Genius MousePen 8 x 6-Inch Graphic Tablet for Home and Office
by Genius
List Price:
Our Price: $59.95
You Save: $40.04 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $38.75 (click here)
Category: CE
See more product details
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: GeniusAudio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: MousePen 8X6
Product features:
- 8 x 6-inch working area, comfortable for easy drawing, painting and using the PC
- 1024-level pressure sensitivity for all kinds of shapes and thickness control
- Make handwriting notes/drawings on the Internet and in any application program
- Cordless mouse and pen design gives you unlimited freedom
- 3D scroll wheel for fast browsing on the Internet and in Windows documents
- Anime Studio Debut 6 [OLD VERSION]
- Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium [OLD VERSION]
- Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium[OLD VERSION]
- Pixelmator [Old Version]
- Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Genius MousePen 8 x 6-Inch Graphic Tablet for Home and Office
Customer Review: Excellent Gadget.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent little device. First off, some corrections and suggestions:
The device I got came with 42 hot cells. 13, however were unmarked. They are there, however. Just use the other cells to gauge where they should be (there are 13 top cells as well, so they're in the same positions.)
[Edit] As you will see in the following paragraphs, I was very excited about the hot cells, because I thought I could replace the many functions I use my keyboard for with those cells. Unfortunately, you have to look away from the screen to see them (which is impossible in the dark unless you put some sort of glow sticker on them). Therefore, keeping my keyboard on my left side has been much more efficient, because I can navigate by touch without taking my eyes off the screen. Note also, however, that I was already very practiced at using only my left hand to execute commands when I used a mouse. It's much faster, also, to simply choose tools from the toolbar (or use the already programmed keyboard shortcuts) than using a hot cell, and to make easy keyboard shortcuts for actions. [End Edit]
The pen doesn't have an eraser, but, at least in Photoshop, a hardware eraser would be pointless. Make an action mapped to a function key that changes your tool to eraser, map it to your tablet hot cell, and you're good to go (It's FASTER than flipping the pencil around.)
Don't know how? Here's a quick run-through (this is on PS7... other versions shouldn't be a lot different): Window->Action (Check it, if it's already checked uncheck and check it so you can see the action pallete)
Click the action pallete, you can probably delete anything that's already there, but you don't need to. Click the create new button at the bottom of the pallete (notepad icon), name it and set it to whatever button combination you want (I think it has all th e function keys +shift+ctrl, so that's plenty of combinations) Hit the record button on the bottom of the pallete, then click the eraser tool. You'll see "Select Eraser" appear in the action pallete. Press Stop.
Now in the system tray, click the icon that has a pen drawing on a tablet. Go to hot cells. Click whichever cell you want to make the eraser, name it Eraser, then click define. A menu will pop up, Select Hotkeys: check the ctrl or shift buttons if you used them in your combination, and then choose the correct function button. Then click OK/Apply and your done. Now any time you tap in that cell you select the eraser.
With actions, you can also change the brush type, size, opacity, and what pen pressure does, if you want. They're very powerful for streamlining your projects, especially if you end up doing a lot of the same things to every image. With hot cells, it's even faster (though I wish they would ship with blank labels, but I'll get some.)
Next, points about pen pressure not working/etc. All the solutions have already been offered. Download the updated driver (I am using this on Vista 64 with no problems. A new driver was issued Jan 15 specifically for Vista 64.) It apparently addressed CS4 issues as as well, but I don't have that to comment. Run the set-up from the zip file on their site, and you'll be good to go (it may take a couple of minutes.. my computer's fairly fast and it still took awhile. During that time it said it was "not responding" but it was actually installing the driver. Don't trust Windows... Reboot. Anyway, next, change the battery. I use rechargeable batteries in all of my wireless stuff, anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. The pen was working before I did this in mine, as well. Finally, check your photoshop brush pallete and make sure you've got it set right. Opacity is in other options, Size is in Shape Manipulation. Those are the only two I foresee using "Pen Pressure" to control. Now, if you're using size, your MAX pressure equals the brush size you select. It won't go bigger than that. So pick the biggest you want it to get, and learn the pressure to get it as small as you want. It takes some getting used to. With opacity it's the same thing, use the highest opacity you want to get to on a single stroke.
Another con, the New and Open Hot Cells (which are labeled on the tablet) were reversed on mine. it took all of two seconds to fix, though. (switch the ctrl+o and ctrl+n definitons to the other).
Alright, enough of that. The tablet is great. 8x6 is plenty of room, and the texture is nice. Whoever said it was sandpaper is nuts, or they've upgraded the hardware. feels very close to drawing in my sketchbook. I really like it. The pressure sensitivity works well, though I would have preferred some way to have the very lightest pressure be just making contact with the tablet (and not pressing down at all). This is how I do light shading with pencil, and it's a lot more comfortable for me. Adjustments have to be made for the convenience of digital medium, though.
Oh, uh... I haven't even taken the mouse out of the bag. I already have a wireless keyboard with touchpad that works great, and then pen works well as a mouse, too.
This IS set in absolute mode. I haven't found anyway to make the cursor position the center of the tablet, which really would have been nice (mark the center point with a line and position it with a mouse when you need to be exact.) Hovering works... but basically you just have to memorize how things on screen relate to the pad. I'm sure it will become second nature eventually, but it's a pain right now. The transition is difficult enough from not using hand-eye coordination to draw.
[Edit] I now much prefer having it in absolute mode, where the center of the tablet is always the center of the screen. With some practice, I'm now able to reasonably predict the area where I'm going to draw without even looking at the pad. Beware turning the pad at a different angle to your screen :-)[End Edit]
Let's see... I think that's it for now. I'll try it in ubuntu 8.10 eventually, and update. From the reviews it seems GIMP works well with it, so that should be interesting.
[Edit] Works great on Ubuntu, although it's not fully functional. I couldn't get the pressure working, though I didn't try long. I got along without pressure for a long time :-). I'm very happy with this purchase, and would likely pay twice what I did for it again, which says quite a lot. [End Edit]
Description of Genius MousePen 8 x 6-Inch Graphic Tablet for Home and Office
Item #: M16182. The Genius MousePen 8x6 is a deluxe package that includes a tablet with a comfortable 8"x6" surface area, a cordless pen with 1024 levels of pressure-sensitivity, and a cordless three button mouse. This brand new tablet is ergonomically designed for drawing, handwriting, sketching, coloring, or picture editing, and powered directly by the USB connection. It's not only a fantastic media tool for SOHO or designers. Product Description: Genius MousePen 8x6 - mouse, digitizer, stylusDevice Type: Mouse, digitizer, stylusConnectivity Technology: Wired - USBFeatures: Pressure sensitive penBattery: 2 x AAA typeOS Required: Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP Customers also search for: Discount Genius MousePen 8x6 - Mouse, Digitizer, Stylus, Buy Genius MousePen 8x6 - Mouse, Digitizer, Stylus, Wholesale Genius MousePen 8x6 - Mouse, Digitizer, Stylus, 0091163213123, 31100001101, Mouse and Pointing DevicesDigital Cameras & Photo Categories
Similar Digital Cameras & Photo Products
![Anime Studio Debut 6 [OLD VERSION] Image](/images/Anime-Studio-Debut-6-OLD-VERSION-B002ABMVD6-X.jpg)
Anime Studio Debut 6 [OLD VERSION]Smith Micro Software Inc.; Smith Micro Software Inc.; Release date: 2009-06-09; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Logitech H330 USB HeadsetLogitech; Windows; CE
Best price: $23.14
Price in other shops:
![Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION] Image](/images/Anime-Studio-Pro-6-OLD-VERSION-B002ABMVMW-X.jpg)
Anime Studio Pro 6 [OLD VERSION]Smith Micro Software Inc.; Smith Micro Software Inc.; Release date: 2009-06-22; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $24.81
Price in other shops:
Anime Studio 6: The Official Guideby Kelly L. Murdock
Course Technology PTR; Published: 2009-12-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.73
Price in other shops:
Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 2011Autodesk PSG; Autodesk; Release date: 2010-10-15; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $43.95
Price in other shops:
Manga Studio EX 4Smith Micro Software Inc.; Smith Micro Software Inc.; Release date: 2008-12-22; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $97.79
Price in other shops:
![Corel Painter Essentials 4 (Win/Mac) [OLD VERSION] Image](/images/Corel-Painter-Essentials-4-Win-Mac-OLD-VERSION-B000WCQCE4-X.jpg)
Corel Painter Essentials 4 (Win/ Mac) [OLD VERSION]Corel; Corel; Release date: 2007-10-16; Windows; Software
Best price: $95.00
Price in other shops:
Manga Studio For Dummiesby Doug Hills
For Dummies; Published: 2008-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops:
Manga Studio Debut 4 (Win/ Mac)Smith Micro Software Inc.; Smith Micro Software Inc.; Release date: 2008-12-22; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $38.98
Price in other shops:
![Anime Studio Debut 7 [OLD VERSION] Image](/images/Anime-Studio-Debut-7-OLD-VERSION-B003NS5KQ0-X.jpg)
Anime Studio Debut 7 [OLD VERSION]Smith Micro Software Inc.; Smith Micro Software Inc.; Release date: 2010-06-22; Windows Vista; Software
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops: