Monday, February 19, 2007

Doodlegirl Likes Doodlebot


Messing around with the marker tool in AR2.

1 comment:

Team Little Green Dog... said...

If you're using a Wacom Intuos 3 Graphics tablet, you might find the following tips helpful. I've been using the tablet almost exclusively for ArtRage 2 and I almost never touch the keyboard while drawing. The on-screen controls work well with the stylus, but recently I found it very handy to also program the two Touch Strips and the right side buttons on the tablet for additional functionality.

(Note: I'm right handed, and my key assignments reflect this. Naturally, if you’re left-handed, you may want to switch the key assignments to the other side of the tablet.)

For the left Touch Strip, I programmed 'Shift Right Arrow' for slide up and 'Shift Left Arrow' for slide down, and named these functions Increase Size and Decrease Size. This allows me to scale the tool size as I’m drawing, which is a HUGE gain in efficiency. (Note: Shift Right/Left Arrow scales tools in 10% increments. It’s possible to set the Touch Strip to scale in 1% increments but, trust me, at this setting you’ll waste a lot of time and you may wear off your fingerprints.)

For the right Touch Strip, I programmed 'Ctrl -' for slide up and 'Ctrl =' for slide down, and named these settings Zoom Out and Zoom In. This gives me zoom control by reaching over with my pinky finger while keeping my stylus in drawing position.

I left the left side buttons alone because the default settings were already useful. By default, the left bottom button functions as a space bar, so you can use this as a modifier to drag the canvas around. However, you can also use the Stylus in hover mode to drag the canvas; just press the lower toggle switch and move the stylus over the tablet without actually touching it.

On the right side, however, I changed every button. I assigned ‘r’ and ‘d’ to the tablet’s right Alt and Ctrl keys for Rotate Canvas and Reset Canvas. I was using both commands a lot (especially Rotate Canvas) using the on-screen buttons, but now I can just reach over with my pinky to activate either of these functions.

For the right ‘Shift’ button I assigned the Enter key. This toggles Art Rage’s Full Screen view.

Finally, for the right ‘Space Bar’ button I assigned ‘Ctrl z’ for Undo. I wish I could say I never need this command but I actually screw up a lot when I draw.