s.

Here's what I have to say so far in direct comparison to the Intous 2.

-The tablet has a slightly smaller desktop footprint. That's a plus.

-It also doesn't not "flare" out at the bottom. It's more square.

-I'm getting used to using the new corner buttons, but so far it's working well.

-Being able to scroll through brush sizes is reallllllly nice with the touchpad. The same with zoom.

-Alt is now a button I've placed on the pen. Seems to be quicker then the real Alt even though my thumb was always on it.

-The tablet itself is virtually the same as the Intous 2 with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, however, I think and know the lpi and the new driver makes things smoother. I have no jitter or delay at all now. It actually feels like I'm moving the brush. The sensitivity threw me off at first too. It's more of a "buttery" feel to my tip. I'm using the same firmness as before as well.

-I even did a back and forth comparison just to be sure. Something is different about the feel and I like it.

-It's a pretty color now! And I actually like the transparent surface.

-I like the fact that the new pen holder/well is heavier duty, however the pen mounts straight up where as before it always leaned towards you and seemed to call out to you.

So, would I recomend somebody upgrading from Intous 2 to 3? I did. But, the tablet really only cost me like $60. It's a tough choice. If you are still on an Intous 1 you should upgrade.

So far it gets my stamp of approval. I'm sure others will feel the same. The buttons are fun at least.

Phil

[nardfrog]

how could you post a thread like this??? I was perfectly fine with my 9x12 intous2 and now it sounds like a piece of shit.

You mean, mean man....

..i mean,, ahhh say, friend, can i, borrow your intous3 for a minute?

[nardfrog]

have you tried all 3 nibs yet to see difference? also wacom says the pen mount is "multi-positional" so im guesing you can have it straight up or diagonal.

[EVIL]

I have a grapphire 2 now and I really need something new and better, and i saw the intuos 3 in amsterdam at a multimedia expo thing on the apple stand and it really looks mighty fine, and the buttons look like a damn handy tool

[PhilHolland]

I've tried the different feels. They are, um, different.

The pen mount let's the pen go completely vertical or horizontal. It also is good at holding 3 jelly bellys.

The first thing I'm painting on it is this darn WAvsCA Tdome. It's been a strange journey so far, but I'm liking it.

Phil

[Michael78]

my intous 2 just crapped out on me at work so they put in an order for an intous 3! WHOOHOO!! I know theres not much difference but the idea of being able to change brush sizes with my thumb sounds great!

also I havent used any of the fancy tools with these tablets.. I pretty much just use the basic function of pressure sensitivity. Can anyone point me to some tutorials/threads where they explain the gizmos/hot buttons?

[Travis_Bourbeau]

Hey Phil ;)


I just upgraded as well the buttons are fantastic however they feel like laptop keys to me kinda flemsy but the fucntion is great in my opinion.

Honestly I would rather have had all of them on the left side though just makes more sense to me if you are using the oposite hand to hold the pen (I am right handed of course ) I like the color and feel as well kinda curious to see how well the clear plastic holds up but no bigy

On the pen I noticed its noticebly longer as well. Talking to Andrew we both like the designer pens with the inotus 2 so one irratation with the new tablet is that this pen will no longer work I would Think that simply issuing a driver to fix this would work but not sure


all in all Kudos to wacom for improving one of our greatest tools :)

[Bruce]

I have already sent one back.
not sure what caused it but the glue holding the clear front and the solid back together was setting up.
Everytime i would touch it it would creak loud as hell. nothing was wrong with the way it worked but I didn't want it to break ater on me.
The top and the bottom were compleatly apart at the seam. There was about a quarter of an inch gap ion the center of the seam at the top.
The clear plastic looked as if it was arched.

Is this jsut the one I recived? I have had the replacement for two ddays and today i started to hear a creaking again. I do not put anymore pressure then my resting wrist and hand on it and have been more causious with the second since the first gave me problems.
One of the other girls in the office has one and said she did not have a problem, but today she niticed the bottom splitting.

Anyone else?

i think it has to do with the new plastics they are using.

[m4k4v3lius]

Just bought it today, luvin the side buttons. I agree with Travis_Bourbeau that the side buttons should be all on the left, but no biggy i guess. I think i have a problem with the plastic surface on mine though. the outer borders of the tablet area seems to be a bit rougher than the middle area? Is anyone else experiencing this, cause i sorta feel the surface of my intous2 was much smoother than my new intous3. Hope i get a reply soon, maybe mine is deffective? Or maybe it isn't brand new at all.... help...

[JoshuaTheJames]

Screw alll that... 25 bucks and you will have everything right at your finger tips!!

http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_images/583/10356583.JPG

Here at buy.com
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10356583&loc=101&sp=1

thanks to McNallyism for discovering this-

-Joshua James

[EVIL]

w00t :D I'l be getiing my Wacom Intuos 3 A4 later today. I ordered it on wednesday:D, can't wait to work with the beauty, and I'l post a review about it once I got it.

[Gillespie]

I've had it for a day now and I'm left handed and I think the buttons should all be on the right. And this isn't sarcasm, but probably the reason why they put buttons and stuff on both sides. I think I'll disable the left strip. My palm has a tendency to come in contact with the strip unintentionally, but thank goodness I have a strip on the right side too. Anyway, I think making it as accessible to a right handed person as to a left handed one is important.

[The7Artist7]

Hmm this is kinda an old thread but - I'm on my 3rd intuos3 within 3 months of finally switching from my trusty old intuos2 (pen insides got all wobbly and could never get on with the weird mouse shape). The intuos3 problems have been:

first tablet-
1 - small ridge around drawing area that catches the underside of the mouse and the edge of my hand making it sore.
2 - very annoying creaking after only a months use

2nd tablet-
1-straight out the box complete cursor freeze every time I lift the pen from the surface and go to draw again.
2- cursor shake even when not touching the mouse.
(not a driver issue)
3- raised drawing area above rest of tablet

3rd tablet-
same issues as 1st tablet but worse! Plus some minor cursor shake.

Now Wacom are taking AGES (almost 1.5 months now) to sort it out and get me a replacement - to be honest I'm very seriously considering asking for a new pen and mouse for my old intuos2 as it worked very well for well over 5 yrs constant use!

Talk about stressed out - paid over £200 for 5 months hassle!

If anyone else has a creaking tablet or the small raised ride around the drawing area please let me know.

[Portus]

I have an Intuos 1 and two nostromo speedpads and my friend has an Intuos 3, to be honest I don't really see the need to upgrade unless you're one of them people who always has to upgrade to the latest shit, if anything the Intuos 3 pen is total uncomfortable and clumsy, the rubber grip after an while gets smooth and no longer adheres to your fingers, the Intuos1 style pen is recommended instead, also the tablet is really squeegee, makes all sorts of noises, to me if feels cheaper but looks nicer while the Intuos 1 looks like it came out from an 80's sci-fi movie but has a much more compact and solid feel.

[TheDirtSyndicate]

a little old?!?!?! A LITTLE OLD?!??!!
4 fucking years old!!!
goddamn dude, pay attention!

[FLenG]

hah...

[The7Artist7]

Dude! chill out complete2 - I was being sarcastic about the thread :P as yeh it is super ancient! Unfortunately, my problems with wacom aren't :frustrated:

[Portus]

I would just get a new pen for the Intuos 2, the drivers are also much nicer with the pressure scale, click force and tip force adjustments which are not on the modern drivers for some reason.

[The7Artist7]

I agree portus - If wacom can't get me a intuos3 tablet that lasts longer than a month this next time (or if they take much longer simply getting me my replacement!) I'm planning on a new pen for my trusty intuos2 (Thank God I didn't give it away!)

[LuminousPath]

first tablet-
1 - small ridge around drawing area that catches the underside of the mouse and the edge of my hand making it sore.
2 - very annoying creaking after only a months use

Oh my god dude I thought I was going insane. I'm having the exact same problem that you're having with the creaking and the ridge at the bottom of the pad that scrapes away at your hand. This is my first tablet and I've been suffering with it for years, I just thought that that's how it was made and that I was being too picky or something :p I wonder if there's anything Wacom would be willing to do for me, I've had this thing for a while now, two years at least.

[The7Artist7]

LuminousPath - Sorry for takin ages to reply! - I recommend contacting Wacom via tech support numbers on their site asap. They still insist these issues are not commonly known by them (I'm quite doubtful of the accuracy of their statement on that) but whatever, the more of us actually complain when we notice these problems the more likely the next tablet (intuos4??) will be better!

[LuminousPath]

Ok so I sold my Intuos3 and now have an Intuos4 Large. The squeaking is gone but guess what aint... yep, the ridge. I wish I had other tablets to try out because it seems like everyone I've used has had this problem. Luckily there's a thing called SmudgeGuard (http://www.smudgeguard.com/) which looks to be the only solution. I'm ordering one of those now, we'll see how it goes...

[EVIL]

What does the smudge guard do for the ridge? I used the intuos3 for years now and I never had any issue with the ridge. If you get a sore hand from the ridge then you are doing something wrong. Draw lightly and don't lean with your wrist on the tablet. This also helps with putting strokes down. use your underarm and not your wrist for more stable lines. It take s a bit of time to control your lines well this way but its the key to long and smooth steady lines. I use a cut up fingerless bum glove to remove the hand friction, allot cheaper!

My intuos3 A4 has the squeaky tablet issue but I don't see a problem with it, its not that annoying IMO. The A5 wide at work doesn't squeak

[LuminousPath]

"What does the smudge guard do for the ridge?"

The SmudgeGuard is a buffer between your hand and the tablet so you won't get the friction and irritation from constantly running your hand across it.

"If you get a sore hand from the ridge then you are doing something wrong. Draw lightly and don't lean with your wrist on the tablet. This also helps with putting strokes down."

You're making a lot of assumptions here. I've always had a fairly light touch (I drew with pencils before I had a Wacom tablet) and I don't lean my wrist on the tablet but my hand does touch it, that's where the friction comes in.

"use your underarm and not your wrist for more stable lines."

"I use a cut up fingerless bum glove to remove the hand friction, allot cheaper!"

Sounds like you're having the same problem. Although personally, I don't use my underarms to draw (sounds kinda gross actually), most of the motion comes from the shoulder.

[EVIL]

I couldn't recreate any painful friction between my hand and the ridge, therefore I assumed you must have a heavy hand. Since that's not the case it might be that your tablet has a heavier ridge then mine.

anyway, a smudge guard or a simple cut up glove is a great tool in use with a wacom! helps to reduce friction allot!

[bitz-dv]

Wow old thread. Yea there does seem to be a little ridge on my Intuos 4 medium too, the active area insert just seems to be ever so slightly too thin, and I didn't notice this on my Intuos 3 9x12. My problem isn't with my wrist catching, it is with the pen wanting to follow the edge of the active area when I am right on the edge. I am still happier with this tablet than my 9x12, I had major jitter issues, and would have to be sure not to leave the pen or mouse near it in the middle of the night because the cursor would start shaking and wake my computer from sleep. Nearly went crazy, even bought a bunch of ferrite coils to because I thought it was EFIs in my room doing it. Pop in the Intuos 4 and absolutely no jitter has been noticed yet.

[LuminousPath]

Yeah the issue hasn't gone anywhere so apparently, neither has the thread :P. Anywho, I know what you mean about the pen catching on the grooves at the sides. I was able to solve that by going into the Mapping section in the driver, and setting the tablet area to utilize a portion of the active surface. The trick is to make the portion as large as you can so that you waste as little tablet space as possible but still prevent the pen from catching.

The Intuos3 had a ton of problems, a lot of people who had Intuos2s refused to upgrade to the 3s because of all the issues. It sounds like you tried to build a Faraday Cage just to get the thing to work properly (lol)! I ended up selling mine and went back to pencils and graphite sticks for a few months. I liked the tablet and everything but I just hated using it and the "Grip Pen" that came with it was extremely uncomfortable. I'm not super fond of the Grip Pen that comes with the I4, it's way better than the I3 but it's still too thick. It feels like I'm using a piece of sidewalk chalk or something.

So I'm patiently waiting for the I4 classic pen to be released. I wish there was some way to get these (http://www.dickblick.com/products/caran-dache-grafstone-woodless-graphite-pencils/#photos) to work on my tablet :)

P.S. Your web page doesn't work, Evil.

[The7Artist7]

Ok so I sold my Intuos3 and now have an Intuos4 Large. The squeaking is gone but guess what aint... yep, the ridge. I wish I had other tablets to try out because it seems like everyone I've used has had this problem. Luckily there's a thing called SmudgeGuard (http://www.smudgeguard.com/) which looks to be the only solution. I'm ordering one of those now, we'll see how it goes...

You are joking... dude I can't believe that!!! - I've just paid for an intuos4 and currently waiting for it to arrive so I could finally get rid of my Intuos3 - good job I just got myself a SmudgeGuard! I really hope I don't have a ridge on my I4!