Here are some observations and a quick overview of the new features of the Wacom Intuos 4. I really love the new look and the scroll wheel. The new texture takes some getting used to, but it only takes a day. Check out the video to see it in action. If you get one. Get it at Amazon.com
My First Day With the Wacom Intuos 4
September 30, 2009
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43 Comments
after some weeks you will notice how the tips gets ripped down really fast, thats a big disappointing for me anyway. Great site btw, love your works!
Timo K. on September 30th, 2009 said...
That’s true…it really sucks that the tips get ripped down this fast. I’m working with my Intuos4 for about 2 month now and already using my 3rd tip. Fortunately the Intuos4 comes with 5 standard tips.
Greetings from Germany!
Garus Booth on September 30th, 2009 said...
I noticed this when I dropped my pen and the nib went flat. That never happened to my old one. Who needs the nib any way… ah shit its the most important part…
Hey that was a great review of the intuos 4.. and yeah its a really great tablet.. i got the Wacom Bamboo cause its kind of the chaepest and for beginners one, its great to,and im happy with it ;D
Hi Nick, nice review. I’ve actually got the Intuos4 Medium myself, and I love it. It also has an extra button on both sides, so 8 total, and it’s got little LCD displays next to the buttons, which show the programmed functions, like [url=http://blog.creationengine.com/wp-content/uploads/intuos4_expresskeys8.jpg]this[/url].
I also love how you can program it to do a sequence of keystrokes (for example “f f tab” to go to fullscreen in Photoshop).
God, that thing is small. I used a 9X12 at work for 1 year, and couldn’t go back to anything smaller. I had to find one of the big ones on ebay. I find they’re a lot more precise, and you don’t get as much of the pen jitter than you do on some of the smaller models.
The only downside? I had to buy a new desk at home to hold the damn thing
heh.
Hey nick is their a preference or reason to buy the bigger screen tablets. I noticed your Wacom’s are small in size does it effect performance in anyway???
thegorilla on September 30th, 2009 said...
If you use one for a lot of drawing, I would recommend a larger one. I just move around the screen. Plus, I like that I don’t have to move my hand too far to go from one side of the screen to the other. AND. It doesn’t take up too much room on the desk.
Matt Frodsham on September 30th, 2009 said...
I’ve got an older A5 graphire2 and an A6 wide intuous3. Strangely I lug my A5 around with my laptop and use the smaller one for my main machine that has 2 monitors as it has the ability to switch between or use both. I prefer the smaller space unless I’m illustrating in photoshop which is rarely. Less wrist/arm strain moving about as Nick said.
Bran on October 1st, 2009 said...
Is yours M or S size?
conigs on October 1st, 2009 said...
When I got my Intuos4, I went for the M size, roughly 5.5×9. I love it because it offers a larger work area, two extra express keys, and led display for labeling the keys. This also negates the need to have one key taken up simply to show the key settings.
For just general navigation, I actually have a portion of the tablet set up so I move my hand less. It’s really easy to then switch between the two.
I just got one of these about a week ago. It’s great and I feel like working is generally faster already.
Cinema 4D’s default movement settings are too desensitized though. Where are they modified?
Exaggerated movements and using the ‘precision mode’ just as you mentioned would be sweet. But for the life of me, I can’t figure it out. Thanks.
Great insight Nick. If possible, can you do a follow-up video on how you map your keys for C4D using the Wacom? Both Inutous 3 & 4
Hey!
Nice review! Do you use only your tablet when working in AE, C4D or PS? Or is it more like a combination – tablet, mouse, keyboard?
I’ve always wondered if it would be better to get a tablet when you work with C4D and AE mainly…
brandon thomas on September 30th, 2009 said...
personally, i use my tablet for everything. I rarely use the mouse.
I bought the Bamboo version a few months ago to start with but after 8 months or so it just died on me. For how cheap it was I’m not complaining but now I need to upgrade, and after watching this I think I know what to get. Thanks for the review Nick.
Hey gorilla I was gonna email u on fbook but forgot and this is a perfect time to ask if you have the same problem I do:
In AE CS4, every once in a while I am dragging around a keyframe, when I lift my pen off the tablet (but not out of range), the pen behaves like it is still clicking…this happens with the selection rectangle around layers too…called wacom, and they said it is an AE bug that occured in lightroom too…you experience this at all? Anyone else have this problem?
thegorilla on October 2nd, 2009 said...
I’ve never had that happen. Anyone else?
Patrick de Bruin on October 2nd, 2009 said...
Yeah it has happend to me too, don’t have a solution for it though.
Nice review Nick, I already got one and im happy with it. Could show us how to setup some smart AE shortcuts with it?
Must be nice for right-handed people…
thegorilla on September 30th, 2009 said...
The new intuos4 actually works for righties and lefties.
The Intuos 3 Touchstrip! How could you neglect it for zooming/pg up/pg down?
But good to see the 4 in action. Perhaps someday I’ll move up from the 3. Maybe when there’s a 5, heh.
Where do you find the money to buy all this stuff ? I struggle to buy a good Laptop !
Ben on October 1st, 2009 said...
win an emmy for your work…
Tangent: have any of you used the SpaceNavigator with C4D? I’ve heard the more expensive models with all the buttons are useless because the company that makes them does not upgrade drivers for C4D and other software regularly.
RS on July 3rd, 2010 said...
Yeah I have a spacenavigator and it’s a waste of time for C4D, it’s actually slower and less precise than just using the normal keys on the keyboard. Junk.
nice. i have a intuos 4 medium. i cant remember how life was before i got it. lol
i gotta say, after some time with my Wacom, i still get some cramps in my hand. maybe its cause of that little “step” that is created between the desk and the tablets levetation, or something. my palm rests diagonally on it.
i dunno..maybe its my desk, and not the wacom? :\
On the other hand [no point intended :] i love the gestures i can assign to the pen on Windows 7. a flick right\left, is like forward\back while browsing websites\folders. and i even assigned diagonal gestures for copy,paste,redo and undo. its like 360′ degrees of gestures :]
Hey Nick.
What’s your size of the tablet?
Small, Mid or large?
eladbari on September 30th, 2009 said...
if u dont mind me answering,F3tch :] …I believe its the small size. the medium & large have this cool LCD panel with text+icons displayed there. dunno if it really worth the extra dough.
F3tch on October 1st, 2009 said...
Ah thanks. Hmm didn’t know that. Thought its just the size…
@Nick You really need mail notifications for comments!!!
That’s niiice!!!!
It would be nice watching you in action inside cinema 4D …..
regards
i was using a graphire 4×6 for a few months to convince myself that a tablet was going to work. i got my medium intuos4 early last week and have been loving it. my favorite feature of it is the ‘display toggle’ so i can use 2 screens and have it map to each screen individually and swap with a quick button press. on the graphire i was using mouse mode but i have quickly learned to love pen mode + display toggle.
(by the way nick, it was your last screencast about the wacom that convinced me it was time to use a tablet. thanks!)
Those who have the intuos4, do you guys notice the paper feel wearing off quickly? On my intuos4 one side is already smooth compared to left. My intuos3 never did that before. Also the intuos4 is harder to clean compared to the intuos3 especially if you have sweaty hands. I’m not talking about the glossy part either. Still, workflow is so much better than the intuos3.
I bought the Intous 4 Large a couple of months ago and I noticed that it’s friggin huge. My arm goes back and forth like Im painting on a wall. So make sure you get the size that fits your need. Bigger isn’t always better…
Didn´t you talk about the sizes in a previous Wacom video, Nick?
Hi Nick ! Thanks for the review !I’ve been holding off on one of those babies but after seeing your review, I might as well just get one
Hey guys! Great review Nick!
I bought mine 2 weeks ago. I’m working with the medium one. I use to work with a small graphire2 for 6 years then a bamboo fun medium size and I’m drawing A LOT!
I’ve always been interested by the dark side… I’m in now and to be honest the bamboo fun was a very good piece of tech.
Ok it wasn’t as beautiful, glossy or so, but for those who hesitate it is really solid material. I bought the Intuos because of the tilting function of the pen. That’s for me the major point that intuos own compared to bamboo.
I tried Intuos 3 and cintiq once, the new pen seems much lighter now, am I right?
I’m so comfy with my keyboard that I don’t feel natural using the buttons. I’ll give it a try.
One negative point, in France Intuos are sold without mouse, f**k! I miss my bamboo mouse so much!
Hi Nick, I’ve got a Intuos a5 wide that I love, I never liked the scrollstrip but for browsing there is this neat addon for firefox called grab and drag. It allows you to just grab a page anywhere and flick your pen up or down to scroll. Doubleclick on text to be able to select it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1250
Talking about addons, I’m addicted to All-in-one-gestures for Firefox. When your using a tablet it really speeds up your browsing.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12
What is the reason to use a wacom tablet if you cant draw? (im not a big drawer myself but i do have a tablet but somehow i always end up using the keyboard/mouse)
thegorilla on October 1st, 2009 said...
I switched to a wacom tablet when I started to get wrist pains when using a mouse. Here is the full story… http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2009/07/10/pros_and_cons_wacom_tablet/
On the Intuos3 i’m using there are buttons on both sides http://direct.wacom.com/stores/5/wd_images/PTZ630_lg.jpg
But i can see how the scroll-tingy can imporve the workflow
For the price and size options the 3 is a better choice. I regret getting mine. I don’t use all the fancy buttons.
In case you’re wondering it’s ambidextrous, like am-be-dex-truss. I’m not trying to be one of those people! I’m trying to be helpful since you said you didn’t know.
thegorilla on October 1st, 2009 said...
Thanks Joe!
Dave on October 1st, 2009 said...
haha I guess while we’re on the subject, I always snicker when I her “whack um.”
wacom is pronounced “wah-kum”, not wack um. Wa is japanese for harmony.
you should get into the advertising business cause you make me want to buy this.
next vid you make, put a frame of the wacom once a few minutes cause if this video hadn’t gotten everyone and me to the stores that would.
thegorilla on October 1st, 2009 said...
Hehe. Thanks Nick!
How does the wacom work with dual screens. And what size would you buy for a dual screen setup?
thegorilla on October 2nd, 2009 said...
With dual screens, it splits the tablet into seperate zones. One for each screen. It doesn’t take long to get used to. I like the small so i don’t have to move too far.
I hated the Intuos 3. I kept hitting the buttons all the time with my hand. Even turning them off, it was annoying hitting them as it still felt like I was doing something.
I just recently got the Intuos 4. Day and night difference. The scroll wheel is very useful to me in PS and AE. I’ve never liked using a tablet much until now.
Great review.
thegorilla on October 2nd, 2009 said...
Totally forgot about that. I used to always accidentally hit those buttons!
WOW!
I’m left hand, and intus4 is the only thing i have on my desk which is fully supported me!
Thanks to WACOM!
a little out of topic but that camera angle when you showed us how you us your new tablet, I felt like I was falling off the table. not very pleasant..
anyway, been wanting to buy a tablet so now i know which. Thanks for your recommendation. ^_^
How it work’s with AE..?
Greetings from Galápagos Islands… ( in the middle of nowhere….!!!!!) Ecuador
So the new intous doesn’t have the multi-touch capabilites that the new bamboo line has? How unfortunate… The things I picture myself doing with a pen/touch surface are incredible. Imagine using a mouse and a touchpad with 3D modeling programs… using gestures to spin and move the model and the mouse to modify things. The bamboo pen/touch seems to be the way to go for me.
Hey gorilla.
I went for a wacom after I watched your previous pros & cons review and it’s true, it’s getting some getting used to, but after a couple of weeks, you don’t go back.
But, have you tried the Touch tablets? I got one recently and although it does feel very natural, I wouldn’t say the experience is as amazing as I expected. First of all the response to the touch is not as, err, ‘rich’ as I expected, to me it feels a bit ‘rougher’ than the trackpad or the iphone for example. What’s worse, is the constant accidental clicks and scrolls every time I touch the tablet!
I’d love it if you or anyone had any ideas or tips about this!
Cheers!
t
If you want a better solution for the scrolling, I use the software Smart Scroll, that gives me the same funcionality of the grab that your intuos have, on any tablet. I just defined one of the pen buttons to the grab, and it’s a bit like iPhone scrolling with coasting and everything.
great site
It would be great to see you use the tablet in AE.
Does anyone have a problem with unfolding objects & double clicking in c4d with intuos4? i have to use my mouse, when I click with pen it opens and shuts, what a tease!
steve on February 1st, 2010 said...
It;s a know bug. POst here:
http://getsatisfaction.com/wacom/topics/problems_using_osx10_6_2_cinema4d_wacom_bambo_pen_and_touch
to complain!
Aere people here having the problem of the nib wearing down too quickly? Some of my friends are complaining about it, but they’re more into painting and that sort of thing. I’m just wondering if an issue for straight compositing or animation.
I also had the issue with the unfolding & double clicking but apparently Wacom updated the driver to fix this
http://www.wacom.com/downloads/driver-detail.php?id=215
I’ve installed it and everything seems to work properly now.
About the nibs wearing down, it is indeed a known problem and lots of people are complaining about it. Before I upgraded I worked on an Intuos2 and never had to change a nib. Now I’m already on my second nib after completing a drawing in photoshop. Wacom customer service isn’t helping much tellling the customers to either change their pen sensitivity or (true quote) “cutting a piece of paper and use double-sided tape to stick it to your tablet surface”.
Hey Nick,
Did you customize your tablet much for use with C4d. Not sure how to get the camera to move around (truck side to side/up down). Only zoom in and out and pan around. Did you program one of the side buttons to do this for you?