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Victor Von Wulfen
Victor Von Wulfen
Participant
August 23, 2020
Question

New to PS need advice setting up work space and tablet.

  • August 23, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 783 views

Hi all 🙂

Just started my sub for PS and could do with some advice setting up a workspace and tablet.

I have no previous experience with PS and using a tablet. I have used Autodesk sketchbook a little but not much.

I am interested in drawing and painting but I'm not very good 😞

I was recently inspired by the art style of a few games, Darkest Dungeon + Dark Bestiary to name a few.

I really love the dark art style of these titles and want to create my own characters with very subtle animations, so they can be saved as gifs or used in my own wallpapers to create scenes like a small village etc.

Now for a couple of questions.

1 When setting up your workspace in PS is there a setting that is tailored more to painting and drawing?

2 When I draw rather than smooth flowing lines they are jagged and jittery, how to achieve smooth flowing pen strokes?

3 I now have a tablet, a cintiq 13HD. How best to set this up with PS?

Is there a way to automatically set it up from within PS?

I did connect it earlier but could not work out how to reconfigure the side buttons so I can quickly rotate the canvas, zoom in and out and have a quick undo button (I will need this feature a lot lol).

Any advice to get me up and running is most welcome 🙂

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 23, 2020

Too many question. I'll focus on Workspaces & Toolbars.

 

You can start with one of the preset workspaces in Photoshop (see screenshot).

 

But I like to create my own workspace arrangement and save it. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/workspace-basics.html#save_and_switch_workspaces

 

Similarly, I create custom toolbar presets and save them for re-use in different projects.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
    Victor Von Wulfen
    Victor Von WulfenAuthor
    Participant
    August 25, 2020

    Many thanks 🙂

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 23, 2020

    Victor Von Wulfen wrote:

    “When setting up your workspace in PS is there a setting that is tailored more to painting and drawing?”

     

    Yes, in Photoshop choose Window > Workspace > Painting. That is a pre-configured workspace that optimizes the Tools panel and the panel layout for  painting and drawing. You can use it as a starting point for your own custom workspace.

     

    Victor Von Wulfen wrote:

    “I now have a tablet, a cintiq 13HD. How best to set this up with PS?”

     

    Because it is a Cintiq, it has its own screen, so the first step is to set it up as a secondary display. This is not much different from adding a second display in Windows or macOS, so follow the directions by Wacom and Microsoft/Apple depending on what computer you have.

     

    When I got a new Wacom tablet, the Wacom control panel had a pre-configured preset for Photoshop, which mapped the tablet options and buttons differently than for other programs. I used that as a starting point for my own Wacom tablet configuration for Photoshop. If you could not configure the side buttons, were you using the Wacom configuration software? It is so deep that it can take a while to find out how to customize everything, but it’s all in there. If you are new to all of this, do not expect to get the whole thing set up on the first day. Try some initial customizing, but expect to take the next week or two to try out different things, and through testing you will over time understand which customizations you want to settle on permanently.

      Victor Von Wulfen
      Victor Von WulfenAuthor
      Participant
      August 24, 2020

      Many thanks for the reply sir.

      I have managed to set up so far, zoom in and out, pan and scroll. Undo button was already configured.

      These functions were configurable in the wacom tablet properties.

      I cant for all the looking find an option for rotate canvas though.

      If I can set the rotate canvas on the tablet I am more or less ready to start.

      Any help setting rotate canvas most welcome indeed 🙂 

      JJMack
      Community Expert
      JJMackCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 23, 2020

      Try some of Adobe provides workspaces. See if you like the places and arguments of Panels.  Then design how you would like your workspace  to be. If you have more than one display on you system. You can spread your workspace and use all your displays in your workspace.t  

      JJMack
        Victor Von Wulfen
        Victor Von WulfenAuthor
        Participant
        August 25, 2020

        Many thanks.

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