 Welcome back to FNA and today I'm going to talk about why I prefer using a tablet over a mouse. You think that this clip out of all of them should be sponsored by Wacom but it's actually not. I'm going to talk honestly about what I use and why in the pros and cons but it came out of a question on Twitter what my thoughts are on mouse and keyboard versus tablets so this is what this is about. And if you're new to this channel welcome my name is JD and I do lectures like these. I talk about animation, there's animation analysis, I post my feedback clips, I do animation news, acting analysis, I re-review all kinds of things so this is something that you like feel free to browse around and hit that subscribe button if you want to. So why am I using tablets and pens and things as opposed to a mouse I mean I'm going to say mouse and keyboard I do use a keyboard still to some degree and just to spoil the whole thing ergonomics it really comes down to my fingers so if I grab this to standard mouse and whenever I grab a mouse I just hold on to it tightly it's just I hold it then I squeeze the fingers and it just kind of hurts because I want to move those little tiny little pixels and after a while it just hurts my fingers and it's been like this for quite some time and when I say quite some time I really mean decades. So for me it's kind of like it's a combination of tech and health and ergonomics so a long time ago when I was still in Switzerland which is over 20 years ago so maybe 25 years ago I already had a Wacom tablet back then mainly also because at least in Switzerland there was no other company that offered that kind of technology with a pen and a tablet and also I'm I like tech I mean if you can look around in my in my office I'll do one of these days a studio tour like an office tour if you want like comment if you want to see what my office is like someone asked for it but I'm curious who else wants to see this but it's like tech I got tech everywhere I mean you can see I got tablets and I got a stream deck so many things that are nerdy and way back when the tablets came out at least for me in Switzerland I was just really interested in the technology and this is cool because I like to draw like oh we can kind of need to use that at the same time I also used a marble mouse logitech has a marble mouse where it's ambidextrous it's not left or right I'm left-handed so left-handed marble mice are kind of hard to find anything for left-handed people in terms of ergonomics is kind of tricky so I like that one because I don't really have to move anything it's basically just it rests and I just move my fingers so it's mostly that that I move and I have found that to be very good for my wrist and my fingers and just my general arm and just the way I work I tried once an upside down like this a mouse where you're like this with the joystick and where it's kind of positioned like this but you move it around like that and kind of it just hurts my shoulder it's just something where I feel like I started using my arm too much it was kind of weird but I know people use it and it's totally fine and I'm not saying it's bad it just didn't work for me I also tried keyboards that are cut in half where it's kind of like this also not for me I have my little small low print keyboard so it's not they're not high so my wrists are not going up so it's kind of flat and as I sit I have my 90 degree angle on my arm so I try to have good posture then after a while you know you start leaning like this but anyway that's kind of like this setup very early on the moment I got to the states in it even at the academy in the lab so you got tablets as well in the classrooms you have tablets every now and then depending on the classes but I got a tablet there as well and if you zoom in you can see it's a it's an old tablet that I'm using with the pen and that's kind of it has kind of stuck like that I use a pen and a tablet at home and I use that marble mouse at work mainly because there's a lot of standing and raising of desks and the desk at work has a flat surface where the monitor is on but then there's a thing you can swivel for your keyboard and I always have my pen rolling off the table I know it sounds stupid but it was just not there was something weird about the angle with the tablet and the pen so I switched back to the marble mouse and so that's what I have marble mouse at work the tablet just on the desk but I don't use it that much and at home always pen and tablet and also just the way you hold it the way you can rest it it's just there's enough constant change in the wrist where at least for me it helps me not be stuck in a specific pose where I cramp up or it's just kind of tight and you're gonna like oh I gotta start stretching I mean you gotta do desk stretches anyway but there's something for me when I use a pen where I just move my finger flatten and just there's constant change that keeps it loose and not too tight and if I use a mouse it just it just doesn't work I tense up and just it starts hurting my fingers especially through here it's less the wrist it's more the fingers on on tight gripping now when it comes to the workflow I mean obviously I'm generally faster because I'm not getting injured I don't have to take as many breaks but the mouse I gotta stop and do things and take a break and with pens I can I can work a lot longer so that kind of workflow thing helps me because I can work longer more concentrated without force breaks because out of injuries or pain which obviously should be a sign that you should stop and take a break but when it comes to my specific setup in terms of which button that I use for what actually this Friday is going to be an FNA that will be sponsored but how can how I use the setup within Maya the button configuration and more that's going to be a workflow specific thing on Friday so today's just generally why do I use this again keyboard I'm not super huge on different kind of keyboards I haven't found that I need them I can have like I said regular flat keyboards because of the elevation and ergonomics and it's just I do I have my standing desk not going to do the whole thing so I move that for me it's just a different kind of posture so that I move around I take a lot of breaks and in that environment that work environment how I have my peripherals or whatever that is just very very practical and I know for me I mean I've been doing this now for professionally almost 17 years I mean I've 20 years you know depending on how you count school into this and I really don't have any finger pain or wrist pain my pain comes in the back so when I when I sit wrong in the back here is a certain area where it pinches and that's because of how how I sit we have Herman Miller chairs at work shout out to Herman Miller sponsors and they're super comfy and they really work I don't know why what is I had a couple chairs at home that didn't work so well they're a lot cheaper I don't know why and I have found that ok chair that works it's squeaky and already starts to lose its tightness and form because I'm moving a lot again and sitting and and just a lot of posture changes but that's my main thing when I work I get a specific back pinch problem because of hunching or just the way I am with my desk so after all those years I have zero elbow problems no shoulder problems no wrist or finger problems because of this setup now speaking of money the big con about walkham and all the tablets that I use here is money was there really expensive I'm not gonna lie about this they are not cheap my kind of point to that is very subjective but I've been using that company for over 20 years now and it just never breaks that's the thing like I can I can do all kinds of things I move it is around backpack I used to do workshops in the city physically in a conference room with a projector take that with me goes into backpack through this around and move this is constantly being abused and used and just trashed and it always works and I always kind of reminds me of my grandfather used to say that he can't afford to buy cheap things may sound weird but I'm totally with him and I totally agree every time I feel like that's overkill really do I need to spend that much money I'm gonna buy something cheaper it's just the manufacturing it just breaks after all it breaks and to me I spend the money on things that I use on a daily basis I mean I use the tablets and the keyboards and the everything computer-wise is hours and hours and hours day after day at least Monday to Friday for homework it's Monday to Sunday on a daily basis months and years so this has to withstand the constant physical usage and however you know rough you are with the tools that being said again they're not cheap so if you're looking for alternatives I would recommend the youtube channel sketch with teo and he does a ton of reviews not just tablets books all kinds of things about sketching but he looks at a lot of tablets and compares them and there might be something for you where you feel like these features are better the prices are better whatever it is there's a lot of stuff out there so link in description with his channel make sure to check it out there's a lot to choose from so yeah so when it comes to these again they're small they're super light I'm using this one a lot more now because it's also bluetooth no cables which is great because one of the things which I mentioned in the previous review I'm not a fan of cables that force you to go in a specific direction like why not just go either side so again I have things on different sides different computers and just that's kind of a pain but as a tablet these are great and especially when you have extra buttons so you can do your hotkeys so when I say keyboard more or less I do have a lot of hotkeys I also use a stream deck with a ton of buttons and it's so much where I don't really have to think about my keyboard configuration and that's about that so the biggest spoiler is ergonomics it's just in all those years it has been the biggest help in terms of not getting injured for fingers and wrists and just the repetitive nature of working on your computer well that's just me I know people that have been at work for 20-25 years and they use a mouse and they have zero problems they might have other problems because of posture the way they are and the way they have to I don't know where they're standing right that people are very individual problems really depending on how they are and how much they work and everything but that is very much me and this is why this is not a sponsored thing there's nothing I need to show off this is very subjective my point of view of the tools that I use you might hate them you might love them I'm actually curious what you think comment let me know I'm curious what do you use tablets if so which ones do you have any special keyboards you love it which ones as I'm diving into Cintiq like the walk in one and I'll be reviewing a Cintiq in the future I love it now I'm diving more into well I want to work and draw on the tablet and get more into that workflow the thing that I'm going to have to look at for that is do not be hunched over if you have this because I'm very used to working like this but if you have a tablet you draw I'm concerned about the hunching aspect and my posture so I'll be looking at that how I can work with this and maybe find some tweaks to make this better look up for some future reviews about that that's a plane you have an airport nearby so watch out Friday is going to be a custom workflow thing for tablets that that is more into my workflow especially how to save time when you iterate on shots a very specific topic on Friday and speaking of time if you feel like that was time well invested and spent on watching this and you want to use your time to work with me I don't know I'm grasping at things here I do have workshops feel free to look in the description for all the links and you want to sign up you can sign up at any time my workshops are always open and if you're intrigued by any of these clips and you looked around the channel feel free to subscribe so you don't miss any of my uploads I upload every day except weekends other that's it for me I will say thank you for your patience for watching till the very end and I will see you in my next clip