Revelation Natural Art
Using ICT to explore, develop and express visual ideas

Using a Graphics Tablet

You can use and interact with Revelation Natural Art either by using the mouse or a graphics tablet with pen (either as a stand-alone input device or as an integrated part of a tablet PC). Although using the mouse is sufficient to fully interact with the editor, your pictures may look even more natural if you use the graphics pen. The reason is that several of the brushes available in Revelation Natural Art are sensitive to the pressure applied to the pen – this means that you can obtain strokes of continuously varying thickness and density. Therefore, it is recommended that you attach a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet with pen to your computer to get the most from Revelation Natural Art.

There are many brands of graphics tablets. Any of these can be used, provided that its pen is sensitive to varying pressure. (Before starting to use a graphics tablet and a pen with Revelation Natural Art, make sure that it is properly installed and set.) Most brands of graphics sets consist of two or three basic items – a graphics tablet, a pen and a cordless mouse. The tablet usually consists of a pen stand, a status LED and an active area with overlay. The pen itself is a pressure-sensitive freehand tool for drawing, painting and controlling the whole application. It consists of a pen tip (the pointer), a button (or switch) and an eraser on the reverse end of the pen. You can use the pen – in a similar manner to a mouse – for pointing, clicking, double- clicking, dragging and alternative clicking (i.e. clicking with the right mouse button).

You hold the graphics pen like a normal pen in a suitable position so that you can draw with it on the tablet's active area. Note that the pen is activated as soon as it is just above the tablet's active area. This allows you to position the cursor without touching the pen tip to the tablet. Usually, the pen starts to be registered when it is 5 mm or less above the tablet.

The cordless mouse, which is often another component of the set, can be used for controlling the application and for navigation, often via a programmable middle button and a rolling wheel.

The following describes how to perform certain operations (note that some of the following functions can be customized or reset in the tablet control panel):

Pointing

You can use the pen to position the pointer (cursor) on your screen. The active area of the tablet corresponds to your computer screen. Whenever you place the pen on the tablet, the cursor moves to the corresponding point on the screen. You can move the Revelation Natural Art cursor by lifting the pen and placing it in a new location on the tablet. The cursor jumps to the new location.

Clicking

To click with the pen, either tap the tablet with the tip of the pen, or press the pen tip on the tablet with enough force for a click to be recognized.

Double clicking

Tap the tablet twice in the same place with the pen tip.

Using the button. It usually has programmable functions (one or two) that can be selected in the tablet control panel. You can use the button whenever the pen tip is close to the table. That is, you should not touch the pen tip to the tablet in order to use the switch. Usually the switch is set to correspond to a click with the right mouse button.

Dragging

Use it to select and move objects on the screen. First point to an object, then press the pen to the tablet and slide it across the tablet.

Drawing with pressure

The pen responds to the pressure of your hand, enabling you to create natural-looking brush strokes in Revelation Natural Art. This means that you can vary the line thickness and/or color density. To use pressure-sensitivity, select a brush and drag it along the surface of the tablet whilst applying varying pressure downwards on the tip of the pen. Press hard for thick or dense lines, press gently for thin or light lines.

Erasing

The eraser on the pen (i.e. its reverse end) works like the eraser on a pencil. Thus, you can erase intuitively and naturally. Note, however, that you can also erase by dragging the mouse cursor along your picture with the right mouse button, or by dragging the pen with its button pressed. Note also, that when you finish erasing in this way, all previous settings are restored (like the currently selected brush, its nib size, color, transparency etc.) – which is not true when you finish erasing with the erasing tool.