New Graphic Tablet, Let The Frustration Begin

[smoke665]

After much consideration, I'm easing into using a tablet. Went with a moderately inexpensive XP-Pen Star 03 Pro. Set up was pretty easy, but the documentation sucks. You have to download driver and manual, which wouldn't be bad except their manual is only 5 tiny pages with minimal information leaving you to hunt for the settings. Once set up though it seems pretty straight forward, I did have to slow the response considerably to match my "older" response time. One thing that's causing some issue with "unlearning", is I got in the habit of using two hands with the touchpad and a wireless mouse simultaneously using function of both. Using the tablet disables the touchpad, leaving me tapping away with my left hand on a dead pad.

 

[Derrel]

You'll have it down pretty soon .

 

[tirediron]

Once you get used to it, you'll find life is much, much better!

 

[smoke665]

Funny story....... As I said the documentation sucks. What little bit they had in the quick start showed peeling off the protective film on different parts, but no where did it mention to remove the film on tablet pad. After it scrunched up a little when I applied more pressure, I decided it shouldn't be on there, and peeled it off. Whoa doggie what a difference that made.

 

[JBPhotog]

Welcome to the world of tablet retouching. Vastly superior to any other method unless of course your budget permits a Wacom Cintiq.

 

[smoke665]

Welcome to the world of tablet retouching. Vastly superior to any other method unless of course your budget permits a Wacom Cintiq

Budget is pretty good right now,we've been cleaning out a storage building, selling off things we don't need or use. Unfortunately my wish list has gotten longer, as GAS seems to always expand to exceed available dollars!!!

 

[smoke665]

Just did all the editing for some images in Lr and Ps using the tablet. All was going well until my brushes stopped working. 20, mins spent researching it online, another 20 mins. checking/re-checking settings, and rebooting computer, only to finally notice the brush had a negative sign in the middle. + means add, - means subtract. Lightbulb went on in the old farts brain, the pen has a toggle for eraser next to the toggle for alt. My big club thumb apparently hit the eraser toggle. Toggled the eraser and the brushes magically started working.

 

[Original katomi]

I use the Wacom ,,, whatever,, original graphics pad so much better than touch pad on the lap top or mouse.
I looked at my graphic pad it’s a Wacom bamboo

 

[JBPhotog]

Just did all the editing for some images in Lr and Ps using the tablet. All was going well until my brushes stopped working. 20, mins spent researching it online, another 20 mins. checking/re-checking settings, and rebooting computer, only to finally notice the brush had a negative sign in the middle. + means add, - means subtract. Lightbulb went on in the old farts brain, the pen has a toggle for eraser next to the toggle for alt. My big club thumb apparently hit the eraser toggle. Toggled the eraser and the brushes magically started working.

Check to see if you can change the function of the toggle. I have my Wacom toggle set up for Brush size(lower toggle) and Sample(upper toggle). To change the brush size just hold the toggle down and swipe left or right, to change softness swipe up or down, IIRC as I have had this feature setup for a number of years. The upper toggle to sample comes in handy for clone work and for brush work when you want to sample a colour then brush it in.

Enjoy, tablets are super fun for retouching, I’d probably give up if I had to go back to using a mouse, lol.

 

[smoke665]

@JBPhotog I opted for the size on the Xp-Pen, over the Wacom, but I'm finding that it may not have as many features. The two buttons on the pen can be changed but the options are limited, brush size not being one of the options. I don't really mind using the bottom one set to eraser, because as I found out you can quickly change brushes from add to subtract. Strangely it also changes the scroll bar on the side, to go the reverse of the direction you pull it.The

 

[JBPhotog]

@smoke665, check your keyboard shortcuts for pen options IIRC brush size is Option+Command which you may be able to assign to the toggle.

FWIW, I very rarely erase anything, the best approach is to apply it at a low flow or opacity depending on what you want to do with the brush. Keeping in mind you can Command+Z to go back one step or Option+Command+Z to go back further.