For those with tablets.. how much does pressure factor in?

[Roam]

In other words, does the pressure sensitivity in most tablets factor in alot in your work? What advantages to you get personally from using the pressure? If you had to, could you live without it? Just something I am wondering about.

[Danny S]

The pressure sensitivity is KEY. This is what sets a graphic tablet's pen apart from a mouse, which only has one 'level' of sensitivity. It's either 'click' or not. When drawing/painting with traditional tools [pencil, pen, brush etc.], you 'feel' every stroke, if you get my drift.

Take drawing with a pencil as an example. Obviously, lighter strokes cause lighter lines and pushing harder will cause a deeper tone. This natural 'feel' is precisely what pressure sensitive tablets try to emulate. And more pressure sensitivity means a more natural feel.

[vfxart]

Sensitivity is important, but even more important is not to be heavy handed in the first place. A lot of folks don't realize how sensitive tablets can be bcause they put so much force behind just placing the tip of the pen on the tablet. A program like painter is good to teach you how senstiive or not you are, because the stroke variation can be so dramatic. Photshop isn't quite so fine.

[Smeagol71]

vfxart is right, I was shocked and thrilled to find out how sensitive my tablet was. In my opinion this factors into the digital realm almost as much as physical media, and even that may be in my own head. Heh heh!

[jasond]

The tablet really is very sensitive. I can set it to detect even the slightest amount of pressure. very cool stuff.
With painter or photoshop you can do some insanely cool stuff you could not do with a mouse.
(I've seen a few rare people who have done really great stuff with a mouse and I can't understand how.)

Between the pen-tracking (as opposed to the square-ness of using the mouse) and the pressure sensitivity you can't beat a wacom pad!
I highly recommend the 6x9 or larger ones. Try to get a newer one with the fatter pen and squishy grip.

[Jin]

Hi,

Since I'm not much of a Photoshop user (seldom use it), I can't say what's controlled by pressure there but others can.

In Painter, here are some of the things that can be controlled by pressure:

Opacity
Size
Feature (bristle density)
Resaturation
Bleed
Jitter
Impasto Depth or Color and Depth

Yep, pressure's important.

I'd hate to use traditional media and have no pressure control. ;)

[madster]

Until I could afford a Wacom Intuos, I had a 9x12" AceCad tablet. The pen is attached (not cordless) and there is no pressure sensitivity. It still was fabulous for drawing compared to a mouse, because you controlled the drawing with much more precision.

No argument, it's nice to be able to have a line taper and get lighter due to pressure sensitivity, but if you had a square-tip, black, permanent marker to draw with, you'd learn how to utilize it to its best. Same with pressure sensitivity. It's good, but you can still draw fine without it.