Pen-Mouse for Photoshop

BW
Posted By
Bob Williams
Sep 6, 2009
Views
884
Replies
9
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Closed
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

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Alan Browne
Sep 6, 2009
Bob Williams wrote:
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

I recall seeing something like that but really don’t know if it caught on. If you can’t find it via google, chances are they don’t exist anymore.

You may want to at least try a tablet…
TC
tony cooper
Sep 6, 2009
On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:05:33 -0700, Bob Williams
wrote:

The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

Dunno about the pen-shaped mouse, but the Wacom Bamboo tablet is not at all complex. You can just plug it in and use it out-of-the-box. No settings or adjustments are necessary.

You can have multiple pointing tools connected at the same time. I have a trackball, regular mouse, and tablet plugged in and all active.


Tony Cooper – Orlando, Florida
J
Joe
Sep 6, 2009
Bob Williams wrote:

The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

My suggestion that you just need to learn to make Wacom as simplest as you can or as the Wacom has to offer.

– Close your eyes, lie to your brain that it’s a *normal* pen. Then if you can do the normal and simple thing with a regular pen then you should have no problem with Wacom.
BW
Bob Williams
Sep 6, 2009
Bob Williams wrote:
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

Maybe I’ll just try a Wacom Bamboo. They are reasonably inexpensive. I Googled on "Pen Shaped Mouse" and got a couple of leads. But after reading user reviews, I was not sure that they were any more intuitive than Wacom’s offerings.
Do any (most?) of you guys do your detailed selections with a pen or do you try to do it with PS’s EXTRACT utility?
How do you compare the "hassle factor" of the two methods. I know its kinda like comparing apples and oranges, but I’d like your thoughts on the subject.
Bob
K
Kabuki
Sep 6, 2009
"Bob Williams" wrote in message
Bob Williams wrote:
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

Maybe I’ll just try a Wacom Bamboo. They are reasonably inexpensive. I Googled on "Pen Shaped Mouse" and got a couple of leads. But after reading user reviews, I was not sure that they were any more intuitive than Wacom’s offerings.
Do any (most?) of you guys do your detailed selections with a pen or do you try to do it with PS’s EXTRACT utility?
How do you compare the "hassle factor" of the two methods. I know its kinda like comparing apples and oranges, but I’d like your thoughts on the subject.
Bob

1. Wacom’s drivers are known for compatibility with PS, off brands are not as reliable in software

2. if you like to draw strokes or use penmanship the tablet is the way to go – some find adding a piece of paper over it reduces the slickness and makes it more similar to paper and pen

3. many many tutorials on doing great selections that do not use pen tool at all -such as flying hair, are best done with using channel methods (see Russell Brown site)
I never used extract <—-ever, never, and it is not included by default in later versions of PS although if you miss it you can add it later

4. before you abandon your mouse, try messing with the GUI (control panel>mouse) make sure you are using the manufacturer’s drivers not the WIN XP generic one, there are settings to make the mouse more responsive, control the speed etc AND try changing surface to a less slippery one

I learned PS with a mouse and never changed
J
Joe
Sep 7, 2009
Bob Williams wrote:

Bob Williams wrote:
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

Maybe I’ll just try a Wacom Bamboo. They are reasonably inexpensive. I Googled on "Pen Shaped Mouse" and got a couple of leads. But after reading user reviews, I was not sure that they were any more intuitive than Wacom’s offerings.
Do any (most?) of you guys do your detailed selections with a pen or do you try to do it with PS’s EXTRACT utility?
How do you compare the "hassle factor" of the two methods. I know its kinda like comparing apples and oranges, but I’d like your thoughts on the subject.
Bob

There ain’t much or any difference between Wacom’s model and tablet of other manufacture(s), except that Wacom is pretty good with releasing newer driver for newer OS’s version.

Just don’t spend too much time on the not important part but spend more energy on the important part.

– Get whatever tablet you are happy with.

– Then the most important part is learning to use it. And learn to use it on everything, or don’t touch mouse any more.
J
Joe
Sep 7, 2009
"Kabuki" wrote:

I learned PS with a mouse and never changed

I have learned to use pen on everything, and I haven’t touched mouse for over a decade.
TC
tony cooper
Sep 7, 2009
On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:24:22 -0700, Bob Williams
wrote:

Bob Williams wrote:
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams

Maybe I’ll just try a Wacom Bamboo. They are reasonably inexpensive. I Googled on "Pen Shaped Mouse" and got a couple of leads. But after reading user reviews, I was not sure that they were any more intuitive than Wacom’s offerings.
Do any (most?) of you guys do your detailed selections with a pen or do you try to do it with PS’s EXTRACT utility?
How do you compare the "hassle factor" of the two methods. I know its kinda like comparing apples and oranges, but I’d like your thoughts on the subject.
Bob

You must be using Photoshop 7.0. "Extract" is no longer available in CS4. No loss to me because I never really found it useful (useful = easy for me to figure out and use) I find the pen tool to be equally difficult. I like using either a Layer Mask or a Quick Mask to make a selection that’s reasonably detailed.

I use Layer Masks quite a bit as a way of making a detailed selection. I use both my trackball and my Wacom Bamboo for this…I’ll do the basic painting of the mask with the trackball and then switch to the Wacom tablet for the close detail work. (Both can be operational at the same time) When I use the Quick Mask, I use the same combination.

I’m left-handed, and use the trackball with my right hand. I use a Logitech trackball with the ball on the left and use my right thumb to make the selection. The Bamboo is on my left, and I draw with my left hand with this. As long as you don’t have the pen touching the tablet, the trackball moves the cursor (brush). Touch the tablet, and the pen takes over. There’s a touch key on the tablet that can be set to Control Z to cancel the last movement.

I also have a conventional mouse with a scroll wheel plugged in. If I’m not doing a detailed selection, I’ll use the mouse to open things on the tool bar and the trackball to move within the image or in the layers palette.


Tony Cooper – Orlando, Florida
BW
Bob Williams
Sep 8, 2009
tony cooper wrote:
On Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:24:22 -0700, Bob Williams
wrote:

Bob Williams wrote:
The most trying task I encounter in PS 7 is accurate selection of fine detail in parts of a photo to work on.
Selecting with a mouse is awkward. (Try writing your name with a mouse). What I want is a pen-shaped mouse that I can control as accurately as a real pen.
Wacom Pen and Tablet will do what I want but it is designed to do so much more than simple selecting that it adds more complexity than I want or need. What I really want is a simple "Mouse" in the shape of a pen. Is there such a device that is simple, reliable and works with PS. TIA……..Bob Williams
Maybe I’ll just try a Wacom Bamboo. They are reasonably inexpensive. I Googled on "Pen Shaped Mouse" and got a couple of leads. But after reading user reviews, I was not sure that they were any more intuitive than Wacom’s offerings.
Do any (most?) of you guys do your detailed selections with a pen or do you try to do it with PS’s EXTRACT utility?
How do you compare the "hassle factor" of the two methods. I know its kinda like comparing apples and oranges, but I’d like your thoughts on the subject.
Bob

You must be using Photoshop 7.0. "Extract" is no longer available in CS4. No loss to me because I never really found it useful (useful = easy for me to figure out and use) I find the pen tool to be equally difficult. I like using either a Layer Mask or a Quick Mask to make a selection that’s reasonably detailed.

I use Layer Masks quite a bit as a way of making a detailed selection. I use both my trackball and my Wacom Bamboo for this…I’ll do the basic painting of the mask with the trackball and then switch to the Wacom tablet for the close detail work. (Both can be operational at the same time) When I use the Quick Mask, I use the same combination.

I’m left-handed, and use the trackball with my right hand. I use a Logitech trackball with the ball on the left and use my right thumb to make the selection. The Bamboo is on my left, and I draw with my left hand with this. As long as you don’t have the pen touching the tablet, the trackball moves the cursor (brush). Touch the tablet, and the pen takes over. There’s a touch key on the tablet that can be set to Control Z to cancel the last movement.

I also have a conventional mouse with a scroll wheel plugged in. If I’m not doing a detailed selection, I’ll use the mouse to open things on the tool bar and the trackball to move within the image or in the layers palette.
Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts on this topic.
They have given me valuable insight to the subject of Mouse/Pen pointing tools.
Bob Williams

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