Best tablet to Photoshop boat designs?

Hi All,

I'm a bit of an IT dummy, but I know the basics of how to operate simple hardware like tablets and PC's. I have an android tablet.

I'd like to create 'the ultimate boat design' by cutting and pasting photos of different boat designs, and incorporating them into a totally new design ...

Do I need a separate draw pad with sytlus , or will it that only work with a PC?

I've heard that Photoshop is fiendishly complex, do I need it for what I want to do?

Could you recommend an easy to use setup with WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity?




Thanks .

Rustybarge said:

Hi All,

I'm a bit of an IT dummy, but I know the basics of how to operate simple hardware like tablets and PC's. I have an android tablet.

I'd like to create 'the ultimate boat design' by cutting and pasting photos of different boat designs, and incorporating them into a totally new design ...

Do I need a separate draw pad with sytlus , or will it that only work with a PC?
:

Click to expand...

Rather than trying to mangle photos, why not download a copy of Sketchup to your laptop and design it in 3D? It is pretty simple to get a hang of, and there are lots of tutorials on how to do just about everything.

When you get what you like done, it can be imported to autoCad since that's what most pros use.

I got a 3D navigator from 3dconnexion.com which helps you move around the drawing. You can use both the navigator and mouse at the same time, so both hands are working. much more efficient.

stubones99 said:

Rather than trying to mangle photos, why not download a copy of Sketchup to your laptop and design it in 3D? It is pretty simple to get a hang of, and there are lots of tutorials on how to do just about everything.

When you get what you like done, it can be imported to autoCad since that's what most pros use.

I got a 3D navigator from 3dconnexion.com which helps you move around the drawing. You can use both the navigator and mouse at the same time, so both hands are working. much more efficient.

Click to expand...

That sounds like an interesting concept; designing the boat from scratch, but I don't think I have that skillset !

Unfortunately I don't have a PC on the boat, but would be willing to buy a separate tablet which is portable.

I was hoping to cut and paste ' bits of boats' and then stich them all back together again. Lol!


I've seen some good photo shopped images in the interesting boats thread, and I was wondering how to do it without a PC?

The new Microsoft tablet is supposed to be able to replace a PC. Don't know about that.
The iPad is the standard for tablets. There is a new LARGE iPad PRO.

I think for what you are planning any cut and paste software that is easy to learn would suffice.

I just wouldn't use a tablet for any work like this. PC or Mac would be better.

Most of the new wifi routers are pretty plug and play. Be sure to setup the security.

alormaria said:

The new Microsoft tablet is supposed to be able to replace a PC. Don't know about that.
The iPad is the standard for tablets. There is a new LARGE iPad PRO.

I think for what you are planning any cut and paste software that is easy to learn would suffice.

I just wouldn't use a tablet for any work like this. PC or Mac would be better.

Most of the new wifi routers are pretty plug and play. Be sure to setup the security.

Click to expand...

I've tried the free apps, and they do work, but fingers arent accurate enough to do detailed work.

Do i need a stylus with pad system to do the detailed stuff?

I actually managed to transfer my photos by WiFi to a machine in a shop, to get them printed; I was amazed it worked, and they turned out well!

Now that I'm on a IT roll, I want to go to the next stage ...

There are tons of sketch apps, but photo manipulation would require the ability to scale each piece to fit the relative scale of the rest of the boat...

As far as a stylus, only the iPad Pro uses the apple stylus but you can get a cheap stylus for any tablet to let you do finer work for sketches. I personally don't use one, but have seen my daughters playing with styli[sic].

I would say buy a low cost laptop, and a DC to DC converter (or a cigarette plug charger) and save the rest of the cash. You can get a fairly capable laptop for $400, and almost no decent tablet costs that little. I know the Surface is over $800 (plus options).

stubones99 said:

There are tons of sketch apps, but photo manipulation would require the ability to scale each piece to fit the relative scale of the rest of the boat...

As far as a stylus, only the iPad Pro uses the apple stylus but you can get a cheap stylus for any tablet to let you do finer work for sketches. I personally don't use one, but have seen my daughters playing with styli[sic].

I would say buy a low cost laptop, and a DC to DC converter (or a cigarette plug charger) and save the rest of the cash. You can get a fairly capable laptop for $400, and almost no decent tablet costs that little. I know the Surface is over $800 (plus options).

Click to expand...

Would a stand alone pad and stylus be better than an apple iPad ?


http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=t&ref=pd_sl_3zfj7szvtc_b

If you want to work from pictures you will have to start by scaling all the pictures to the same scale. That alone will take a fair amount of time particularly if the pictures weren't taken at a right angle to the centerline of the boat (perspective effects). I think you would be better off importing the pictures into a vector graphics program, scaling them, tracing the parts you want to copy and then working with the tracings. It will still be a big project and will likely result in a real mashup due to differences in details like hull height, sheer line shape, etc.

Save yourself trouble and time. Learn naval architecture and buy a decent 3D cad program with rendering.

Rustybarge said:

Hi All,

I'm a bit of an IT dummy, but I know the basics of how to operate simple hardware like tablets and PC's. I have an android tablet.

I'd like to create 'the ultimate boat design' by cutting and pasting photos of different boat designs, and incorporating them into a totally new design ...

Do I need a separate draw pad with sytlus , or will it that only work with a PC?

I've heard that Photoshop is fiendishly complex, do I need it for what I want to do?

Could you recommend an easy to use setup with WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity?




Thanks .

Click to expand...

Pretty much any software that is capable of doing what you're speaking of will take a lot of time to master. I've been using Photoshop for about 18 years and I and I still consider myself a novice at it and I use it every day.

I think some sort of design software would work better for you.

TDunn said:

If you want to work from pictures you will have to start by scaling all the pictures to the same scale. That alone will take a fair amount of time particularly if the pictures weren't taken at a right angle to the centerline of the boat (perspective effects). I think you would be better off importing the pictures into a vector graphics program, scaling them, tracing the parts you want to copy and then working with the tracings. It will still be a big project and will likely result in a real mashup due to differences in details like hull height, sheer line shape, etc.

Save yourself trouble and time. Learn naval architecture and buy a decent 3D cad program with rendering.

Click to expand...

Yikes, you're scaring me!

scurvy-yard-dog said:

Pretty much any software that is capable of doing what you're speaking of will take a lot of time to master. I've been using Photoshop for about 18 years and I and I still consider myself a novice at it and I use it every day.

I think some sort of design software would work better for you.

Click to expand...

I downloaded free cut and paste apps, and they're useless.

Could you recommend an app that actually works well and is simple to operate for total begginer?

Rustybarge said:

I downloaded free cut and paste apps, and they're useless.

Could you recommend an app that actually works well and is simple to operate for total begginer?

Click to expand...

I wish that I could, Peter, but I use Photoshop exclusively and have no knowledge of other software that you could use. Copy and pasting features on a boat is going to be difficult at best because not only does everything have to be sized accordingly but camera angle/boat view will vary and I think you'll find that items also need to be 'reshaped' to make them fit.

You might try Googling 'graphic design" websites or possibly software on downloads.com.

Best of luck to you.

Try to find a cheap laptop deal with smaller, simpler "Photoshop Elements" already loaded. That program and some practice is enough to scale, color balance, duplicate, erase, fade, shadow and adjust to the approximate clarity and look of resolution that you need to mate boat parts to each other, but won't replace a good eye or talent for the work. If you can't find a cheap laptop preloaded with it, the Elements program was 79 bucks the last time I looked. For detail work, a large screen and a good, steady mouse are your friends. Have fun!

scurvy-yard-dog said:

I wish that I could, Peter, but I use Photoshop exclusively and have no knowledge of other software that you could use. Copy and pasting features on a boat is going to be difficult at best because not only does everything have to be sized accordingly but camera angle/boat view will vary and I think you'll find that items also need to be 'reshaped' to make them fit.

You might try Googling 'graphic design" websites or possibly software on downloads.com.

Best of luck to you.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

healhustler said:

Try to find a cheap laptop deal with smaller, simpler "Photoshop Elements" already loaded. That program and some practice is enough to scale, color balance, duplicate, erase, fade, shadow and adjust to the approximate clarity and look of resolution that you need to mate boat parts to each other, but won't replace a good eye or talent for the work. If you can't find a cheap laptop preloaded with it, the Elements program was 79 bucks the last time I looked. For detail work, a large screen and a good, steady mouse are your friends. Have fun!

Click to expand...

I'll have a look at Photoshop elements; thanks.