Is my tablet holding me back from drawing smoother curves?
October 14, 2010 2:13 PM Subscribe
While using my Wacom Graphire4, curved lines that are drawn quickly come out with tiny corners on them. Will upgrading the tablet fix this?
My current setup is a 2-year-old Wacom Graphire4 tablet, and the GIMP 2.6.7 running on Windows 7. If I draw curved lines or circles in a quick fashion, the curve will not be completely smooth. You can see an example here - it's most noticeable on the lower-left side of the face.
If I had to guess I'd say it has something to do with the tablet's inability to capture input data fast enough to match the movement of the pen. Are newer tablets better at this, or is something else (USB, software, hardware specs) holding back the smoothness?
(Like most, I draw things larger than they need to be and then resize, so most of the time this isn't noticeable in the final product. But I know it's there)
My current setup is a 2-year-old Wacom Graphire4 tablet, and the GIMP 2.6.7 running on Windows 7. If I draw curved lines or circles in a quick fashion, the curve will not be completely smooth. You can see an example here - it's most noticeable on the lower-left side of the face.
If I had to guess I'd say it has something to do with the tablet's inability to capture input data fast enough to match the movement of the pen. Are newer tablets better at this, or is something else (USB, software, hardware specs) holding back the smoothness?
(Like most, I draw things larger than they need to be and then resize, so most of the time this isn't noticeable in the final product. But I know it's there)
There is an interesting discussion here, along with the suggestion: "You can get more data points from the tablet when you open the driver control panel, doubleclick on the tablet icon in the top row and select 'recognition mode'."
Suggestion #2 in that thread is to get Photoshop CS4 :)
posted by misterbrandt at 2:37 PM on October 14, 2010
Suggestion #2 in that thread is to get Photoshop CS4 :)
posted by misterbrandt at 2:37 PM on October 14, 2010
I doubt it is the tablet. Can you try other software, just to test?
posted by chairface at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2010
posted by chairface at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2010
This has happened to me in the past when I had too many programs open and Photoshop didn't have enough memory available. The program is doing its best to keep up, but it can only capture a handful of points along the curve and does its best to connect them.
posted by Nedroid at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2010
posted by Nedroid at 3:33 PM on October 14, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the responses so far! I'll have to try a few things.
To my recollection, Photoshop CS3 did very much the same thing. And Misterbrandt, your thread link is excellent not only for information but because it provides a name for the phenomenon that I did not previously have.
posted by Monster_Zero at 8:25 PM on October 14, 2010
To my recollection, Photoshop CS3 did very much the same thing. And Misterbrandt, your thread link is excellent not only for information but because it provides a name for the phenomenon that I did not previously have.
posted by Monster_Zero at 8:25 PM on October 14, 2010
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"What they actually need to do, in my experience is restart GIMP and then the curves will be a lot smoother. For some reason on initial start-up it just doesn't work that great with the tablet."
posted by Caravantea at 2:33 PM on October 14, 2010