once your new tablet's up and running, theonly thing between you and your own creativity is understanding all of the benefits of usinga pen. there are three tips i would like to give everyone who's new to using a pen. howthe pen relates to the screen, how you hold your pen, and how the buttons on the pen workto make your life better once you take the time to master them. the pen does not behave like a mouse, thatis why we bought it. unlike a mouse, the pen has a specific relationship with your desktop,each corner of the tablets active area marked by the matrix of dots on your tablet matchto the corresponding corner of your desktop screen area. this means that you no longerhave to find your mouse pointer on screen
to know which way you want to move it. ifyou want to reach something in the middle of the screen, put the pen on the middle ofthe tablet and you're most likely be pretty close. if you find yourself trying to reach for thefile menu by scooting to it and you will if you are new to tablets, stop and rememberyou bought a superior input device, then just pick up the pen and put it up near the topleft corner of the tablet. this behavior is precisely what makes the pen the best creativetool available. the most important thing about how you hold your pen is that you make itcomfortable and you make it your own. the second most important thing though isthat you don't accidentally press the rocker
switch on the side of the pen. the end closestto the tip is set up to pan or scroll when you're in an application that supports it.the end of the switch farthest from the tip is a right click which you can use withouttouching the pen to the tablet. you'll also quickly notice that the pointeron screen will move without touching the pen to the surface as well. when the tip of thepen touches the tablet, it acts the same as holding down the left mouse button which ingraphic applications is how you'll try and paint if you were using a mouse. there are many ways to practice using a pen,one of the best ways i've found is to play a game like solitaire or any other simplegame that requires clicks, touching the pen
to the tablet, right clicks using the upperend of the side switch, double clicks tapping twice in the same place on the tablet, andclick and drag which is as simple as touching the tip to the tablet and dragging it to anew location. just remember if you don't want your tabletto do anything, make sure you aren't touching any of the buttons including the tips. i'veseen a pen held in many ways. i've also found out for people would hold the pen back further,the sides switch maybe be easier to use with your index finger. for people who grip a closerto the tip, i found that rolling the switch into the thumb is usually easier. this canbe done either with the switch above the thumb and in view or beneath, either way make surethe switch is not being held down unless you
mean to. i would encourage you try all ofthese and see which one is comfortable or if you hold the pen differently, by all meanstry whatever works for you. once you've gotten the hang of using the pen for everyday activities,you may find that the side switch could be put to better use. you can easily change the settings for theseand every other aspect of the tablet, in the tablet control panel. the fastest way to getto the preferences is from the pen and button settings option in the wacom desktop centrewhich should be running in the background unless you've chosen to turn it off. you can also get to your preferences throughthe control panel on windows or by selecting
preferences from the apple menu on mac. fromthe tablet settings window, select the pen, and from here you can change the settingsfor either end of the side switch. i use double click all the time, so i'll frequently setthe lower switch of my pen to double click from the click's sub-menu because it's alwaysaccessible right there in your pen. some other common settings i've seen for thisswitch include undo, command or control z, which you would set by choosing keystrokesor even the optional alt modifier which you could choose by selecting modifiers from thelist. all the buttons and side switches follow the same logic for programming. most of thesetablets are both pen and touch. this means, as you get use to your new pen,or even or everyday navigation, you can use
the whole tablet active area marked by thedoted matrix as a touch pad. most if not all touch gestures you may be familiar with, shouldalso work on the tablet assuming they are supported by the program you're using. if you want to turn off-touch and just usethe intuos as a pen-only tablet, follow the switch on the right side of the top edge ofthe tablet which turns touch on and off. the best advice to a new tablet user of any kindis the three day challenge. as with any tool, it takes practice and dedication. unplug your mouse for three days, and practiceusing pen and touch for everything you do. many people never go back to a mouse at all,and even if you do, you'll at least have learned
the many benefits of using a pen.