Display recommendations for professional artists?

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Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 26, 2009
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239
Hey does anyone have any monitor recommendations for a professional artist who uses programs like Maya and 3ds MAX? I'm looking for a 27" or 32" that costs less than 1k

Right now I'm thinking the BenQ PD2706UA, it looks like it's an IPS panel.

Primarily I'm looking for monitors that have eye strain reduction features?
 
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Any monitor that has a refresh rate of 120Hz+ should be sufficient for less eye strain....
 
Refresh rate is not a criteria for eye strain when using design software such as static 3D Max. Monitor flickers cause eye strain instead.

Buy the monitor with a flicker-free DC dimming panel to reduce eye strain. BenQ monitors are the best with DC dimming backlight made by Lextar. Its AUO panel has the most color as well.

I suggest the monitors among SW 4k series instead of PD for better color accuracy. Boost up the budget to pay around $1500.
 
kramnelis said:
Refresh rate is not a criteria for eye strain when using design software such as static 3D Max. Monitor flickers cause eye strain instead.

Buy the monitor with a flicker-free DC dimming panel to reduce eye strain. BenQ monitors are the best with DC dimming backlight made by Lextar. Its AUO panel has the most color as well.

I suggest the monitors among SW 4k series instead of PD for better color accuracy. Boost up the budget to pay around $1500.
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Doesn’t the Refresh rate correlate with the flickering? Obviously the lower the refresh rate the more the monitor is going to be prone to flickering.... I know that does not mean that for e.g., the higher the refresh rates constitute less flickering, but for eye strain I don’t think anything over 120Hz is going to be noticeable, especially in the OPs scenarios (since he is not gaming)
 
Finny76 said:
Doesn’t the Refresh rate correlate with the flickering? Obviously the lower the refresh rate the more the monitor is going to be prone to flickering.... I know that does not mean that for e.g., the higher the refresh rates constitute less flickering, but for eye strain I don’t think anything over 120Hz is going to be noticeable, especially in the OPs scenarios (since he is not gaming)
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They are not related. Invisible flickers still cause eyestrain.

60Hz or 240Hz monitors can cause eye strain the same way when they have cheap 1000Hz PWM flickering backlight. This is why DC dimming is the best.
 
kramnelis is correct, you want a constant non-flickering backlight. which is not related to refresh rate

my vote is also for BenQ

i would adjust your budget depending on where your work will be used ie is it for game assets on an HDR-capable console (PS5 etc)? will it be rendered for movies or printed on posters? do you produce assets that will be refined later by colorists or other art leads on your team?

there is always something better for more money but imho the lower end of the range (PD series) is good enough for most 3D art work, especially with some basic cailibration

i have 3x BL3201/PD3200 a couple of PD2700 that i've been using for years now and theyve been rock solid. currently around 600$. my use cases havent required HDR yet, thats the only thing that would force me to upgrade

OTOH monitor tech moves slower than any other computer hardware so it may be worth investing in something better if this is your career. you might keep this monitor for 5, 7, or even 10 years before theres another jump in tech that forces you to upgrade
 
LG C2 42", its not that much bigger than a 32" and you get very very nice display calibration options and uniformity.
 
tongshadow said:
LG C2 42", its not that much bigger than a 32" and you get very very nice display calibration options and uniformity.
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But horrible for text. If that matters. Talking "font text", not pure graphical text.
 
cjcox said:
But horrible for text. If that matters. Talking "font text", not pure graphical text.
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Not horrible with the correct settings and still noticeable better than QD-OLED, but still no match for a good IPS which would be my recommendation for OP for many reasons. Should also be said that any 42" with only 4K would look kind of bad compared to a smaller monitor with 4K regardless of display tech. But even as someone using dual 42" C2s daily for work, I would still not recommend it for OPs needs.
 
improwise said:
Not horrible with the correct settings and still noticeable better than QD-OLED, but still no match for a good IPS which would be my recommendation for OP for many reasons. Should also be said that any 42" with only 4K would look kind of bad compared to a smaller monitor with 4K regardless of display tech.
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Perhaps just due to density. Perhaps with subpixel rendering completely off (which is likely).
 
kramnelis said:
They are not related. Invisible flickers still cause eyestrain.

60Hz or 240Hz monitors can cause eye strain the same way when they have cheap 1000Hz PWM flickering backlight. This is why DC dimming is the best.
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Sources?
 
cjcox said:
But horrible for text
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Compared to? Fringing is rarely an issue and happens only in specific color combinations, and only if you're looking for it. It doesnt make the text unreadable and I doubt anyone would notice sitting at the right distance.
4k@42 inches has the same pixel density as 1440p@27 inches, so text is rendered well and is sharp enough.

The C2, unlike majority of overpriced garbage LCDs you can get for the same prices, has:
-Support to all relevant colorspaces like sRGB, AdobeRGB and DCI-P3, and it's very accurate
-Access to 10 or 22 white point calibration, meaning you can achieve reference color accuracy with the right tools
-Great uniformity and arguably superior black levels, you'll have real blacks and no grey gradients, like all IPS monitors
-Real HDR, in the off-chance you need to calibrate for it. NO LCD display at the same price will give you HDR this good

And if you want to play games on it, you get: extremely low lag, anti-blur features, high refresh rates and VRR. Features a dedicated professional monitor would lack. It's hard to beat all these features, it does everything so well and they're heavily discounted right now, so I would consider it.
 
LG OLEDs are also used as reference monitors in the video industry - i'm not in that industry myself, but adjacent, and thats what i have seen/heard
 
tongshadow said:
Compared to? Fringing is rarely an issue and happens only in specific color combinations, and only if you're looking for it. It doesnt make the text unreadable and I doubt anyone would notice sitting at the right distance.
4k@42 inches has the same pixel density as 1440p@27 inches, so text is rendered well and is sharp enough.

The C2, unlike majority of overpriced garbage LCDs you can get for the same prices, has:
-Support to all relevant colorspaces like sRGB, AdobeRGB and DCI-P3, and it's very accurate
-Access to 10 or 22 white point calibration, meaning you can achieve reference color accuracy with the right tools
-Great uniformity and arguably superior black levels, you'll have real blacks and no grey gradients, like all IPS monitors
-Real HDR, in the off-chance you need to calibrate for it. NO LCD display at the same price will give you HDR this good

And if you want to play games on it, you get: extremely low lag, anti-blur features, high refresh rates and VRR. Features a dedicated professional monitor would lack. It's hard to beat all these features, it does everything so well and they're heavily discounted right now, so I would consider it.
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I did update to point out pixel density and getting rid of ClearType or equivalents altogether.

Edit: actually having looked a pixel density and text captures, I'm going to double down and say it's an issue. I think if the panel were just a bit smaller, it would be better in that regard. I guess 42" is a lot better than say 55", but IMHO, you'll still notice. I think 34" might be the "right" size (?). People running 4K tend to do a lot of scaling, etc. So YMMV.

(btw, I'm an LG OLED owner, but I have a 55", which is way too large)

Obviously there are diminishing returns if you have to move away to make things "go away". One could argue using the higher density of your phone and strap it to your face.
 
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cjcox said:
I did update to point out pixel density and getting rid of ClearType or equivalents altogether.

Edit: actually having looked a pixel density and text captures, I'm going to double down and say it's an issue. I think if the panel were just a bit smaller, it would be better in that regard. I guess 42" is a lot better than say 55", but IMHO, you'll still notice. I think 34" might be the "right" size (?). People running 4K tend to do a lot of scaling, etc. So YMMV.

(btw, I'm an LG OLED owner, but I have a 55", which is way too large)

Obviously there are diminishing returns if you have to move away to make things "go away". One could argue using the higher density of your phone and strap it to your face.
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Now, while I think overall the C2/C3 is hard to beat (believe me, I've tried to find better alternatives since I got it and failed), if text is really important and you don't use benefits like low input lag etc, I would switch mine to smaller IPS monitors in a heart beat. Things might change if/when we get something like a 32" 4K C2, or a an 8K larger one. Sometimes I switch back to my 27" 4K Acer X27 and marvel about how good text looks (and the brightness) and today there are even better alternatives.

Now, I should point out that I am a coder, and have almost zero experience with graphic design etc so can't really comment on the merits of LG OLEDs for that. But with a glossy panel, calibration options etc I would imagine it could be really good for that as well.
 
Dell g3223q - precalibrated, on special often, good colours, 4K, 144hz, IPS, 32 inch
 
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OLEDs are great. But for graphic design, colour accurate displays are king. And imho it is both easier, and more affordable, to get a well factory calibrated LCD than OLED. Because as nice as the LG C series displays are, they are not calibrated well outta the box. At least not for graphics design work. If you own the tools to calibrate, like a colorimeter, no worries... but otherwise I would go with something like the recommendation from Keljian

That said, if your not working in an environment where colour accuracy is super important, and 3D modelling doesn't usually require the accuracy of say print work, then I would go with a C series OLED as well so long as you like working with a giant display. If not that, the Dell recommended is a great display and Dell also lets you can tack on an awesome warranty so that if anything goes wrong Dell will just takes care of it. And finally the BenQ you found, seems to review really well and comes with a pretty sweet looking arm, so you can hardly go wrong there either.
 
tongshadow said:
If text looks crappy on the C2/C3, it's due to chroma subsampling and not using PC mode, that gives uncompressed colors. Most people forget to enable PC Mode and get a sub-optimal picture.

https://tftcentral.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/chroma_422.jpg?x38099
https://tftcentral.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/chroma_444.jpg?x38099

I have a 27" 1440p/240hz LCD and text looks just as good.
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Nah it's due to the pixel structure not being a good fit for standard RGB/BGR subpixel smoothing. I don't feel it's a major issue on the LG OLEDs especially if you are using 125% scaling.

I still would not recommend an OLED for a professional artist. You are likely to work with a good bit of static content, e.g a typical 3DSMax layout has you working in one viewport while the others remain static.
 
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