[1] What is a Pen Tablet?

A "Pen Tablet" is a tool that allows you to operate the cursor on a PC by drawing with a pen against a tablet.

 

It is difficult to draw illustrations with a mouse, but with a pen tablet, you can draw illustrations as naturally as it feels when drawing with a pen or a pencil on paper. It is an essential tool for drawing digital illustrations on a computer.

 

Besides the pen tablet, there are other kinds of tablets that allow you to draw illustrations on a computer.

 

There is an "LCD Pen Display Tablet” where the pen tablet is an LCD monitor that you can directly draw on and a “Tablet PC" where you can draw directly on the computer screen.

These options are more expensive than pen tablets, but quite popular because the drawing experience is closer to that of drawing on paper when compared to the experience of drawing on a traditional pen tablet.

 

[2] Awesome features of Pen Tablets!

■ Pen Pressure Sensitivity is Amazing!

 

In addition to drawing lines, the pen tablet can sense the amount of pen pressure applied to it.

 

If the application supports pen pressure sensitivity, the size and color of the brush will change according to the brush’s pen pressure. This allows you to create digital lines with the distinct nuance of traditional lines. Depending on the model, not only does it sense pen pressure, but it also senses the tilt and orientation of the pen further allowing you to produce complicated line expression like drawing by hand.

Note: Pen sensitivity features such as pen pressure, pen tilt, and the direction of the pen, vary depending on the manufacturer and model.For further details, please refer to the owner's manual, etc. of your pen tablet.

 

 

 

■ Useful Buttons Galore!

 

There are also tablet and pen models in which you can assign various functions to its buttons.

Some models even recognize the top button, opposite the pen tip, as the eraser when drawing.

 

< Frequently Used Settings >

• Side Buttons: We recommend registering your most frequently used tools to these such as the eyedropper, the eraser, undo, etc.

• Top or Eraser Button: Most commonly used as an eraser, but you can also use its soft touch, originating from the spring inside it, for soft brushes such as the Airbrush.

• Function Keys: These are useful for settings such as using the TAB key for the temporary hiding of tools that display on the canvas when in full screen, switching target monitors operated with the pen in a multi-monitor environment, or registering the call-up On-Screen Controls, etc.

• Touch Ring: Since you can alter the state of your current work by sliding your finger around the ring, it’s helpful to register it with a canvas operation-based shortcut such as zoom in/out or rotation.

You can also change the brush size by registering a shortcut that alters the size of the brush.

 

 

 

■ Let's use On-Screen Controls

 

In addition to hardware buttons, the pen tablet is also equipped with a digital function, called “On-Screen Control”, that allows you to use digital buttons temporarily displayed on the screen.

The On-Screen Control has many buttons, so you can register even more tools and operations.

 

There are various customizable menus such as Radial Menus and Pull-down Menus in the On-Screen Control, but in this article, we will introduce the easy to set up and understand Radial Menu.

 

You can register up to 8 tools and operations at a time, and use further hierarchizing to register up to 8 × 8 = 64 tools and operations.

By registering the operation to call up the Radial Menu to the pen's side button or the tablet's function keys, you can efficiently utilize a lot of tools and operations with the pen tablet alone.

Note: The buttons and the functions that you can set depend on the manufacturer and model. For further details, please refer to the owner's manual, etc. of your pen tablet.

 

When you master the pen tablet, the computer becomes an even more useful tool, enriching your life, imagination and more!