Intuos 3 ExpressKeys - useful or not?..

#1

Hello to everyone!

I’ve just started my digital painting experiments, and at the beginning I’m feeling comfortable to work with my keyboard shortcuts and an Intuos 3 graphics tablet just for drawing. I mean, that I’m not using all these ExpressKeys on either side of my tablet. But I have read somewhere that using these keys speeds up workflow a lot

And the question is - does anyone using graphics tablet with it’s shortcut keys to draw? Without a keyboard support at all? Is it really more comfortable to work that way, when you get used to it?

Thanks

#2

I definitely think they are good , I hold the tablet like a book so my left hand is always near the express keys. I’ve got one for undo , one to pick up colours , one to pan and the zoom slider I’ve configured to change my brush size.

The benefit is that there is less stopping and starting for things that you usually need to go back to the keyboard for.

#3

well, but I can setup my worspace so I’ll have a keyboard under my left hand, and the tablet under the right one. In fact this is setup I have right now

Does anyone uses such setup? It seems pretty comfortable. For example, I need to save your files sometimes, or use some hotkeys like color correct and hue etc…

So I just trying to know if it will be better and faster to work just on tablet? Because right now I cannot work comfortable that way, just because of a habit to work with a keyboard

P.S. sorry for my strange English )

#4

I turn mine off. I hate them. I’ve been using keyboard shortcuts for many years before Wacom came out with Intuos 3, so I’m already used to the keyboard shortcuts. And, I don’t want to get used to the Wacom 3 ExpressKeys just to end up forgetting my keyboard shortcuts, because the keyboard shortcuts will work on any computer, but not every computer has Wacom 3 installed.

#5

I guess you’re right
Too many shortcuts are sitting in my head already… Can’t let myself to learn them from the beginning, and moreover, reduce their count )

Anyway, thanks, I finally understood that expressKeys are pretty useless

Sorry, Wacom )

#6

On another note, can anyone tell me how to turn those keys off. I’m left handed and all mine are on the left side, and it creates a huge problem when I try to use my tablet. Thx

#7

The only problem with the express keys, is there is not enough of them…
There needs to be an ALT/Toggle button, so the 5 keys, can instantly become 10 keys…

So I setup my applications, with 5 keys, than tap the Toggle key, and the 5 keys are now another 5 shortcuts…

I use Bodypaint, Mudbox and Photoshop and Painter X, and all of them are much more enjoyable to use after a day of configuring the express keys…

Brush Size, Hardness, Zoom, Alt, Cntrl,Shift are all very useful…
So yes i would remove the keyboard completely if i could, as it only slows workflow down.

PS. You can turn them off in the wacom driver properties where you set left/right or no handed.

#8

I turn all of mine off because I hate accidentally bumping into one and causing changes on the screen.

#9

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