Use your Wacom tablet to change the brush size
By Cher Threinen-PendarvisThis month's tip is the third in a series that shows you how to customize your Wacom® tablet to your work with Corel® Painter™. In this tip, you'll learn how to modify a tablet key so that you can change your brush size interactively, on the fly, as you paint.
When painting Seaside Agaves, shown here as a detail, I used brushes from the Artists' Oils and RealBristle Brushes categories.
Step 1. Set up Wacom® tablet preferences for Corel® Painter™. You can set up Wacom tablet preferences for all applications (the default choice), or you can set them specifically for Corel Painter. To begin, start Corel Painter. The program needs to be running so that the Wacom control panel can locate it. After you start Corel Painter, open the Wacom control panel. In the Tool area, click Functions. In the Application area, click the plus sign (+) button to open the Select Application window.
The plus sign button in the Application area
In the Select Application window, click Corel Painter X to highlight it, and then click OK to close the window.
The Select Application window
Step 2. Set a tablet key for controlling brush size interactively. You can resize your brush on the fly by pressing Command + Option (Mac OS®) or Ctrl + Alt (Windows®). You will see the cursor change to a crosshair. Drag to create a circle that matches the brush size you want.
You can set a tablet key to allow instant access to this resizing function.
Begin by clicking Functions in the Wacom Tablet window, and then choose the ExpressKeys tab. The following illustration shows the default ExpressKeys setup for the Wacom® Intuos® 3 tablet, which has four keys on each side.
Default settings for the ExpressKeys
In the ExpressKeys window, click a key that you want to customize. (I chose the right side and the longer vertical key at the top.) Click the pop-up menu for the key, and choose Modifier from the menu. When the Modifier window appears, choose Option Key and Command Key if you're a Mac OS user, or Shift Key and Control Key if you're a Windows user. Click OK to close the window.
ExpressKeys pop-up menu
Modifier key options for the brush-resizing shortcut
Step 3. Try out your new custom key. Choose the Brush tool in Corel Painter, and the Real Oils Short variant of the RealBristle Brushes. Make brushstrokes on your image. You can see the Enhanced Brush Ghost in the following image.
I used the Real Oils Short variant of the RealBristle Brushes category to paint a stroke on the beach.
If you using the Intuos3 Grip Pen, the Enhanced Brush Ghost gives you feedback on the tilt and bearing of the stylus. If you are use the Wacom® 6D Art Pen, the Enhanced Brush Ghost also provides feedback on the rotation. When you want to change your brush size, press the tablet key that you customized, and drag your stylus to get the brush size you want. Continue painting with your resized brush.
You can paint finer strokes by pressing the custom key and dragging to reduce the brush size.
Congratulations! You have learned how to use a custom tablet key to interactively resize your brush while you work. Happy painting!
All content and images © 2007 by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis.
An award-winning artist and author, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis has always worked with traditional art tools. A pioneer in digital art, Cher has created illustrations using the Macintosh® computer for two decades. She has been widely recognized for her mastery of Corel® Painter™, Adobe® Photoshop®, and the Wacom® pressure-sensitive tablet, and she has used these electronic tools since they were ?rst released. Exercising her passion for the artist tools in Corel Painter, Cher has worked as a consultant and demo-artist for the Corel Painter developers. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide, and her articles and art have been published in many books and periodicals. Cher holds a BFA with Highest Honors and Distinction in Art with a specialization in painting and printmaking, and she is a member of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild. She has taught Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop workshops around the world and is the principal of the consulting ?rm Cher Threinen Design.
Cher is the author of The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting and all eight editions of The Painter Wow! Book. The Painter X Wow! Book is the latest edition of this highly praised volume of techniques and inspiration.
To learn more about Cher, visit her Web site at www.pendarrvis-studios.com.