I bought the Intuos Creative Stylus this afternoon

[Jessica Lares]

So I went to Best Buy this afternoon and decided to blow off some money. I couldn't find it on the website, so didn't think they'd have it, but it was sitting on the shelf with the other Wacom stuff when I was looking around, so I picked it up.

I like the carrying box that comes with it. Glasses makers, take note - I'd probably actually use your box if it was as nice as the Wacom one I just got. Not too cheap, not too fancy, just in the middle of the road. Very easy to open and close, and I love the little space which makes it easy to pull out the stylus without too much hassle.

The nibs are pretty thick compared to the one on the Bamboo Stylus, taller, but thinner. They don't sell replacements yet, but I bet in a few months they will and they'll coming various sizes. It comes with three of them to begin with, so it might not be until a year or so that you really need a replacement anyway.

It is just a plain old stylus to begin with, so you can use it on the iPad as is, and on any other capacitive screen. But to get the most of it, you want to use it with the apps that have the SDK for it built-in.

But here's the thing - While it DOES support a handful of apps, you really want to just have that one app you love, and only use it with that. Otherwise it's going to drive you CRAZY. In Bamboo Paper, the two buttons on the side work as an Undo and Eraser. In Adobe Ideas, they both are just shortcuts to the menu. Having to learn the different options for those buttons in every app is going to be a nightmare. So, you kinda want to dedicate its use to one app, or the apps that just use the pressure sensitive aspect of it.

Really easy to use though, just turn on Bluetooth, and then the settings are within the apps themselves.

And it works right there and then. The pressure sensitivity is really good. Being able to undo in Bamboo paper by just tapping the button on the pen is really cool too.

It just came out this month, so there's not a lot of supported apps yet. I know that Noteshelf will be adding it to their supported styluses soon though. Feels much nicer in the hands than the Jot Pro.

The deal breaker might be that you have to use a battery with it, but I say this as someone in the digital photography scene... Batteries are ALWAYS going to be better, especially rechargeable ones.

The price will also be a problem for some, but whatever. It was a good $99 spent.

[MeSue]

Out of the Pogo, Jot Touch, and Wacom, Wacom is definitely the most seamless as far as connecting and setting up. Being new, though, it does not have as many supported apps yet. Works really well in Procreate. As far as batteries, Bluetooth is not a big power suck, so I'd expect it to last a good long time. My Pogo Connect still reads 100% battery after almost a year (but minimal use).

Funny thing, I got the Pogo Connect and Jot Touch almost a year ago. Planned to review them but was so frustrated with them I put them aside for a while. Then got really busy, had iPad problems, and didn't pick them back up again until right after iOS 7 came out. Still had problems with both of them. Either pressure sensitivity wasn't working, or they were crashing the apps they were supposed to work in. Both companies had to send me a new stylus, saying mine was outdated. Uh, what about people who bought them at that time? Are they all getting replacements, too? So, I wonder about all of these as a long-term purchase. Who knows when any of them will stop working due to the app developers not keeping the apps updated, or changes to iOS making them stop working.

Even in my short time with it, the Wacom beats the other two. And yes, the case is a nice touch. I only wish they had done something a little more innovative than the rubber nib tip.

[Jessica Lares]

Ouch! Yeah, they should have a way to zap firmware into these things. What are the features in Procreate? I wasn't too happy with Sketchbook Ink.

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

What are the features in Procreate? I wasn't too happy with Sketchbook Ink.

Rather than rehash it here, I'll just link you to my recently updated review. 😊
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/iph.../procreate.htm

[FlorenceArt]

I'm glad you like it. Personally I was very disappointed.

I was expecting something like the Wacom Intuos tablet pen's pressure sensitivity, but instead it feels like the pen has about 3 levels of pressure. The buttons are useless to me, as are the buttons on the Intuos tablet pen.

Regarding apps, none of the apps I use are compatible, but I'm not sure I will activate it when Noteshelf makes the update. In the Bamboo app, the low pressure sensitivity makes for a very unnatural looking handwriting. But the Noteshelf people might do it better, they are good at that.

The only good result so far for me is that I rediscovered Procreate, which I bought some time ago but was not very taken with. It's not a bad painting app really, and it's the only one so far that really makes the Intuos Creative pen a plus to use.

[FlorenceArt]

Oh, and here's a link to a few screen copies I made when I first tried the pen, as a sort of sampler:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/obvq8a7v4688khh/1T7lHZCB1W

[FlorenceArt]

Oops, another comment: I think you can customize what the buttons do, in most apps. I just deactivate them

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by MeSue

Rather than rehash it here, I'll just link you to my recently updated review. 😊
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/iph.../procreate.htm

Thanks for that!

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Oh, and here's a link to a few screen copies I made when I first tried the pen, as a sort of sampler:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/obvq8a7v4688khh/1T7lHZCB1W

Those are great. So the Bamboo Paper app seems to be the winner here.

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Oops, another comment: I think you can customize what the buttons do, in most apps. I just deactivate them

Hmm, will have to try that out.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Those are great. So the Bamboo Paper app seems to be the winner here.

You think? Actually I was rather angry at Wacom for not making all their additional brushes (that were included in the latest major upgrade) free for creative stylus owners. After paying 100€ for a very disappointing pen, I felt I was at least entitled to free access to all those brushes, not just one or two. plus, as I said, I don't like how they implemented pressure sensitivity for the felt pen. It look like I am drunk or writing with a defective pen.

The only app that I think really makes use of the creative stylus is Procreate. Zen brush also has some nice effects, when it works. About half the time nothing happens when I put the stylus on the screen.

[Jessica Lares]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

You think? Actually I was rather angry at Wacom for not making all their additional brushes (that were included in the latest major upgrade) free for creative stylus owners. After paying 100€ for a very disappointing pen, I felt I was at least entitled to free access to all those brushes, not just one or two. plus, as I said, I don't like how they implemented pressure sensitivity for the felt pen. It look like I am drunk or writing with a defective pen.

The only app that I think really makes use of the creative stylus is Procreate. Zen brush also has some nice effects, when it works. About half the time nothing happens when I put the stylus on the screen.

LOL. Well, I like the overall thickness compared to the others, because I push pretty hard to begin with

And yeah, that is kinda sad we don't get the full set. But whatever, the $100 was for the nibs, box, and battery.

Will have to decide weather to buy Procreate or not.

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Will have to decide weather to buy Procreate or not.

If you put it on a wish list (I use appshopper) it'll go free or on sale eventually.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

But whatever, the $100 was for the nibs, box, and battery.

The way I see it, it was for a pressure sensitive pen with 3 levels of pressure. Bearing the name Intuos. As a comparison, the real Intuos pen that comes with the Intuos tablet has 2024 levels of pressure.

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

The way I see it, it was for a pressure sensitive pen with 3 levels of pressure. Bearing the name Intuos. As a comparison, the real Intuos pen that comes with the Intuos tablet has 2024 levels of pressure.

They do advertise the Intuos iPad stylus with 2048 levels of pressure. It's on the web site. If you think the Intuos iPad stylus is bad, you don't want to try the Pogo Connect! Much, much worse (although I have not yet received the updated one they promised to send me).

Anyway, all these devices are just a workaround for lack of true pressure sensitivity, and will never be as good as the real thing, or even a graphics tablet on a computer where the surface and the pen work together.

I've written an article on choosing an electronic stylus if anyone is interested… will have reviews of the top 3, soon.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/mob...nic-Stylus.htm

[leebase]

Thanks for the review

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by MeSue

They do advertise the Intuos iPad stylus with 2048 levels of pressure. It's on the web site. If you think the Intuos iPad stylus is bad, you don't want to try the Pogo Connect! Much, much worse (although I have not yet received the updated one they promised to send me).

Anyway, all these devices are just a workaround for lack of true pressure sensitivity, and will never be as good as the real thing, or even a graphics tablet on a computer where the surface and the pen work together.

I've written an article on choosing an electronic stylus if anyone is interested… will have reviews of the top 3, soon.
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/mob...nic-Stylus.htm

Thanks, very good article!

2048 levels of pressure, really? I missed that on the site. I've always been a bit skeptical about the effectivity of these 2048 levels on the Wacom tablet, but at least it's possible to create reasonably subtle changes in line thickness or opacity by varying pressure.

On the other hand, the creative pen... well, just take a look at the samples I posted earlier. Some may look nice, but the changes are anything but subtle! Maybe app developers will learn to make better use of the pen. As I said, procreate already made a decent job of it.