What shortcuts do you use when modeling with a pen tablet in Maya?

yamato

I am thinking of modeling with a pen tablet instead of a mouse for various reasons.

What are the advantages of modeling with a pen tablet?

I would be very interested to know what shortcuts people actually use when modeling with a pen tablet to make it more efficient!

I look forward to your answers.

gnoop

No shortcats at all.   A pen is immensely more convenient.   Especially if it's not  a huge sized tablet.   I m not using MAya although. Mostly Blender and sometimes 3d max.    

it's so much more precision with a Shift +pen  to drive sliders  or  curve nodes   in Blender.  So  lesser of a strain on your wrist. 

The only thing that  a tiny bit more convenient  with mouse is WASD  navigation because my pen has no wheel 

to adjust speed.

yamato

gnoop said:

No shortcats at all.   A pen is immensely more convenient.   Especially if it's not  a huge sized tablet.   I m not using MAya although. Mostly Blender and sometimes 3d max.    

it's so much more precision with a Shift +pen  to drive sliders  or  curve nodes   in Blender.  So  lesser of a strain on your wrist. 

The only thing that  a tiny bit more convenient  with mouse is WASD  navigation because my pen has no wheel 

to adjust speed.

Was the pen still more convenient。.

I too would like to improve my modeling with a pen tablet!

Did you use a pen-tab instead of a mouse from the beginning?

poopipe

Having used both interchangeably for several years on Maya and max with both cintiq and intuos....

I used exactly the same set of shortcuts with the pen as I did when I used the mouse because I still had one hand free and a keyboard to poke 

Obviously I mapped middle mouse click to one of the pen buttons so I could actually operate a 3d app

yamato

poopipe said:

Having used both interchangeably for several years on Maya and max with both cintiq and intuos....

I used exactly the same set of shortcuts with the pen as I did when I used the mouse because I still had one hand free and a keyboard to poke 

Obviously I mapped middle mouse click to one of the pen buttons so I could actually operate a 3d app

Thank you for your response.

I guess I'll have to actually try it and work out my own shortcuts.

If you have any suggestions on how I could improve efficiency by doing this, please let me know!

oglu

Dont forget marking menus. They are really powerful. If you need more than the standard create your own custom mms.

poopipe

those are nicer to use with the pen than the mouse imo. 

honestly though - your shortcut selection should be based on the work you do. eg. if you connect vertices a lot, learn where the default shortcut is and if you don't like it, change it.

Alex_J

i'm not using a pen for modeling but i'll just mention in case its helpful that you should also look into custom shelves. I have it on a floating menu that way all the common tools can easily be reached from center of screen.

it is similar principle as a marking menu, just that it stays in fixed position so I find it a little more ergonomic and dont have to remember as much. But if you use maya daily that won't be an issue for you.

this is the basic idea i try to use for customization of any appication I use. collect the common things and have them on a floating menu that i can position right next to where I am working. kind of like a painter using a palette.

yamato

Thank you all for your answers!

I will be using a pen to create shortcuts, etc. while modeling!