Topic: Drawing software

[ober]

I mentioned maybe getting into PS more but my wife has gone a different direction now and is looking at vector art programs.  Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on the following?

Serif DrawPlus X5
Xara's Photo & Graphic Designer 7

Also, she's going to need a good mouse for working on this stuff from her laptop.  Right now she mainly just uses her trackpad for her other designer stuff but she needs a really decent mouse.  Any suggestions?

[Mike]

Not sure what exactly she needs but have you looked at Inkscape?

[ober]

Yeah... she wasn't impressed.

[webwhy]

why not illustrator?  price?

[ober]

Yup.

[Rob]

Also, she's going to need a good mouse for working on this stuff from her laptop.

Wouldn't a tablet be more intuitive?

[KnuckleBuckett]

Also, she's going to need a good mouse for working on this stuff from her laptop.

Wouldn't a tablet be more intuitive?

I would think so.  Or at least a stylus based mouse pad.

[ober]

Something tells me that you're not going to get the right precision with a tablet.  And I'm not about to go buy a whole new device for this.

A stylus based thing might not be a bad idea though.  But she's not necessarily going to be actually 'drawing' with it.  This will mainly be for creating logos and such.

[Mike]

Something tells me that you're not going to get the right precision with a tablet.  And I'm not about to go buy a whole new device for this.

A stylus based thing might not be a bad idea though.  But she's not necessarily going to be actually 'drawing' with it.  This will mainly be for creating logos and such.

They make drawing tablets and considering a lot of web comics are drawn on them I'd say they are precise enough.  Of course they aren't cheap in the slightest.

[Rob]

Something tells me that you're not going to get the right precision with a tablet.  And I'm not about to go buy a whole new device for this.

Wrong sort of tablet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823166085

edit>> This one is cheaper, and gets some good reviews http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823102010

[webwhy]

our GD has a wacom and uses illustrator.  didn't mention it since it's not a cheap setup

[ober]

Something tells me that you're not going to get the right precision with a tablet.  And I'm not about to go buy a whole new device for this.

Wrong sort of tablet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823166085

edit>> This one is cheaper, and gets some good reviews http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823102010

Ah... now THAT might be a good idea.  *ponders*

[jkim]

Man, are we really at the point where in a drawing thread "tablet" is no longer automatically assumed to be a wacom-type tablet?

Personally, if she is doing vector-based drawings, using a stylus might not be necessary.

[ober]

So... I need to understand.  I'm not a vector based drawing person so I don't know how it really works.  I've seen other people do a little bit of it but I don't know if it would be easier or harder with a stylus.  Hence my initial question about getting a good mouse.

Ultimately, I don't know how much she'll create from scratch.  I see her spending more time taking existing work and modifying it or enhancing it.  That's what we've done up to this point anyways when it comes to logos and such.

[charlie]

I don't know the answers to any of that, but my wife uses a stylus/tablet/wacom thingie exclusively, whether in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or anything else on her Mac. She would be pissed if she had to go back to a mouse.

The one she got wasn't that expensive either, certainly no more than a good mouse.