Graphic Tablets

**John Brownlow** · 3-Apr-2006, 10:39

how to you wacom veterans use the pressure sensitivity with photoshop? is there any standard set of variables to control with it?

I use the defaults in OS X, which is for pressure to control the brush size. This works very well for cloning. Once in a while I will switch pressure to control opacity, which is useful for painting on a layer mask if you are trying to finesse and adjustment layer.

EG select a region you want to darken

add an adjustment layer with the relevant area masked in

paint on the layer mask using variable opacity and the airbrush tool to finesse the area the mask applies to -- very like burning or dodging

**Ted Harris** · 3-Apr-2006, 10:47

I have been using an Intuous II for several years and, like others have siad, find it excellent to do fine deteail work. I use the 6x8 model, found the 4x5 way too small and the others take up too much desktop real estate. That said, I also long ago gave up on mice and use a Kensington 'Expert Mouse' trackball for much of my PS work. The billard bal sized ball and smooth movement make very fine control easy.

**paul stimac** · 3-Apr-2006, 11:33

If you have the money buy a tablet pc. There's nothing better for editing photos than actually being able to use the pen right on the screen.... I bought mine (toshiba) with fairly fast processer for cheaper than you can buy a cintiq monitor.

**Paul Droluk** · 4-Apr-2006, 01:21

I started off, as most do, with a mouse. I migrated to a Kensington PRO trackball, which I swore by for many years. I then picked up both the 4x5 and 6x8 Intuos tablets... the 6x8 for PS and the 4x5 for everything else. My desk hasn't seen a mouse or trackball since I got the tablets about three years ago. I find them amazingly natural to use for all of my applications. PS, word processing, spreadsheets, page layout, web browsing and the like. As I'm not a game player I can't comment on that usage, but I would never go back to a mouse or trackball for anything that I do. The only hiccup is when someone else needs to get on my computor (web-designer or such)... while I found the transition very natural, some folks seem to have a really hard time adapting to them.

**Percy** · 4-Apr-2006, 11:26

Strange, but I bought a wacom for 345 bucks a few years ago, and have very rarely used it for anything. I am actually quite comfortable ( and used to) editing with a mouse and my wrong (pronounced "right" ) hand. Go figure.

**Joe_5571** · 4-Apr-2006, 19:45

Take a look at the Wacom Cintique.

Beyond description. I've had mine for nearly 2 years, and can't imagine how I got along without it.

(No, I don't work for Wacom) LOL