Suggested Wacom Tablet Setup
Wacom's Intuos and Cintiq tablets feature so-called ExpressKeys and TouchStrips, as well as two buttons on the stylus itself. All fully customizable, these can be a great asset to the digital painter. This tutorial offers one possible tablet setup for Adobe Photoshop users.
Problems
Cintiq monitor tablets and most Intuos3 tablets feature two sets of keys and strips. However, many artists complain that their dominant hand tends to accidentally brush against one set, and these are often turned off as a result. The situation is worse for owners of the Intuos3 4x5, which doesn't feature the right-side keys and strip at all. In either case, many artists are limited to a total of eight configurable parts--four ExpressKeys, two ends of the TouchStrip, and the two rocker buttons on the stylus.
To make matters worse, Photoshop's hotkeys are not fully customizable. For instance, tool hotkeys must be exactly one letter, and hotkeys for other functions must contain ctrl. These limitations make it even more difficult to include all useful hotkeys in the tablet's eight functions.
Solutions
One way to expand the shortcut possibities is to download a free application such as AutoHotkey (http://www.hotkey.com). Once it is downloaded and installed, right-click the green H icon in the system tray and click "Window Spy." Leaving the resulting window open, set up the Photoshop window as usual and place the mouse over the foreground color box. Take note of the two numbers that appear after "On Screen:". Then copy and paste the following text into AutoHotkey's script. (Make sure to replace both instances of "20, 400" with the two numbers that Window Spy provided.)
CoordMode, Mouse
#z::Run www.autohotkey.com
; Color Picker
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
^space::Click 20, 400
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
^space::Click 20, 400
; Toggle Menus
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
!Z::Send {Tab}
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
!Z::Send {Tab}
; Smudge Tool
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
^b::Send {R}
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
^b::Send {R}
; Eraser Tool
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
!B::Send {E}
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
!B::Send {E}
; Switch Colors
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
^]::Send {X}
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
^]::Send {X}
; Default Colors
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
^[::Send {D}
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
^[::Send {D}
; Flip Horizontal
#IfWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
!space::Send !^q
#IfWinActive ahk_class PSDocC
!space::Send !^q
Save changes, right-click the green H icon in the system tray, and hit "Reload Script." Now open Photoshop and go Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts. Change "Step Backward" from alt-ctrl-z to ctrl-z. (It can be found under "Application Menus" and the Edit submenu.) Change "Flip Canvas Horizontal" to alt-ctrl-q (under the Image > Rotate Canvas submenu).
If the system is running Windows, open "Wacom Tablet Properties" from the Control Panel. Configure the Photoshop options as follows:
- upper stylus rocker button: modifier > ctrl
- lower stylus rocker button: keystroke > {Ctrl}-{Alt}-0
- large left ExpressKey: keystroke > b
- upper right ExpressKey: keystroke > z
- middle right ExpressKey: modifier > alt
- large bottom ExpressKey: keystroke > {Space}
- upper TouchStrip: keystroke > ]
- lower TouchStrip: keystroke > [
List of Functions
Now Photoshop, AutoHotkey, and the Wacom tablet have been configured to allow most common hotkeys to be accessed without touching the keyboard. Here is a full list of functions that are now possible:
- Lower stylus rocker button zooms in or out to 100% size (Actual Pixels).
- Large left ExpressKey switches to Brush tool.
- Upper right ExpressKey switches to Zoom tool.
- Middle right ExpressKey temporarily switches to Eyedropper tool or causes Zoom tool to zoom out rather than in.
- Large bottom ExpressKey temporarily switches to Hand tool.
- Sliding up on the TouchStrip increases Brush size; the converse is also true.
- Upper stylus rocker button + upper right ExpressKey causes Photoshop to Step Back.
- Upper stylus rocker button + large left ExpressKey switches to Smudge tool.
- Upper stylus rocker button + middle right ExpressKey + click-and-drag duplicates current layer and moves duplicate.
- Upper stylus rocker buttom + large bottom ExpressKey opens Color Picker.
- Large left ExpressKey + middle right ExpressKey switches to Eraser tool.
- Upper right ExpressKey + middle right ExpressKey toggles palette visibility.
- Large bottom ExpressKey + middle right ExpressKey flips canvas horizontally.
- Upper stylus rocker button + tap upper TouchStrip switches foreground and background colors
- Upper stylus rocker button + tap lower TouchStrip restores default foreground and background colors (black and white).
The only major function not represented here is the F key, which toggles between Photoshop's three viewing modes. For unknown reasons, Photoshop does not allow AutoHotkey to make use of this shortcut.
- This page was last modified 04:56, 19 September 2006.
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