Just got the Wacom intuos4

vimeto · 10-16-2012, 04:29 PM

Just got intuos4, and I did make sure I investigated before I bought it. I've been practicing a littlebit with it, and realized that I do like it way more than using a mouse. I was wondering if somebody that uses graphic tablets to do their retouching can give me some tips on how to get the best results.

thanks in advance!

panoguy · 10-16-2012, 06:07 PM

I've been using tablets for retouching since the "Wacom SD/UD" days (early 90's), and I currently use an Intuos4. What application are you using it with, primarily?

The first thing to do is get the "light up" control buttons onto to the side of your resting (non-drawing) hand. Look in the Wacom control panel for Mapping options to set which way the display faces. Next, for retouching, keep the Mapping on "Pen" and if your screen isn't the same aspect ratio (4:3 or "HD" 16:9) as your tablet, you'll want to use a portion of the tablet area to get 1:1 correlation (otherwise you could be drawing ovals instead of circles!). The out-of-the-box settings for the ExpressKeys and TouchRing (such silly names) should be fine to start out with...

After that, the best thing to do is play around with it, since it typically takes some getting used to (looking at the screen while drawing elsewhere, or pulling down menus, etc.). Many of the tools in Photoshop have pressure-sensitive options (for brush size, opacity, etc.) but you may want to hold off on using those options until you are comfortable with just using the pen.

Another thing I've done forever is put my tablet on my desk to the side of my keyboard, so I can still hit the spacebar to pan around and hit my shortcuts (esp. the numeric keyboard for opacity!) with my other hand. Like anything, you might be more comfortable with it in your lap... I don't know, that just drives me nuts.

vimeto · 10-17-2012, 07:36 PM

cool! i'm using it with my laptop. i only have a little desk, so the tablet is where the keyboard would be if i had a desktop. I use it with photoshop cs5 and elements 10, and also corel painter. i'm trying to use the pen for everything right now. i even wrote this post with it because i want to get better at using. i'm mostly going to use it to retouch the pictures i take though.

thanks. i will do all this riight now. :-)

10-16-2012, 04:29 PM	#1
vimeto Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: ct Photos: Gallery Posts: 146	Just got the Wacom intuos4 Just got intuos4, and I did make sure I investigated before I bought it. I've been practicing a littlebit with it, and realized that I do like it way more than using a mouse. I was wondering if somebody that uses graphic tablets to do their retouching can give me some tips on how to get the best results. thanks in advance!

10-16-2012, 06:07 PM	#2
panoguy Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,327	I've been using tablets for retouching since the "Wacom SD/UD" days (early 90's), and I currently use an Intuos4. What application are you using it with, primarily? The first thing to do is get the "light up" control buttons onto to the side of your resting (non-drawing) hand. Look in the Wacom control panel for Mapping options to set which way the display faces. Next, for retouching, keep the Mapping on "Pen" and if your screen isn't the same aspect ratio (4:3 or "HD" 16:9) as your tablet, you'll want to use a portion of the tablet area to get 1:1 correlation (otherwise you could be drawing ovals instead of circles!). The out-of-the-box settings for the ExpressKeys and TouchRing (such silly names) should be fine to start out with... After that, the best thing to do is play around with it, since it typically takes some getting used to (looking at the screen while drawing elsewhere, or pulling down menus, etc.). Many of the tools in Photoshop have pressure-sensitive options (for brush size, opacity, etc.) but you may want to hold off on using those options until you are comfortable with just using the pen. Another thing I've done forever is put my tablet on my desk to the side of my keyboard, so I can still hit the spacebar to pan around and hit my shortcuts (esp. the numeric keyboard for opacity!) with my other hand. Like anything, you might be more comfortable with it in your lap... I don't know, that just drives me nuts. Last edited by panoguy; 10-16-2012 at 06:12 PM.

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10-17-2012, 07:36 PM	#3
vimeto Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: ct Photos: Gallery Posts: 146 Original Poster	cool! i'm using it with my laptop. i only have a little desk, so the tablet is where the keyboard would be if i had a desktop. I use it with photoshop cs5 and elements 10, and also corel painter. i'm trying to use the pen for everything right now. i even wrote this post with it because i want to get better at using. i'm mostly going to use it to retouch the pictures i take though. thanks. i will do all this riight now. :-)