Any plans in the near future for a user guide for editing on a Wacom? I hear great things about these for photo editing.
Last edited:
Wacom video request for Steve
- Thread starter Jerryjaws
- Start date
If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).
I love mine... Steve has the screen version (I've seen it in some of his video's) It's made a world of difference in being able to clean up some trouble spots that you just cant do with a mouse.
I just bought a Wacom tablet (think of it as a BIG tracking pad with a pen) and I'm in the learning curve process with it. I can see how it will be advantageous.
That would be great! I have just bought one and can see the advantages, but I am not happy with the videos I have watched on setting it to work with your work flow. Would be keen to see how Steve uses his, although mine is not a screen type.
Bill Schone
Well-known member
Hey Gordon you have a Wacom tablet, how about you do a video for us? Your owl was pretty impressive!
I have been considering one as well. I am really starting to switch from beginner techniques to what I would consider more advanced in Photoshop. I have learned a TON in the last 6 months to a year. What I am struggling with when considering this 300+ dollars is what I can do with it so much better than with only a mouse? Can one of you owners give a good example of something that is not doable or would have taken tons more time with a mouse vs. your tablet? Thanks
The truth is there's little that can't be performed with the mouse alone but the pen tablet does make things more fluid and can save some key strokes.
Examples include using the pressure sensitive pen to modulate: opacity, flow or even brush size so that selected brush settings change depending on whether you use a light press or a harder press. That can help make Photoshop or Lightroom brushes mimic actual paint brushes and minimize reaching for the keyboard to change settings or having to leave the current area you're brushing to make mouse changes to those settings. The pen can also make it easier to do precise editing work with more finesse compared to using the mouse. It's a lot like actually painting or drawing with a pen vs painting or drawing with a bar of soap in your hand
Obviously we can do a lot of good editing work with the mouse and realistically it's what I do for simpler brushing work but when things get very detailed, for instance with some complex layer masking work, I'll use the pen tablet every time for more fine control. One place I find the pen tablet real handy is when finalizing layer masks while blending tracked astrophotography images. When blending the tracked star shot against a more complex foreground shot with things like tree branches or jagged mountain ridges I can usually get close using luminosity masks but generally need to do some fine touch up work where the foreground elements meet the sky. The pen tablet is very useful for this kind of fine masking work and at least for me makes it a lot easier than using the mouse.
There are other features built into high end pen tablets like the rocker switch on Wacom pens that allow you assign keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl-Z (Cmd-Z on a Mac) to quickly undo the last brush stroke without reaching for the keyboard or using the backside of the pen as an eraser to quickly fix errors. The assignable buttons on the left edge of my Wacom tablet are also handy for minimizing the need to reach for the keyboard.
The absolute positioning aspect of pen tablets is also a bit of a blessing and a curse. It changes the way we have to think about mouse movements as points on the tablet are hard mapped to positions across the monitor's display so you can't just make multiple sweeps in the same area of the tablet to move all the way across your screen the way we do with a mouse. That can take some getting used to but it also helps when doing precision brush work.
But in the end it's just a different interface into the computer's mouse functions so for someone with a steady hand and a lot of mouse practice the pen tablet doesn't really turn something impossible into something possible, it just makes it more fluid, a bit more intuitive and adds some convenience features.
Thern
Well-known member
Any of you guys use the Loupedeck + console?
Together with a Pen tablet it speeds things really up.
loupedeck.com
I’ve been using Palettegear, but in the end I didn’t like it
It’s marvellous since you can shape and append controls freely (every module is magnetic) but it’s also bulky as a result of the modularity.
monogramcc.com
For the LR users there’s a cheap very well working alternative to the former options
rsjaffe.github.io
Last but certainly not least are the Contour ShuttleXpress or ShuttlePro controllers.
contour-design.co.uk
Together with a Pen tablet it speeds things really up.
Loupedeck+ - Easy Editing For Beginners & Pros
Loupedeck+ is an ergonomic, easy-to-use editing console, perfect for heavy Lightroom Classic users. Speed up your photo editing today!
loupedeck.com
I’ve been using Palettegear, but in the end I didn’t like it
It’s marvellous since you can shape and append controls freely (every module is magnetic) but it’s also bulky as a result of the modularity.
How it Works
Creative Console provides a fast and simple set up with magnetically connecting modules and a user-friendly app.
monogramcc.com
For the LR users there’s a cheap very well working alternative to the former options
MIDI2LR by rsjaffe
Last but certainly not least are the Contour ShuttleXpress or ShuttlePro controllers.
Contour ShuttleXpress – Perfect for editing audio, images and video
ShuttleXpress is a compact multimedia controller and the perfect work tool for audio, image and video editing programmes/applications.
contour-design.co.uk
Last edited:
Probably should leave that to someone that's a better teacher than I.... LOL. I will say I find the tablet irreplaceable when doing touchup... but everyone is different.. The pressure sensitive and flow sensitive functions allow you to touch up area's that you just can not do with a mouse... it makes blending SO much easier.
My Cintiq is really old - it wouldn't make a good demo. Honestly, I agree with DR about this - anymore there's not much you can't do with a mouse. I don't even have that thing hooked up anymore. Masking has just gotten so much better (or I've gotten better at it) that I just don't have much use for it. I'd sell it if it didn't weigh 100 lbs.
I have a medium Wacom intous Pro but I have only dabbled with a painting program and now it collects dust nect to my 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse Pro. I really should learn to use it with LRC.
I don't find it that useful in Lightroom so far, mostly because I primarily use the sliders and the mouse and keyboard are better for that. But in Photoshop for anything that involves the brush or selection tools it can be very useful. Especially when actually painting with it.
One decision to make is whether you want the more expensive one that responds not only to pressure and position but also to tilt to vary the brush edge. I think unless you are painting you don't need the tilt.
If you don't use pressure to control brush size and/or flow a mouse can be just as accurate by zooming in enough, but the pen once you get used to it can feel natural. At first it feels very clumsy.
Last edited:
That is an excellent tutorial. I'd also recommend this one. Just remember that undo is now ctrl z not ctrl alt z that he uses in the video.
How to Set Up and Use a Wacom Tablet
Can't figure out how to setup your Wacom Intuous Pro in Photoshop? We'll show you how – and Wacom Pen and how it can improve your Photoshop skills.
phlearn.com
Last edited:
I also have a medium Wacom intous Pro. I guess I just don't have the patience for it. I tried using it for two days and gave up on it. I found it difficult to adjust to and counter-intuitive. I put it in a drawer and haven't looked at it since. Everything I'd read said to put your mouse away and use it for two weeks, but I just couldn't. FWIW, I really have not run across anything in LRc that I can't do with a mouse.
I am learning about and starting to try masking layers in Lightroom and was thinking in refining the selection areas that maybe the Waco would be more accurate than a mouse.
It would not be more accurate, but maybe a little easier once you get over learning to use it. Zooming gives as much accuracy as you want with a mouse, plus clicking the Automask on or off, plus the controls of the masking brush. The Wacom is worth having, but a mouse is just as accurate.
Photoshop is still champ for masking though, and you already own it.
I do not know why but I have trouble working with Photoshop, I picked up the Affinity Photo software and it seems more… intuitive? But I do not know how well it works with Lightroom so I do ALL my editing in Lightroom, now I just need to watch Steve’s Lightroom videos.
With the new Lightroom masking tools it really improves selections, so until you need layers or adjustment layers or advanced selection ability for masking you should be fine until you want to do something lightroom can't do.
If you want to dip your toe in you could try something as simple as duplicating the background layer, right click to convert to smart object, and adding a camera raw filter to it. This then looks almost exactly like Lightroom with the same tools you are accustomed to, but you can then add a mask to this layer and use the advanced masking tools to apply it to just the area you want to selectively adjust.
I expect there are enough differences with individual hand/eye/spatial coordination ability that could affect how easily someone adapts to a tablet. When I got my first Wacom I learned by excsively playing games (such as solitaire) with the pen only. It really helped me get used to the feel. I still use the mouse for 90% of my daily computing, but when it comes to masking and tasks like dodge/burn it is 99% the pen. I love the tablet/pen, but I rairly use the tablet keys. The left hand kprefers the keyboard.
In the piximperfect video posted above, he talks about assigning the w and e keys as shortcuts for the reduce and enlarge brush size. This puts them near my left hand already positioned near the ctrl, alt, shift, z, and r keys, most of what I need when a pen is in the right hand.
TJ McG
New member
I don't remember when I got my first Intuos, but I just replaced it with the latest version, my third one, not because there was anything wrong with it, but because it was no longer supported by the latest driver.
Using a tablet is like drawing on paper, and to me is much more natural than a mouse. Pressure sensitivity alone is worth the price of admission for me.
Using a tablet is like drawing on paper, and to me is much more natural than a mouse. Pressure sensitivity alone is worth the price of admission for me.