Pen Tool vs Tablet

I've been using Photoshop for a long time, but I'm new to Illustrator and Flash. I feel like I should learn how to use Illustrator before I tackle Flash, but one of the biggest obstacles is the pen tool - what a pain in the butt!
An art school student told me I can simply substitute an electronic drawing device (e.g. a Wacom tablet) for the pen tool. Is that true, or would using such a device carry some sort of liability?
If a drawing tablet is a good way to go, what size should I get? I'm not yet familiar with various brands, but the Wacom/Intuos appears to be most popular. However, it's very expensive, and I don't have a clue what size to get. I assume a 9 X 12 device would be the best choice if I wanted to trace a picture measuring 9 X 12 inches. But could I instead get a tablet half that size, copy half the picture, then copy the other half and paste the two halves together in illustrator?
To put it another way, what size is most popular with web design professionals?
Thanks.

Mordy, Doug:
David is confusing AI's Pen Tool with a stylus, due to the bad advice he received from some dolt who impied to him that one is a substitute for the other.
David,
I'll try again:
Forget all about whether any given user likes or doesn't like stylus pointing devices.
Historically and currently, in vector drawing programs like Illustrator the primary drawing "tool" (feature of the software) is generically called the "pen tool". Specific programs may call it the "Bezier Tool" or something else, but it's long been the primary interface element for accurately drawing Bezier paths. In short, the Pen Tool is the heart-and-soul of a vector drawing program. You need to use it, regardless of what kind of hardware you are using for your computer's input device.
Ever since stylus input devices first appeared with so-called pressure-sensitive features, various programs have provided additional and/or modified software features to take advantage of it.
That started in raster (paint) programs, which added the ability for the width of their "paintbrush" features to be controlled by the pressure input of a stylus.
Later, vector (draw) programs started doing something similar, adding features which involved closed paths being drawn with varying "widths." Those are usually called "brush" features. Other vector features can also be modified to allow some of their settings to be modified on-the-fly by the pressure button of a stylus. Examples of that include some of the settings when using Symbols, or a "brush" tool like Illustrator's recently-added Blob, etc.
But none of that pressure-sensitive stuff changes the fact that the software pen tool is still the
primary tool for drawing accurate Bezier curves, point-by-point. And the pen tool doesn't have any pressure-sensitive or stylus-targeted features, because the whole purpose of the pen tool is to draw paths deliberately, accurately, and economically, point-by-point.
So you can
use a stylus while using the Pen Tool (software) in Illustrator, just as you can use a mouse while using the Pen Tool in Illustrator. Either way, you still need to learn to use the Pen Tool, because it is still the heart-and-soul of every mainstream vector drawing program, including Illustrator.
So the art school student who led you to believe that using a stylus input device somehow obviates the need to learn and to use Illustrator's Pen Tool has given you a
very wrong impression.
All the praise or criticism of stylus input devices in the world doesn't change that. Drawing paths point-by-point is the
primary way to use vector drawing programs. That means using the Pen Tool, and that means using it whether the object in your hand is a stylus or a mouse.
So get yourself a Wacom 6x9 Intuos tablet because that's the only way you're going to find out if you like using a stylus. You may love it so much that you never touch a mouse again. Or, it may end up just collecting dust until you get over the thought of throwing away (or giving away) somethning you spent a significant chunk of change on. But regardless, get busy learning Illustrator's Pen Tool, because you're going to need it either way.
JET

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I have a tablet connected to my Macintosh on which I draw/write on for assignments. When using Adobe Acrobat's pen tool I run into a problem where the pen tool will suddenly change to a small arrow that will select the item I just drew. This is a problem often when returning to complete a character such as an I or a T. When I try to cross these letters or draw from any point on something that I have previously drawn it will select the entire item and more as I draw (though nothing is drawn - just the item moves). Is there any way to disable this feature in Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional for Mac? Many thanks!

WHen that happens, try moving the cursor so it changes into a crosshair cursor by moving it. If it still selects a drawn line, click the ESC key and move the cursor a little farther away and you should be able to use the pencil tool again.

Using the pen tool, how best should I build or construct this image?

Hello,
I'm trying to recreate a certain image with the pen tool.
I have already tried using Live Trace using the "Simple Trace" setting. Live Trace did a pretty good job but not with enough accuracy or fidelity to the original image as I would like.
I am pretty rusty with Illustrator now, but I remember from past lessons that the basic idea is that artwork in Illustrator is divided into layers, objects, and elements within objects. But one of the biggest principles with Ilustrator is the order these layers, objects, and elements are stacked. Elements are stacked to create an object. Objects are often stacked, each object on its own layer, to create the entire piece of artwork.
Also, the lower an element, object, or layer is in a stacking order, the further towards the back it appears in the image.
Also, the higher an element, object, or layer is in a stacking order, the closer to the front it appears in the image.
So, in Illustrator, you don't so much draw or paint a piece of artwork, but, instead, creating artwork in Illustrator is more a matter of building it or constructing it.
So, with all that said, below I have an object I would like to create with the pen tool. It is a fleuron. It is at least fairly complex.I am not sure how to build it or construct its parts. What would come first, second, third? What would be on the bottom layer, middle layer, top layer, etc.?
I know there is no one way to reproduce this object with the pen tool. Whatever way you would use or would like to share is fine. I guess, more specifically, I'm not afraid of rigor and working hard, but I'm also not necessarily looking for rigor. Instead, what I am looking to do is work smartly and efficiently. I'm looking for what might commonly be considered "best practice."
So, how would you advise I approach the object below? How should I build or construct it?
Thanks! : )

As for the simple graphic itself, this is what I would end up with:
One Group containing:
One red-filled, unstroked Compound Path consisting of three subpaths.
One white-filled, unstroked Compound Path consisting of 18 subpaths.
The reason I would compound the red paths and the white paths is simply so I could apply to them different fills with one move, should I want to.
The reason the two Compund Paths would be grouped is simply so the whole graphic can, when finished, be moved, rotated, scaled, flipped, skewed (i.e.; transformed) as if it were a single object. (Which it would be; a Group is a logical object, just as a "set" is a logical object.)
As for how I would actaully draw the graphic:
First I would roughly evaluate it to get an idea of what I want to end up with in terms of clean, tidy, paths (as already describe above.)
Second, I mentally devise a "plan of attack" by which to achieve that; just studying the shapes a little more deeply for anything that can be exploited to minimize the work:
Are there any repetitive elements of the shape that can be accomplished by duplication, moving, scaling?
Is there any symmetry that can be accomplished by duplication and flopping?
Is there any simple geometry that can be accomplished with basic shape prmitives (whole or partial ellipses, rectangles, polygons)?
Third, I always try to also consider whether the process of drawing the current graphic and/or portions of it might be of future use to me, and if so, can I exploit other software features to save me time and effort later. For example, consider a single one of the ess-shaped "coils" of the middle tapered "spiral" grouped together with its white highlight. Such a graphic, colored in black and white and stored as an ArtBrush with its Colorization set to Hues & Tints would let me stretch and scale that basic shape along other-shaped paths. Similarly stored as a PatternBrush, it might do multi-duty for many things suggestive of coils, like rope or jewelry chains.
Then I just start drawing the necessary paths, using my default Graphic Style (.25 black stroke, no fill). As I proceed, I store (as Brushes, Symbols, etc.) any intermediate things that I think I might find useful later. For the graphic at hand, I then optimize the paths I've drawn by combining them (cutting, joining, path operations) into the fewest, cleanest, and simplest paths necessary to define the shapes. I then store the finished graphic as a Symbol, Brush, etc. if I think it might be of use later.
Regarding Layers, Groups, etc., etc:
It sounds like you (like many beginning AI users) are way over-thinking the matter of stacking order. Yes, it's good to use some sensible amount of organization as your illustrations and designs become more elaborate, but you don't have to fret so much over it. The principles are very very simply.
Layer really don't even enter into my mind when creating such a graphic, because the paths of which it consists are all going to be grouped, and all the contents of a Group have to exist on the same Layer anyway. Multiple Layers would only come into play when this whole graphic is used as one element in the overall page layout. For example, suppose several instances of this object will exist on a page layout to serve as dividers between ads or stories arranged in columns in a page layout. I may choose--if it makes organizational sense to me--to put all the copies of this object on a Layer dedicated to them. The Layer on which they reside may or may not include other graphics; it's just a question of what makes organizational sense and editing convenience to me while I'm working the file. For example, having the copies of this graphic on a separate Layer would allow me to lock that Layer to avoid accidently selecting the graphics when I'm editing text objects that I've organized on another Layer.
Don't think of Layers as some oppressive "right or wrong" thing that you have to decide upon at the start of every little thing you draw. It's nothing but an organizational convenience that is driven almost entirely by common sense. The mechanics of it are really very very simple in principle.
Look: Everything you create or import in an Illustrator document is an object. Just like sheets of paper in a tablet, each of those objects (each path, text object, raster image) is going to reside somewhere in the z-order (think front to back) of the document's object stack. You can't do anything to prevent that. It's the way the program works. The file is basically just a list of things that the output device has to draw. Being a list, it has a first object, a second object, and so on. Objects higher in that list are nearer the "front"; objects lower are nearer the "back." Normally, objects in front obscure objects behind them, wherever they "overlap."
Now, considering that what you have is just a list of objects, as that list grows and grows, doesn't it eventually just make sense to be able to "bracket" or "label" contiguous portions (contiguous is key here) of that list for organizational and manipulative purposes? That's all Groups and Layers are; brackets around sections of the list.
Consider that an Illustrator file (like most computer files you create) is really just a text file. So suppose you have written a technical manual in a word processing program. Would you write that manual as one big, honkin' text string, or would you "bunch together" contiguous portions of the story under some labeling scheme of subheads? After that, wouldn't you similarly "bunch together" contiguous subhead sections as chapters?
So you can think of Groups as "subheads," and Layers as "chapters" in your Illustrator document's list of objects.
Sure; if you're working on a page layout document, sometimes it makes sense to go ahead and set up some of this structure at the start (just as when writing a book, it makes sense to start with an outline). So you might go ahead and define a Layer for printer marks, another for the diecut, another for text, another for images, another for background fills.
The very next designer might decide to structure the very same project a little differently. He might, for example, decide there's no reason not to keep the text objects on the same layer with the raster images. There's no hard & fast right & wrong her. You do what makes sense for the project at hand.
Now in this context, back to your simple graphic: I don't need a PrinterMarks Layer, a DieCut Layer, or a TextObjects Layer to draw this graphic. I just need the default Layer 1. For convenience, I may want to add a TraceThisStuff Layer onto which I put the original raster image, just so I can conveniently isolate it (lock it, dim it, etc.) while drawing the paths on Layer 1. On the other hand, I can really just as easily leave the raster image that I want to trace on Layer 1 and reduce its opacity and lock/unlock it at the object level. It's up to me.
But for that matter, revisit my "third level" of evaluation described above. In reality, I would very likely not even start drawing this graphic in the document for which it is intended. I would just as likely open an existing JET_Dingbats.ai or a JET_Ornaments.ai or CustomerName_StyleGraphics.ai file or template, draw the graphic there and when done, just copy it and paste it into the current document file. That's how you, over time, build yourself a reasonably organized "personal library" of re-usable resources that save you countless hours of repetitive work in the future.
JET

Pen Tool in PhotoShop CS3 VERY Slow

I just installed CS3 on my laptop and am trying to use the pen tool to draw a path. I have to wait between 30 seconds and 2 minutes for each point to show up. Needless to say it's impossible to create a curve because I can't see the path. I'm using PhotoShop CS3, Windows XP Professional on an IBM Thinkpad T42. I'm not using a tablet, although I do hve one available to use.
Thank you for your time.

As usual could be a variety of things depending on your system. Try a search for "slow tools" to see some of the posts. Here is one on slow pen drag.
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc80a0f/0

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I have a Surface Pro 2 tablet that deselects the pen tool after I make any kind of mark with it. It works occasionally with the mouse but not the stylus. For example, if I were to write a "41", I'd have to make one stroke, then select the pen tool, and then make the other stroke to complete the "4", select the pen tool again, and then write the "1".
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Wow lol I think that might have been the issue I pressed it a few times and it stopped, thank you!

Pen Tool Shortcut Acrobat 8.0 Pro ???

Hello,
We have bought tablet for company to use pencil. We use some shortcut but
the principal that we want to use is the pen tool and I think that it doesn't
exist. We use Acrobat 8.0 Profesional. What I want to have is to set 3 differents
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Than You

To use Acrobat with the Tablet PC you'll need a plug-in such as the one detailed in the following blog entry.

CS5 Pen Tool -- Hover +/- Disabled?

Hi y'all--
So, in CS5, when I hover over an anchor point my pen tool cursor no longer displays a "-" (minus) sign, nor will it allow me to delete that anchor without having to reach over with my left hand (I use pen/tablet) and hit the minus sign. Same thing for adding a point: the pen will no longer display a "+" sign when I hover over a path; I have to hit the = key (thank goodness I don't have to press shift on top of it).
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Open Preferences and check the "automatic add/delete off" option. It should of course be deactivated for this to work

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Regarding the pen tool, using Photoshop CC 2014.2.2 on a PC— There is a half second delay between the moment I click the mouse and when the path point shows up. I've disabled the tablet input service on my computer, which worked, after a restart, but eventually this delay starts happens again. This is immensely inconvenient and I need a permanent solution. If anyone has any sort of answer please tell me. I will try anything.

I am experiencing the same problem. It's very annoying! The issue comes and goes... some days it works like it should, some days it's lagging. I couldnt figure out why so far, neither could the adobe support via chat...
Here's a video showing the issue. Make sure to watch in 720p and turn on the volume, so you can hear when I click.
ps cc pen tool - YouTube

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Hi everyone, after upgrading to CC my pen tool is seriously lagging. Whenever I click a new anchor point, it takes about 1 second for it to appear. Any thoughts?

I've commented on this bug in another thread and am still simply shocked that Adobe hasn't addressed this for what seems like Windows users(fyi, I'm on Win7 64, plenty of ram, latest version of PS CC 14.2.1, latest video card driver for Nvidia GT630).
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Pressure sensitive pen tool for flash

Hi! !
Well i'm new to this forum. What I need is a
<b>pressure sensitive pen tool plug-in for flash</b>,
which will be very helpful for me in my animations.
pls reply

No such plugin. All you need is a pressure sensitive tablet.
Then in Flash, select the Brush tool. Then click on the
little tapering line at the bottom of the Tools pallette to turn on
pressure sensitivity.

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When using Ai CS6 I'm finding that no matter what tools I have selected Ai keeps defaulting to the pen tool, useually Delete Ancor. This is incredibly frustrating... Is anyone else experiencing this, or have I just not set somyhning correctly??
Any help would be most welcome. Cheers Cathy.

Sorry didn't make myself very clear...
I am working in Ai CS6 using a Wacom Intuos Tablet. What was happening was that every time I used to scroll wheel on the tablet the tool changed to one of the pen tools. I found a work around (via google) that involved turning off the keyboard shortcuts for zoom in Ai and as I only ever use the tablet to zoom the fix, while not ideal, is working at the moment.
Interestingly, the keyboard shortcuts for zoom in and out are very similar across CS but the problem was only happening in Ai.
Cheers Cathy

Pen tool nib sensitivity

Photoshop CC pen tool nib is erratic, can I adjust the sensitivity?

What make is the tablet? If Wacom, then there will be a setting for this in Wacom Preferences, and I would suspect other tablets have a similar feature. But you shouldn't have erratic sensitivity, which is more likely to do with driver problems. So make sure you have a the most up to date driver for the tablet. If this does not help, and it is a Wacom tablet, go have a look round the Wacom forums.
http://forum.wacom.eu/

Need help with Pen Tool Stroke.

Hello,
Since my friends have been trying to teach me how to make swirls using the pen tool and stroke, i've been the only one who cannot do it. I make a path with the pen tool, I right click then click Stroke path however, it just seems to do nothing. I get the option but when I click on it, it doesn't do what its meant to. I am doing it exactly how my friends are doing it too, thats whats frustrating. I have had so many problems with Photoshop, im a beginner.
I have been able to resolve this problem by clicking on Paths on the right to the layers, but I can't use the simulate pressure feature, unless there is another way.
Also, if there is any tutorials anyone could link me? Im hoping to set up a business when im old enough, for creating logos and facebook covers and im not sure how to go about this.
Thanks guys
(I use Photoshop CS6 on Windows 7 from Creative Cloud without a tablet.)

Hi,
Have you installed the latest updates for photoshop cs6 by going to Help>Updates from within photoshop cs6?
Resetting the photoshop preferences might possibly help as well:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/375776?tstart=0
If you use the method that you mention where you do it from the paths panel (right click on the path thumbnail in the paths panel) and then click on the Simulate Pressure, you also have to have
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LACK OF FULL PEN TOOL FUNCTIONALITY WHEN CREATING A SHAPE LAYER

Hello, I'm going through Chris Meyer's video course on being an AE apprentice and have spent over an hour on the following issue.
Here is what I know.
I know I am trying to create a shape layer, not a mask, to create a frame to surround the video of the green field on the attached screenshot. Therefore, I pressed "F2" to make sure I am doing so.
I want to define the borders of this picture frame by using the pen tool to draw a path on the layer entitled "Windy Peak".
I have highlighted that layer in my timeline.
This video was pasted on to a placeholder shape that I had created using Command Option "/" on my Mac.
I do have limited use of the pen tool, because it displays properly when I hover it above the borders of the video to be framed.
But I lack access to the toolbar controls I want to complete my assignment.
For example, I would like to create a gradient to define the internal coloration of this frame, but I have no use of the eyedropper when I click on the Color Picker.
Also, I am unable to access or manipulate any of the standard fill or stroke options for use of my pen.
This is what I know.
Thanks for your help! Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Dubuque to add the fact that the video had been pasted on to a placeholder shape image by pressing Command Option "/" on my Mac.

Thanks for pitching in Todd and Rick, I appreciate it very much.
As previously stated, I do have use of the pen tool, but it only has limited functionality as demonstrated by the path I created on the green meadow. My Tools Panel remains activated .
My core problem remains that I am unable to adjust the fill or stroke settings for my pen.
I have tried changing and resetting various work spaces and this has not helped.
I'm scratching my head here.
Matt

Pen Tool vs Tablet

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