Working this way, you can buy the least expensive Wacom Tablet ( $79 on B&H) and work well, but there are benefits to getting the Pro models if you like to have even more shortcut options at your fingertips and have trouble remembering them all. My familiarity with the keyboard shortcuts means I am used to and work faster using my keyboard and Wacom tablet in tandem, using the tablet for the brushwork/mouse-work and the keyboard for most other things. Which tablet you use depends on how much customization you require and how you like to work with your keyboard. Within Capture One, it's most commonly used for zooming and changing brush size. There's a center button within the wheel, which lets you quickly cycle between four of your designated choices. On the Intuos Pro, the wheel can be programed to do a myriad of functions from scrolling, cycling layers, zooming, adjusting brush size, and rotating. The real benefits come in the form of the scroll wheel, the programmable hotkeys, and the fact that the tablet can be flipped for either right hand dominant users or lefties. While not required, the customization that can be achieved with a Pro tablet like you see here can be beneficial and always nice to have. With these settings alone, you can get some of the best out of the marriage of Capture One and Wacom tablet, and for many, this is as much as they need or want. In fact, these same Pen settings can be kept for Photoshop, and holding the button down and moving the pen on the tablet in Photoshop allows you to adjust the same parameters as in Capture One, just a bit more fluidly. As you begin to use one, you will naturally find what works best for you and your workflow, but here’s a sample to get you started immediately. It warrants bringing attention to the fact that natural feeling of using a pen aside, the benefits of speed and a more efficient workflow are achieved through customization of the tablets and pens, and they can be tailored to suit. And for those current Capture One users, this is by no means an exhaustive list think of this as a quick start guide where you can copy sample settings and get a glimpse at what’s possible.
Unlike Lightroom, Capture One has powerful layers and layer masks, and refined local adjustment tools that all take advantage of today’s pen tablets.įor those of you not yet using Capture One, this is an excellent time to download a full free trial to follow along. Wacom tablets have had the misfortune of being almost exclusively associated with Photoshop, but they can transform how you post-process in many applications, including Capture One. You can set this shortcut for anything I set mine at SHIFT+S, and overwrote another tool I don't use.The purpose and utility of a pen tablet is an obvious one: it’s an input device that brings to a computer interface the familiarity and natural experience of using a pen and paper, and that allows you to interact with your images in a way nothing else permits and heightens the user experience. Click in the shortcut box and type your shortcut. Go to Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts… and scroll until you see Smooth. Out of the box, Illustrator isn't set up with a keyboard shortcut for the smooth tool, so we just need to set one up. The 4 tools that can be set up as express keys on the tablet that are great for brush lettering in Illustrator are: the select tool (V), the brush tool (B), undo (CMD+Z) and the smooth tool.
With all of that said, this post is going to focus on how to get a Tombow marker-like brush pen effect using the Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch Tablet and Adobe Illustrator.Ī quick overview: I'm going to walk you through how to set up Illustrator and the express keys and then we can get to brush lettering! Configure Illustrator's Keyboard Shortcuts
I love them so much, in fact, that I created an Intro to Brush Lettering post with starter tips on how to practice, like how to get comfortable making thick-and-thin strokes. Second, my favorite kind of brush lettering so far is with the dual ended Tombow Markers. I just got the Wacom Tablet for my birthday (thanks, Mom and Dad!) so it is very new to me.