Setting Up a Tablet with CC3+

I just purchased a tablet to use with CC3+ as I thought it would give me a finer touch to draw. Let me say that I have never had a tablet, I've never used a tablet, and I know NOTHING about tablets. So I'm trying to configure it for CC3+ and am getting nowhere. Nothing seems to happen. The driver is installed, and the tablet does work (have fiddled with it in a graphics program just to see). I have printed out the sheet as per the CC3 instructions and secured it to the tablet. I hit the Configure button in the Tablet menu and get the Tablet Screen Lower Left Point message in the bottom bar. So... what next? I've tried touching the pen to the various points on the sheet as indicated by the instructions, and nothing happens. The same command remains in the bar and if I hit Enter or do anything else I get an error message saying Tablet Not Configured. I will freely admit that here, with tablets, I'm a complete dummy, so any help I can get would be appreciated!!!

Comments

  • JMunsonIIJMunsonII Traveler
    Personally, with a CAD (or any vector) program, a tablet shouldn't be necessary (certain tools in Illustrator excepted)... However, if you are doing completely freehand work, a tablet does work well.

    Is the tablet you bought supported by CC3+? Does it work in, say, Paint?
  • ScottAScottA Surveyor
    Yes, it works perfectly in Paint, GIMP, Serif PhotoPlus.... anywhere I've tried to use it... except CC3+.
  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    I would use it in mouse mode rather than trying to calibrate it as a digitizer. Unless you want to digitize a drawing at precise scale, calibration is less helpful than you might expect, in my experience.
  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    My comments were probably a little unclear. The FastCAD (and CC3) model of input via a pointer such as mouse or digitizer is click-release, move, and click-release again. This model works very nicely for a traditional digitizer table and works pretty well for a mouse. Unfortunately, a lot of programs on Windows use a slightly different model: click, drag, release. This model works very nicely for a mouse when doing things like moving files or text around, but it can be a little imprecise because the mouse finger can get tired during long drags and the mouse can twitch a bit for many folks on the release action.

    A modern stylus-based tablet is very much a click-drag-release device. To draw a stroke with the stylus in most programs, you push down on the stylus to start the action, move to your desired endpoint, and then lift the stylus. CC3 doesn't really work well this way because in CC3, you need to click down with the stylus, then lift it up slightly and hover it over to the destination, where you click down again. There isn't that sense of pen on paper because that's not the model that CC3 uses. To get an idea of the worst offender, try the freehand command, which does something akin to drawing a stroke, but with a click-release at each end. It was designed to work with a mouse and doesn't really work well at all with a stylus.

    I have had a few tablets over the years, with the most recent being a Wacom Intuos tablet. Using these tablets with CC3 has always been a frustrating experience for me because I kept wanting it to be a stroke-based device in CC3 like it was in other programs that I was using. I eventually found that it was much less aggravating for me if I used the tablet as I did my mouse. At that point, I just gave up on using the tablet for CC3 and went back to using my mouse.
  • JMunsonIIJMunsonII Traveler
    +1 jslayton's comment.

    Having used CAD programs, PS, Illustrator, Painter, etc., using a tablet with a vector program is less than ideal in almost all cases.
  • ^^ Ditto. I have a tablet....its neat.....it sits on a shelf :(
  • ScottAScottA Surveyor
    Ahhhhh! Okay. Thanks. That was a huge help, jslayton & friends. I do a lot of world-building in FT and then manually trace my FT maps into CC3+ and go from there, so I thought a tablet might give me a better, more realistic border edge. I also thought I remembered reading older posts here or elsewhere from people who sang the praises of using a tablet for CC3.... But now I think I will stick to the mouse, then. Thanks so much. Great community. Very welcoming and helpful.
  • I actually do use a tablet for some things in CC3+. For me, it gives me greater control when tracing something from a map I imported. And I was trying to use it to see if I could make actual symbols using nothing more than the freehand drawing tools of CC3+. It turned out fairly well, but it takes a very long time to do it. I made a thread called "My very first 100% hand drawn mountains in CC3+" that show the results.

    If you do plan on using the tablet, from my experience, it is going to take a lot of time to get used to using it and how it reacts to CC3+. With practice, you can do some fun things with it, but in most cases it is easier to use a mouse. But I still find myself wanting to use my tablet instead.
  • TopdeckerTopdecker Traveler
    As long as we're talking tablets and pens and the resulting output... What is the best non-CC3+ tool for creating vector images that can be imported into CC3+? I have tried illustrator, but the resulting images cause CC3+ to chug and choke - presumably too many nodes. And to roll this back around to be more on topic, a solution with good tablet support would be ideal.

    I am currently producing PNG graphics - but would really prefer to more scalable.

    Tim
  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 46 images Cartographer
    Posted By: TopdeckerWhat is the best non-CC3+ tool for creating vector images that can be imported into CC3+?
    I am tempted to say none. The reason behind this is that vector artwork need to be interpreted and rendered by the destination application, and this rendering is based on the capabilities of the destination application, it isn't like raster images where the biggest challenge is making them look good, and then they will look identical in every program.
    For example, Illustrator has widely different capabilities than CC3+, so it is pretty much a guarantee that if you manage to do something there that you cannot do in CC3+ itself, it won't work in CC3+ anyway. This holds true for all programs using a vector format. You may be able to use a common file format for interchange, but again, as opposed to raster images, a common file format doesn't mean it will look identical in both applications. If you want to create artwork in external software, I strongly suggest using a raster format instead.
  • 6 days later
  • TopdeckerTopdecker Traveler
    edited May 2017
    Posted By: MonsenIf you want to create artwork in external software, I strongly suggest using a raster format instead.
    Thank you, Monsen. I'd already moved on to raster images, but thought I had better make sure that I wasn't missing something before I invested too much time and energy in a format that I had hoped to avoid.

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  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    This may not be relevant to the direction of the conversation, but I have a Wacom Bamboo nowadays, and I never use it with CC3.

    Instead I use it a LOT when drawing things in GIMP or Photopaint to import as new symbols to use in CC3 :)
  • TopdeckerTopdecker Traveler
    edited May 2017
    Posted By: Loopysue
    Instead I use it a LOT when drawing things in GIMP or Photopaint to import as new symbols to use in CC3 :)
    I am using a Surface Pro 4 and Clip Studio Paint for all my custom art. CSP is really intended for Manga/Comic art, but I like it's interface and expressive lines. I use GiMP from time to time, but it isn't as responsive as I like (i.e. the line appears under the point of the pen with CSP, but often lags behind in GiMP).

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