13/02/2014

Yiynova MVP22U+ IPS review



So after reading what little reviews existed on the Yiynova MVP22U+ IPS I decide that I couldn't justify the £700 difference on buying a Wacom Cintiq. Having already tried a cintiq, I was worried the Yiynova wouldn't live up to the same standards.

I was wrong.

My first opinion of the Yiynova, was when I emailed asking when the 22HD version would be available for the UK in the store. They replied almost immediately; telling me it would be available the following week, and that they could also add me to the mailing list. 

As soon as it was in stock I added it to my basket, when paying, they unfortunately didn't accept cards (EU store). There were a couple of other options, including paypal, but I decided to go with an instant bank transfer. 

And hell, sending such a large amount of money (998 euros) to a random bank in the Netherlands, I was a little worried. But I had no need to be. It took about a day for the payment to go through, and after that about two days, by courier to arrivve on my doorstep.    

My initial thoughts when unboxing was surprise; not many manufacturers send such an array of wires. The 'pen digitizer tablet monitor' itself has one unremovable wire - a VGA with a USB on it. (Both must be inserted into computer to use the screen). Please note - these aren't exactly the longest wires in the world and you may need an extension.






The power chord is removable - and like me, if you're from the UK - it has both a UK plug extension, and a European? one I believe, so hurrah, no need to buy a plug adapter! 

The white wires are a VGA to HDMI adapter and a VGA to mini USB, the latter I have chosen to use which runs well from a macbook pro. NOTE: If you have a similar macbook pro model to me, there is a large absence of ports for monitors, so this was very useful.

They also sent me, an attachable pen holder for the monitor, two pens, pen nib remover and two replacement nibs. Both pens require an AAA battery, the grey one is a little heavier but the weight isn't noticeable when using. 



Setting the HotKeys

After I had installed the drivers (MAC), disc included in the parcel, I could use the screen straight away. If you've seen pictures of the MVP22U+ you'll know their are eight buttons along the top. When you're sitting a little higher than the screen (leaning over on the floor in my case) the placement of them isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

You can change the function of all of them, which makes the pictures on them pretty redundant. Over the Cintiq, I found the buttons much easier to set. Each button can be given up to four combined actions, such as CMD + S when I want to save - making it one easy click. Or CTRL + ALT if like me, you like to change the size of your brush on photoshop using this method. Or CMD + ALT + Z, again for using the 'step backwards' function in photoshop.


You can also set the buttons to open applications...



 and URL pages etc....




And you can access the pressure and click weight, and test it using four provided colours.



The only thing I do miss, in comparison to using wacom, is the pen click (the two buttons located on the pen), as it cannot be set to pan/scroll. This means it's not great when manoeuvring photoshop, or a webpage. However, you can set SPACEBAR it the programmable buttons at the top of the monitor, so it isn't all bad. 



On a final note: I'm really enjoying using it, I like the fact that it's smaller than the cintiq because it doesn't have a ridiculous amount of buttons either side. The stand actually holds the monitor in place,  whereas I found the Cintiq would always slide down after a while, although you can't turn the screen on the Yiynova, but you get used to it.

I've read a lot of reviews that have complained the gap between the glass where you're drawing and the 'paper' at the back is bigger that the Cintiq. Honestly, I seriously can't tell. I think that the fact the pen handles pressure sensitivity better means the gap doesn't seem that big at all. 

Hopefully I'll get the drivers up and running on a PC soon and see how how it fares.

For the price, it's worth it. When my uni work is finished I'll try to upload a few videos of a paint so I can see how that goes. 

I'd also like to point out - even though the manual recommends not to - I have left my Bamboo Wacom drivers installed, and both work perfectly fine. Although Bamboo dock knows what's up and won't work with the Yiynova pen.... damn I suppose it's called 'Bamboo Scribe' for a reason....

Any questions? ask away, I'll try to answer them as best as I can! :)

A year later - Review 2 - Click here to read!

Surface Pro 3 review

10/02/2014

Background

Work in progress for an animation this year. Sort of a dystopian/ futuristic setting. Here are a few stages of the background paint.