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Wacom Tablet - Leftie

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Snow Griffon

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Hello,

I have been eyeing the Wacom tablets for a long time and now I'm seriously considering purchasing one in the beginning of next year or so. I'm considering the Wacom Bamboo Fun (Small), as the Intuos series are way to expensive for a hobbyist / beginner like me (I'm not even sure if I'll use it as often as I want).

However I have a question in my mind: I'm a leftie, how will this detract from my overall experience with the tablet? I used to use the mouse with my left hand but after 15 years I switched to right hand 1 year or so ago as I had had enough; all the hardware was made with righties in mind and the keyboard shortcuts were all on the left side of the keyboard as well. Once I switched to using the mouse with my right hand I became much more productive, especially at work with all the Windows and Office shortcuts.

However I have no such chance for the tablet: I can -albeit more clumsily- use a mouse with my right hand but trying to use the pen with my right hand would be no better than trying to draw with the mouse. I have to keep the pen in my left hand.

Which brings me to this question: As I will keep the pen in my left hand, how will I switch between programs, use the Ctrl, Alt, Command, Fn shortcuts, press Escape etc. I think I can switch the way I hold the pen to press a keyboard key while holding it but this will be clumsy. Making a drawing without being able to quickly undo - redo or change brush size is especially concerning me. There are 4 keys on the tablet and 2 on the pen but I have no idea what to assign them to or how much they will relieve the problem. On the other hand my right hand will be completely "idle" and will not be able to do anything as the tablet will also control the mouse cursor.

Do we have any forum members who use a tablet with pen in left hand? I would greatly appreciate any suggestions; if I'm going to have an awkward experience I might just not get the tablet in the first place and save money, time and frustration.

Thanks in advance!
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I wasted my time; the time wasted me..
 
You can turn the intuos 4 tablet around to use left or right, so you have the buttons on the left side or right side of the tablet.
 
I have a small Bamboo Fun which I use on the left side. I only use the pen, not the included Wacom mouse, but I keep my original mouse on the right hand side where it has always lived. I am ambidextrous, but since I usually write left-handed, the pen seems more natural on the left. All in all, it works well like that.

Retouching gets a lot of pen use, but I use my Microsoft mouse for most routine computer operations.

George
 
Another left handed pen&touch owner here. As someone else already said, you can configure the pad for left or right handed use.
 
Hello,

Thanks for the reply.. I know the tablet can be turned the other side to access the "shortcut keys" but I don't know what else changes when you set "left handed". I'm mostly worried I won't be able to access keyboard shortcuts on the let side of the keyboard easily.

Luckily some left-handed users have posted, I'll ask them about their experiences.

By the way; I noticed the nickname "Snow Griffon" sounds a bit weird where most people use real names (and I don't use the "Snow" nick anymore), so I'm getting a new nickname with my real name "Onur Otlu". I will be using it as soon as I get the confirmation mail.
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I wasted my time; the time wasted me..
 
Thanks for the replies! I'm sorry I couldn't reply yesterday, by the way. I wasn't feeling very well (getting cold here in Turkey).

Toermaljin: Well, I hope those 4 keys (for Bamboos) will be enough for most critical functions.. I don't really know what to assign to them. Exposé? Save? Undo-Redo can be on the pen buttons.. Confusing. :(

gscotten: I didn't know the Bamboo Fun came with a mouse. Like you I use the mouse on the right hand and use a pen with my left. I'm glad it works well. Do you miss having easy access to shortcuts like Ctrl+Z, Alt+Tab or the like? I mean, when your left hand is empty you can use those shortcuts easily. Also, what do you use your right hand for while you're using the pen with your left hand? (Both control the same cursor AFAIK.)

N Martin: We're in the same boat. :) I'm glad it's easy to use this combination. About doing the keyboard shortcuts right handed, I suppose it's not too difficult then? And what do you use for Undo-Redo, which I think will have to use a lot while I'm beginning to learn and making lots of mistakes?

Thinking about it, as I have no tablet experience I don't know which keyboard shortcuts will be needed the most.. I can think of undo, redo, change brush size, save, open, close etc. I think it would make sense to physically move the keyboard a bit to the right and use my right hand to press Ctrl+S or Cmd+Z. Just tried it and it's a bit awkward, but I think I can get used to it. But not very comfortable.

By the way, as I mentioned on the above post I got a new nick "Onur Otlu" (my real name) as most people here use their real names and I don't use the "Snow" one anymore. Waiting for the confirmation e-mail.. Don't be surprised to find a "stranger" replying to you :)
--
I wasted my time; the time wasted me..
 
Snow Griffon said:
Thanks for the replies! I'm sorry I couldn't reply yesterday, by the way. I wasn't feeling very well (getting cold here in Turkey).
Click to expand...
Snow Griffon said:
N Martin: We're in the same boat. :) I'm glad it's easy to use this combination. About doing the keyboard shortcuts right handed, I suppose it's not too difficult then? And what do you use for Undo-Redo, which I think will have to use a lot while I'm beginning to learn and making lots of mistakes?

Thinking about it, as I have no tablet experience I don't know which keyboard shortcuts will be needed the most.. I can think of undo, redo, change brush size, save, open, close etc. I think it would make sense to physically move the keyboard a bit to the right and use my right hand to press Ctrl+S or Cmd+Z. Just tried it and it's a bit awkward, but I think I can get used to it. But not very comfortable.
Click to expand...
Bang on there mate - I have my keyboard a bit to the right - I need to because I use a big 9 x 12in wacom intuos 1 (11 years old and still going fine) I'd love to have a wireless upgrade - something for the future. As for undo I use Ctrl Z - with both hands, depending on what is free. With time it will feel really natural and you want even notice it.

Neal
 
If you end up with the pen and touch, it does change your thinking on the shortcut keys. If you use the tablet like a mouse, (the touch functions) you may want the keys to have some browsing functions, (forward, back, right click, etc.) It will take time to experiment and for you to realize what functions would be the most helpful for you. (I too am left handed, and really like the pen and touch...)

Good Luck,

kdparnell
 
Hello Neal Martin, (btw I'm with the new "nickname" that I was talking about)

It's good to hear the controls won't "get in the way", so to speak. My Apple keyboard is tiny - maybe too much - so I can easily move it to the right and press keyboard shortcuts with my right hand if need be, then move it back when I'm done with the tablet.

Of course it would have been much better if I could use the pen with my right hand and keep the keyboard in its place, pressing keyboard shortcuts with my left hand as intended; but seeing I can't rewire my brain I'll have to do with it. Just did a bit of practice with the MS keyboard I have at office and it seems do-able.

That's a pretty big tablet you have there! Such ones cost like 500-600$ here in Turkey (before you move to those with LCD displays inside). Good to hear they make them durable, but not sure about the "entry level" Bamboo's. The wireless ones look nice but I hope they don't need to change batteries (or recharge) too often.

Thanks for the input! Now I'll ask people about what shortcuts they assigned to the four "shortcut keys" and the "pen buttons". Happy editing! :)
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I wasted my time, the time wasted me..
 
Hello again,

Sorry for the long delay, had too little free time.. Thank you for the replies! :)

bigfatron: Glad to see there are many left-handed users. What changes happen when you configure it for left-handed use? I mean, do the buttons swap functions or something like that? And what have you set the two buttons on the pen to do?

kdparnell: I do plan to use the touch features but my right hand will be free to use the mouse. As for the keys I really don't know what to assign to them, as you said I will need to experiment.

Regarding forward-back etc. doesn't the tablet have multi-finger "gestures" for them? By the way, yes I think I will need to assign "right click".. Though each key I assign for browsing will leave me with one less for drawing use. :/ Can we tell the tablet to have different key assignments for different active applications?

For the keys I think Right Click / Undo / Redo / one other (drawing-related) option should be good.

Also, yesterday I tried some Wacom tablets at an Apple store. I could spend only a little time as I had a friend waiting but it felt easy to use. I will just have to get used to "the tablet area represents the whole screen" rather than functioning like a trackpad.

With the Bamboo Fun I navigated the desktop a bit, clicked at folders etc. I don't think this will be hard to learn. The "touch" use was easy too, but I think I will have to "tap to click" while using with my fingers which I generally don't like in touchpads.

Also spent a little while with a "display/tablet", which was really cool to use, though I didn't like the display quality very much.

Will I be able to use the tablet with Lightroom 3? I generally only do "overall" edits rather than local ones, but I think I will be more able to do such edits with a pen. Other than that I will mostly use PS Elements I think. Will it be enough for general B&W drawings? I would rather not have to purchase additional software.

Now it comes to arranging the budget for this, after I sell my old PC and some other stuff this shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for all the information! :)
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I wasted my time, the time wasted me..
 
I use my Intous pen in my left hand and keep a laser mouse in my right hand. I do not use the mouse that came with the tablet. I just find that there are some things that I prefer to use a mouse on and that is why I keep one in my right hand. Works great for me. YMMV.

Good luck.
 
I have an old Graphire, which doesn't have shortcut buttons. I don't know what I'd use them for, but it sounds like a potentially useful feature. Maybe one to pop up the folder I store my images in.

With the cheaper tablets, there is no difference between left and right handed operation. The more expensive tables sense pen orientation, which is handed.

I use the pen for general computing functions.
 
Onur Otlu said:
bigfatron: Glad to see there are many left-handed users. What changes happen when you configure it for left-handed use? I mean, do the buttons swap functions or something like that? And what have you set the two buttons on the pen to do?
Click to expand...
Basically its just telling which way up for the inputs to be interpreted. i.e. if you had the pad right-hand configuration and just turned it around rather than also change the software setting then it would interpret an up motion as being down, left as right, top button would be the bottom button as programmed etc.

As for pen functions, its pretty much as default (upper click on the rocker = right-click modifier, lower click on the rocker = Pan/Scroll modifier). The pad buttons are (top to bottom) Touch Toggle, Undo, Right Click, Left Click.
 
A very well known digital artist is a leftie and she uses the wacom tablet I wonder if her wacom is left handed though as she mentioned in her tutorials about putting everything on the left. I've just purchased a wacom tablet intuos 4 for my son for his christmas present lol I can't wait to have a try with it whilst he is at school everyone keeps going on about using wacom is far more better than mouse I am using a mouse for all my digital painting or colourizing black and white photos.

marie
 
marie, once you get started and used to it, you'll wonder how you ever could manage without it.
mstmart said:
A very well known digital artist is a leftie and she uses the wacom tablet I wonder if her wacom is left handed though as she mentioned in her tutorials about putting everything on the left. I've just purchased a wacom tablet intuos 4 for my son for his christmas present lol I can't wait to have a try with it whilst he is at school everyone keeps going on about using wacom is far more better than mouse I am using a mouse for all my digital painting or colourizing black and white photos.

marie
Click to expand...
 
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