Customizing a Wacom Tablet - DPChallenge Forums

10/14/2013 10:48:54 PM · #1

Curious, for those of you with a Wacom Tablet with assignable keys, what keys do you find work best for you to have on your shortcut buttons.

Right now for Photoshop, I'm just using the bottom 4 buttons which I have set for:

- Pan/Scroll so I can move around the image easily
- New Layer
- Duplicate Layer
- Create Layer Mask

The scroll wheel I cycle between zoom/magnify and brush size

Have no idea what to use the top four buttons for, so they're going to waste. Looking for some ideas from you guys.

pamb

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

10/14/2013 10:58:24 PM · #2

You use buttons?

:)

10/14/2013 11:00:09 PM · #3

I like buttons just as much as you like knobs.

pamb

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

10/14/2013 11:05:32 PM · #4

Public bantering now, are we? Get girded.

10/14/2013 11:10:13 PM · #5

Originally posted by pamb:

Public bantering now, are we? Get girded.

:)

Jest aside...do you use the buttons on your Intuos, and if so, how have you customized yours?

Message edited by author 2013-10-14 23:11:33.

pamb

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

10/14/2013 11:13:40 PM · #6

Actually I haven't, though I probably should. I use the pen in my right hand and a bunch of keyboard shortcuts with my left.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

10/14/2013 11:24:42 PM · #7

Originally posted by pamb:

Actually I haven't, though I probably should. I use the pen in my right hand and a bunch of keyboard shortcuts with my left.

Ditto. I've never seen the point of the buttons in my workflow and do not use them...

Devinder

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/15/2013 12:10:43 AM · #8

My lightroom uses "survey mode" scroll forward and back to allocate more files to survey view. flag/red/green labels/survey mode. settings, pick/unpick so theres big parts where i don't even use the keyboard.

10/15/2013 10:42:49 AM · #9

Off the top of my head, I think mine are brush size (enlarge/shrink), zoom, duplicate layer, clone, dodge/burn, alt, spacebar.

I'm left handed, so I use the spacebar, dodge/burn, alt, duplicate layer and zoom on the right hand side for my free hand and keep the clone (which I tend to use in spurts) and the brush size on the left hand side. Keeping my main navigational tools on the right means it speeds up movement quite a bit, and the main reason I enjoy a tablet is for heavy dodge/burn for a more nuanced and careful approach, plus the increased ease of use for any cloning due to the fine motor control.

Not at my normal comp at current so can't verify, but I'm pretty sure that's what I last had it at.

10/15/2013 10:50:31 AM · #10

Couldn't quite figure out why the defaults were Alt, Shift and Ctrl. Not sure how that would work with the pen.

Message edited by author 2013-10-15 11:09:24.

10/15/2013 11:03:38 AM · #11

Originally posted by Garry:

Couldn't quite figure out why the defaults were Shit...

Indeed...not sure where that would be useful... ;0

They modify other tools, is why. Alt is very useful for my own uses personally. Alt will toggle dodge/burn, zoom in/out, and also sets your source point for cloning. The others are useful as well, but I use alt the most in my approach.

10/15/2013 11:10:48 AM · #12

Stupid question, but how does it "toggle" dodge and burn and zooming? (Unfamiliar with PS, still learning).

10/15/2013 11:17:21 AM · #13

Say you're not using a tablet and you're using just a normal keyboard. Hit Z, and you select zoom (in). Hit Alt, and you now zoom (out).
With Dodge/Burn, if you select the tool (however you want to do that is up to you), then hold alt, it will select the opposite of what was initially selected, preserving brush size and your last used setting (IIRC). So you select dodge/burn, with it already being set to dodge. So you merrily go about dodging, then as you're going you want to burn a bit so you hold alt and your pen now burns. The usefulness of this goes back to your other thread regarding your approach to dodge/burn.

10/15/2013 11:18:41 AM · #14

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

That's very useful to know! Thanks!

10/15/2013 11:32:38 AM · #15

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

ETA: I also have undo/redo on my left hand side. Forgot about those.