News: Cintiq Alternative: Ugee 19 Inches Graphics Drawing Pen Tablet

A friend of mine Jason Kruse alerted me to a new pen tablet on the market called the Ugee 19 Inches Graphics Drawing Pen Tablet and for the most part it appears as though it’s worth it. Since I don’t have one or any details to go on other than the reviews I’ll just post the review on Amazon from a woman named Katie Wesch and let it speak for itself. You can purchase one on Amazon here.

Incidentally we interviewed Jason a while back.

DESCRIPTION:
This is a very large screen (19in), larger than a sheet of printer paper and closer to a large bristol board. But the size is why it is great…when you’re in an art program, you have your tools to one side and your drawing in the middle, making the extra room very important. Don’t even think about trying to draw in your lap with this. You’re going to struggle if you try. (Just…trust me.)

This tablet is for setting on a table, in front of your computer. The stand is built in, and you can easily adjust the stand to whatever height you’d like….EXCEPT for completely flat (or, at least, it is very difficult to make it flat) which is why it isn’t for drawing in your lap. Not to mention the four different cables hooked up to the inside.

The tablet comes with all the cords you need. (In my case, at least.) An adapter, a USB plug-in and a wall plug-in (it has to be plugged in to the wall AND your computer, with both the USB and adapter to work, which didn’t bother me that much). It comes with a pen that is medium in size, thicker than a pencil but not crazy thick like a marker. The pen has a button that can be triggered to right click. I’ll talk about that later. The pen is wireless, electromagnetic (with backup battery), and has a nib holder (!). I’ll also talk about that later.

It also comes with gloves (to prevent you from smudging your screen while drawing and/or to clean the screen) and a cleaning cloth.

It comes with clear instructions that, if you follow them, make installing a breeze. After installing, you calibrate the tablet to your computer until it matches up. It even gives you a chance to test pen pressure and colors to make sure they work well. In my experience, the tablet’s resolution was a bit lower than my computer’s but perhaps that can be fixed. Also, if your computer screen is larger than the tablet screen (yes, my laptop’s screen is huge), expect another change in resolution, proportion wise. Didn’t bother me that much or distract me while drawing so *shrug*.

PROS AND CONS:

PROS
+ So easy to use. Really. It’s a dream come true since I draw best when, you know, actually looking at what I’m drawing while drawing and I struggled with hand-eye-coordination with screenless tablets.
+ The pen pressure works wonderfully, dare I say better than my Bamboo’s pressure levels. The pen knows when I’m just tapping. It knows when I make a quick, light line. It knows when I’m pressing down hard, and if I press down hard enough, it will start pooling. It works very much like a real ink pen.
+ The screen, while not exactly hyper HD resolution, gives a clear detailed picture.
+ The pen matches up with cursor well enough that I do not have to worry about mismatched lines. It follows the pen without lagging behind.
+ While I’m sure that a lot of it is the speed of my laptop itself, it works fast with no lag in general. Unless I leave it for ten minutes or something, I don’t really worry about the lag while the screen “wakes up.”
+ Coloring is equally fluid, and responsive. In other words, the pen has the same good pressure and recognition whether working with paint, pencil or ink, and the same goes for making lines or tapping dots.
+ I tested it on the following programs and it works on all of them well:
* Clip Studio Paint Pro (Seriously amazing results here, and props have to be given to the program itself as well as the tablet. Painting and inking was so fluid it was just like doing it on paper. All that is needed is to be careful and know what you’re doing.)
* Photoshop (it should be noted that the program is Elements 8, however the brushes are quite dynamic to the point I’m sure you’ll be fine in Photoshop CS, since I have a little experience trying it in CS as well.)
* GIMP
* Paint Tool Sai
* and of course the desktop itself XD

UPDATE + Another thing I felt was nice was how kind the seller was. The seller frequently checked in during the shipping process, to ask if the tablet had arrived, and also asked if the tablet was working well for me. I’ve never had any seller actually check in on me, so the friendliness of these guys was pretty cool.

CONS
+ The screen is not…textured. It’s glossy and glassy, slick. That doesn’t bother me when drawing, in fact I like it, but it does make glare an issue if you put it at the wrong angle, to the point you have to move your body to overcome the glare. But if you turn it right and are in sitting in the correct lighting in the first place this won’t be a problem.
+ Like I mentioned, I wish it was possible to improve the resolution. Not a dealbreaker or star reducer…I just wish.
+ Since the screen is basically glass, it may smudge on you easily. But that’s why you should wear the gloves and why you have a glass wipe.
+ It is very bulky, only for drawing on tables with lots of room. UPDATE – The cords themselves are what require the most room.
+ UPDATE – Sometimes I feel like the pen acts a little bit *too* realistically, occasionally requiring me to tilt the pen like I would a real ink well pen in order to get any flow. This is a problem I noticed only in Clip Paint Studio though, so it may be a problem specific to this program’s already realistic ink pen.
+ UPDATE – If you try to run multiple programs, especially high memory ones, expect lag. This does NOT happen when running multiple low MB art programs, however, I tried to make a speedpaint of this tablet, running a video capture that made a video full of GB, and I noticed lag. But I think that would happen with every tablet ever, trying to run a high GB program alongside drawing. XD

BOTTOM LINE: It works. It just works. If you can do better, then go ahead, but if you’re in the market for an affordable tablet…here you go. Give it a shot. I love mine.

Detail specs:

Specification:
Active Area: 402mm X 255mm
Pressure Sensitivity: 2048 levels
Accuracy: 0.25mm
Display Area: 402mmx255mm
Resolution: 1440 X 900
Response Time: 5ms
Pixel Pitch : 0.294mm(per one triadH) x 0.294mm(V)
Electrical Interface: Dual channel LVDS
Support Color: 16.7M(RGB 6-bit data + HiFRC data)
Contrast Ratio: 800:01:00
Backlight Unit: 4 replaceable CCFL edge-light(top/bottom)
Brightness: 300（cd/m2）@7.5mA
Power Consumption: Working: 24.71 Watt;Standby:1 Watt
Power Source: AC100-240V Universal

System Requirements:
1. Operation system(Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7/8 Mac OS 10.2.6 above)
2. Pentium 233MHz processor or above
3. 64MB of Ram(128MB recommended)
4. 128MB setup Hard disk space
5. 4x Speed CD ROM or above
6. An available USB port

Package contents:
1x D-Sub Signal Cord
1x Power Adapter
1x USB Cable
1x P50S Pen
1x Nib Barrel
1x Installation CD
8x Replacement Nibs
1x Nib Removement Tool
1x User Manual
1x Pergear clean Kit