Are you using a wacom? Make SURE you are not grounding out your arm.  Do not bend your wrist if you can.  Also, imagine there is an axis that runs down your humerus, try to not rotate your shoulder on that axis, but use your shoulder as much as possible with a steady wrist and relaxed elbow.

I was going to announce this in a few days, but I'm doing a free webcast on kennyroy.com next week, bringing in a physical therapist to talk about proper ergo, exercises and stretches for animators!  Be sure to come by!

KennyRoy wrote:

Are you using a wacom? Make SURE you are not grounding out your arm.  Do not bend your wrist if you can.  Also, imagine there is an axis that runs down your humerus, try to not rotate your shoulder on that axis, but use your shoulder as much as possible with a steady wrist and relaxed elbow.

I was going to announce this in a few days, but I'm doing a free webcast on kennyroy.com next week, bringing in a physical therapist to talk about proper ergo, exercises and stretches for animators!  Be sure to come by!

Can you post the link on 11SC when it's up pretty please? You post a lot of useful things I forget to look at because of my bird brain :<

Unfortunately, I'm using a mouse but I'll try to get a tablet as soon as possible.

Yup geting use to tablet does take time..but its also fun than mouse

Well, it maybe a bit expensive, but you need to think of it as a long term investment. I'ts like buying a house almost, by that I mean, it's not something you're going to ditch in 2 months. You are going to keep it for years and years and you can still sell it back. So think of it as a long term investment which is for your health so it's really important.

Edit :

I just take a look at the wacom store and you know, you don't necesserely need an intuos 5 you can still buy an intuos 4 wich are cheaper and not super far away from the intuos 5 wich wasn't a super-mega revolution, really. (As far as I know anyway).

Last edited by Troglogeek (06-19-2012 12:50 pm)

Wacom Bamboo

wolfor, its a link to wacoms website and their very responsibly prices bamboo tablets

I always would like to have the latest iteration but I'll have a look at some others.

I'm getting a stiff wrist as wel even though I use a Wacom. It especially happens when it's very stressfull at work. Last week I installed an anti RSI software which forces me to take a 15 sec break every ten minutes and 5 minute break every hour. This seems to work for me because it reminds me about my posture and prevents me from cramping up for two hours. A wacom is definitely a good investmen though.

@Kyle, this link only directs me to the global wacom site, but what bother me more is that the link is hidden behind a google redirect. People usually only do that if they either want to see how many people click on the link or hide the site they were linking to. I'm just getting a bit itchy around these kind of links

@aj, I have been thinking along the same lines for a long time now, but just recently, I noticed my wrist going stiff as well, I think if you start scrubbing a lot, it doesn't matter much if you use your fingers to operate the mouse (like I do too) or the whole hand. But that's just a guess

wolfor wrote:

@aj, I have been thinking along the same lines for a long time now, but just recently, I noticed my wrist going stiff as well, I think if you start scrubbing a lot, it doesn't matter much if you use your fingers to operate the mouse (like I do too) or the whole hand. But that's just a guess

Idk, I can understand matt painters and zbrush sculptors getting wrist problems, maybe modelers too but I don't understand why animators get them. I don't do dramatic, whole 180 degrees side to side hand/wrist movements with my hand/wrist when animating. Just a slight push with my fingers and the mouse cursor is already half way across the computer screen (mouse cursor set to sensitive) so when animating theres no need for me to do dramatic movements. Idk, could be just how I work. Then again, I havent been able to land that awesome work 23 hrs per day, 7 days a week job yet neither so maybe that plays a role

wolfor wrote:

ajfrank wrote:

Idk, I can understand matt painters and zbrush sculptors getting wrist problems, maybe modelers too but I don't understand why animators get them....

As far as I understood, this problem with the wrists stems from having the mouse button pressed continuously over a longish period while moving the mouse around (like, when scrubbing in the timeline, for example) and thus creating a strain in a position that is unnatural for your hand.
So, this can happen to animators as well, probably not during blocking but definitely in the polishing phase. But if you're not experiencing any troubles, so much the better!

ah ok makes sense. I did hear the wacom does provide relief. I know some people who loves it compared to the mouse. I didnt take the time to get used to it yet for animating. I like my middle mouse button! But wouldnt the pen eventually give u carpal tunnel in the hand/pinkie area?