#wacom software

[bamboo-dock-and-minis]

What Is: Bamboo Dock

This post/info was originally written by Silvia. I have made updates where needed for new information or clarity.

Bamboo Dock is a useful little application which allows you to store shortcuts to applications and also helps you manage your Wacom Bamboo tablet.

Support for Bamboo Dock was discontinued in April 2016 and is no longer available for download on the Wacom website. The same applies to the so-called Minis - the custom applications that were available for download through the Dock. The software is still free, and using, sharing, or hosting the files is not illegal.

The purpose of this Tumblr is to host tutorials of how to install the Bamboo Dock and its Minis as well as to provide useful information on the software as far as my limited abilities and knowledge allow.

If you are using Bamboo Dock and have Minis installed that aren’t available in the linked download(s), I would be grateful if you let me know and possibly provide a copy of the Mini files so that it can be uploaded and made available for download freely.

Below is a list of all Minis available for download and their descriptions.

Default Minis- these come with Bamboo Dock and do not need to be added.

Landmarker: connects to a map server and allows you to draw on top of the map and save the image. (Currently Broken)

Mona Lisa: upload your image or take a photo, and then distort or draw on it. The deafult image to play with is the Mona Lisa.

Bamboo Paper: create digital notebooks with plain, graph, or lined paper. Allows for multiple notebooks to be created and saved.

Free the Bird: draw blocks to control the direction of a bounced ball to hit a birdcage and free the bird. 10 levels.

Input Panel: brings up a keyboard on-screen to type with your tablet.

Additional Minis- these Minis require following the tutorial to add them.

Doodler: For making random notes on your computer or small doodles. It has a variety of writing instruments, is very light and smooth and easy to use.

iNudge: allows you to create a loop of electronic music using a pattern board. It’s very relaxing and doesn’t require any musical knowledge.

DoodleBlast: an ink-type game in which you have to draw lines in order to ensure the rocks will fall into the jar.

MoodTuner: connects you to a random radio station when you choose a color to represent your mood. (Currently Broken)

Mah Jongg: classic mahjong game with 10 different levels to choose from and pleasant background music.

PaperCakes: a logic game where you manipulate a sheet of paper by folding or flipping it. Your goal is to help Doodle - a magical drawing who really wants some cake.

Livebrush: a simple yet functional vector-based drawing application that uses motion-based technology to create a very smooth drawing experience. Not formally a Mini, but included.

[edaworks]

Well, my meds are on backorder and I think the barometric pressure swing is screwing with me too, so please welcome “need to keep hands occupied during business calls” mspaint.exe RJ

ugh I just want to feel like I’m not under 10 feet of water and my head to not be stuffed with cotton balls

[dragon-spaghetti]

Hi! I'm a big fan of ur art, I'm not sure if this has been asked before or you've already said but what do you use to draw, digital and traditional? I'm thinking of getting an ipad air M1 (currently working on a Galaxy tab a8) but want to maybe hear ur thoughts first, thanks x

Awk omg thank you!! I don’t think I have been asked actually lmao at least not recently so 👀

For digital art I draw on an iPad Pro and use procreate!! But before that, I was drawing on a huion kamvas 22 plus, and used krita ;v; also had a wacom before that but don’t remember the model, it was one that didn’t have a screen and was my first art tablet. Still have the huion but it has kinda just become an extra monitor for me to watch YouTube on as I draw since I personally prefer procreate ;^^

For traditional the paper completely depends on what is sitting nearby lol, but I have been using promarkers since I was literally 11 years old ✨ and faber-castell colouring pencils were my saving grace during my art gcse years

If you’re considering an iPad, if possible I’d recommend going to an apple store and testing the display models!! Procreate (and a load of other stuff) is generally pre-downloaded on them, so you can see how the apps feel. I was having a lotta trouble deciding on the screen size and testing them out physically helped me decide on getting a bigger one in the end

[thedawner]

Messy Hopper doodle started in Corel Painter Essentials 2 then finished in a mixture of PS, Rebelle and Procreate.

A Bug’s Life fanart.

[autoboros]

Autoboros' drawing challenge Draw Hiro and Auto every day for a month. Pride month

[iaf]

Drawing on a tablet is so hard >:(

[saturnsexual]

ipads are legitimately a great option at this point for drawing tablets and it infuriates me to no end that apple isn't completely pivoting to this market. Imagining an 18" ipad that can actually connect to a computer or that can run macOS apps while still having an enjoyable UX using the apple pencil for navigating (which is VERY POSSIBLE) has me losing my mind.

[recreationaldivorce]

ppl saying that a downside to linux is the lack of access to a lot of native software has never resonated with me bc ive only experienced searching for windows alternatives to linux programs i use and discovering that windows devs (as in ppl who write windows software not ppl who write the windows os specifically) literally just have neglected to write software for some things i would have thunk were pretty essential....... i guess ppl are talking about video games and stuff in which case fair enough im not a massive Gamer these days although I do get surprised about how much of my steam library has a native linux version these days. and there's always wine

[bamboo-dock-and-minis]

Installing Bamboo Dock

Download Bamboo Dock from one of these three resources: -The Neocities Site that corresponds with this blog: https://bamboo-dock-and-minis.neocities.org/

-Software Informer (Dock and Default Minis Only): https://bamboo-dock.software.informer.com/

-Silvia's Google Drive Backup: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxunVPG7fvwUdlFHZ2tVdDF3OXM?resourcekey=0-_P7k1dZJbX9XHMxVNFEVfw&usp=drive_link

If you are using Windows 10 or later, you need manually set your computer's date to 2015 or earlier to install.

To do this, go to: Settings ---> Time and Language Turn off the option to "Set time automatically" Click the [Change] button under "Set the time and date manually" Adjust the year and click [change] to save. When you are done installing the dock, you may turn back on the option for "Set time automatically" without losing access to using the Dock.

Step 1: Open and run the dock_setup application.

Follow the install wizard. This will add the base Bamboo Dock application to your computer, along with the default minis. The default minis are: Input Panel, Landmarker, Mona Lisa, Bamboo Paper, Free The Bird, and Mood Tuner. Mood Tuner may not work without installing it again in step 2.

Step 2: To add additional minis, proceed to

How to Install Minis to Bamboo Dock: https://www.tumblr.com/bamboo-dock-and-minis/738633489320230912/how-to-install-minis-to-bamboo-dock

Moving installation from one computer to another

Download Bamboo Dock from one of the three resources above for the install file for Dock and install the dock on your new computer.

On your old computer, go the the Wacom folder in the same way as Step 6 for installing Minis. Copy the "widgets" folder and the "icons" folder onto something like a USB drive to move them to your new computer.

On your new computer, move the "widgets" and "icons" folders to the Wacom folder (step 6 for installing Minis), replacing the "widgets" and "icons" folders that are there from installing the Dock. Make sure the Dock is completely closed when doing this.

Troubleshooting: If you see this even after setting your computer's date to 2015:

Close the installer. You will need to adjust the date to 2010 instead, and then you may launch the installer again.

Refuses to install:

If the Dock refuses to install, close the installer and please check that you do not have it already listed under your programs. If you do, uninstall that listing first before running the installer again. The installer will not work if there is a copy of the Dock installed to your computer already.

Please also check to make sure that the copy you already have is not one that contains non-default Minis not available on this site by looking at the files and running it. If it does, you should not uninstall it, but should proceed to step 2 instead. If you are able, please email me those missing Minis at magsciar@gmail.com.

[lettersfrombeyondthegrave]

I'm sorry but why everyone around me in art school has the most miserable experience with procreate?

[bubble--c]

i mean the only way to be able to do those things is start as soon as possible and keep going until it works

also i will gladly draw miku any day of the week

once again im laying in bed just lowkey upset that im not able to do digital art or produce music/use vocaloid software, and im irrationally bitter towards people who can, and it feels like this great cosmic injustice that im overwhelmed with this love for Miku and don't have the technical skills to express that love, and a bunch of artists and producers who do have those skills don't deserve them and arent revering Miku PROPERLY and theyre a bunch of fuckers i mean i need to learn these skills and i want to start like yesterday but its just not possible right this second. BLEH

[meanbossart]

Pin!

Hi, I'm RJ (Male, 27 years old) I'm a -usually- horror oriented artist and collaborator alongside my partner and better-half @barbatusart, though I'm currently on a Baldur's Gate 3/DnD streak with both my art and writing, specifically centered around the Dark Urge I created for my campaign and his antics, so that's most of what you will find here!

I want to leave a warning right here that I occasionally venture into delicate topics in regards to character lore and history - though none of it strays too far from what the game already delves into and I try to give a heads-up ahead of time whenever I feel like something might catch someone off-guard otherwise.

PATREON WHERE I POST WIPS, SKETCHES, UNRELEASED ART, ALL OF MY NSFW CONTENT, ETC : patreon.com/meanbossart/

MY INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/meanboss_art/

TWITCH WHERE I STREAM SOMETIMES: twitch.tv/meanboss14

PSA: I get a lot of asks and I'm slow to go through them, please don't take it personally :U

Anyway, here's the guy of the hour:

🚨FAQ BELOW����

Q: Does your Durge have a name? A: Nope! I named him "drow" when I played the game because I didn't feel like thinking up anything special. His lack of a name has become part of the character's lore and you will find him to always be tagged with "DU drow", or referred to as The Drow or just Drow.

Q: Where can I read your BG3 fan-fiction? And what is it about? A: Right here! The main plot follows DU Drow, Astarion, and Shadowheart on a new adventure that fractures into a couple of different directions, but mainly focuses on the aftermath of the spawn that Astarion has released and the personal development of the main cast, alongside a number of original characters that get involved in the narrative. My goal was to create a kind of "DLC" experience, so you can expect a lot of themes that parallel the main game.

Q: Can I draw one of your characters, a scene from your story, or any of your characters interacting with mine/other characters? And can it be NSFW in nature? A: YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN, AND I'LL BE DELIGHTED TO SEE IT IF YOU CARE TO SHARE. I'm equally fine with NSFW as long as everyone involved (in the art and otherwise) is an adult.

Q: What drawing software/tablet/brushes do you use? A: I draw on a Wacom Cintiq 22, using Clip Studio Pro. I switch around brushes quite often but most of what I use comes from the DAUB super-bundle by Paolo Limoncelli.

Q: Where can I find more of your work? A: You can find mine and my partner's comics here, but please bear in mind that most of it is highly violent stuff and you should read the content warnings on the store page carefully before making any purchases - if in doubt of whether or not any of it could be detrimental to your mental health, DON'T BUY IT. Stay safe!

Q: Do you take commissions? A: I am not currently taking any new commission inquiries, sorry!

[relto]

the other day i was worried my drawing tablet finally kicked the bucket, but with a full battery charge and system updates installed everything works fine phew

[boaillustration]

The Artisul team was kind enough to send me their Artisul D16 display tablet to review! Timelapse and review can be found under the read more.

I have been using the same model of display tablet for over 10 years now (a Wacom Cintiq 22HD) and feel like I might be set in my ways, so getting the chance to try a different brand of display tablet was also a new experience for me!

The Unboxing 

The tablet arrived in high-quality packaging with enough protection that none of the components get scratched or banged up in the shipping process. I was pleasantly surprised that additionally to the tablet, pen, stand, cables and nibs it also included a smudge guard glove and a pen case. 

The stand is very light-weight and I was at first worried that it would not be able to hold up the tablet safely, but it held up really well. I appreciated that it offered steeper levels of inclination for the tablet, since I have seen plenty other display tablets who don’t offer that level of ergonomics for artists. My only gripe is that you can’t anchor the tablet to the stand. It will rest on the stand and can be easily taken on or off, but that also means that you can bump into it and dislodge it from the stand if you aren’t careful. It would require significant force, but as a cat owner, I know that a scenario like that is more likely than I’d like.

Another thing I noticed is how light the tablet is in comparison to my Cintiq. Granted, my Cintiq is larger (22 inches vs the 15.8 inches of the Artisul D16), but the Artisul D16 comes in at about 1.5kg of weight. While I don’t consider display tablets that require a PC and an outlet to work really portable, it would be a lot easier to move with the Artisul D16 from one space to another. In comparison, my Cintiq weighs in at a proud 8.5kg, making it a chore to move around. I have it hooked up to a monitor stand to be able to move it more easily across my desk.

The Setup

The setup of the tablet was quick as well, with only minor hiccups. The drivers installed quickly and basic setup was done in a matter of minutes. That doesn’t mean it came without issues: the cursor vanished as soon as I hovered over the driver window, making it a guessing game where I would be clicking and the pen calibration refused to work on the tablet screen and instead always defaulted to my regular screen. I ended up using the out of the box pen calibration for my test drawing which worked well enough.

The tablet comes with customizable hot-keys that you can reassign in the driver software. I did not end up using the hot-keys, since I use a Razer Tartarus for all my shortcuts, but I did play around with them to get a feel for them. The zoom wheel had a very satisfying haptic feel to it which I really enjoyed, and as far as I could tell, you can map a lot of shortcuts to the buttons, including with modifier keys like ctrl, shift, alt and the win key. I noticed that there was no option to map numpad keys to these buttons, but I was informed by my stream viewers that very few people have a full size keyboard with a numpad anymore. 

The pen comes with two buttons as well. Unlike the hot-keys on the side of the tablet, these are barely customizable. I was only able to assign mouse clicks to them (right, left, scroll wheel click, etc) and no other hotkeys. I have the alt key mapped to my pen button on my Cintiq, enabling me to color pick with a single click of the pen. The other button is mapped to the tablet menu for easy display switches. Not having this level of customization was a bit of a bummer, but I just ended up mapping the alt key to a new button on my Razer Tartarus and moved on.

The pen had a very similar size to my Wacom pen, but was significantly lighter. It also rattled slightly when shook, but after inspection this was just the buttons clicking against the outer case and no internal issues. The pen is made from one material, a smooth plastic finish. I would have liked for there to be a rubber-like material at the grip like on the Wacom pen for better handling, but it still worked fine without it.

Despite not being able to calibrate the pen for the display tablet, the cursor offset was minimal. It took me a while at the beginning to get used to the slight difference to my current tablet, but it was easy to get used to it and I was able to smoothly ink and color with the tablet. The screen surface was very smooth, reminding me more of an iPad surface. The included smudge guard glove helped mitigate any slipping or sliding this might have caused, enabling me to draw smoothly. Like with the cursor offset, it took me a while to get used to the different pressure sensitivity of the tablet, but I adapted quickly.

So what do I think of it?

Overall, drawing felt different on this tablet, but I can easily see myself getting used to the quirks of the tablet with time. Most of the issues I had were QoL things I am used to from my existing tablet. 

But I think that’s where the most important argument for the tablet comes in: the price.

I love my Cintiq. I can do professional grade work on it and I rebought the same model after my old one got screen issues, I liked it that much. But it also costs more than a 1000 € still, even after being on the market for over 10 years (I bought it for about 1.500 € refurbished in 2014, for reference). The Artisul D16 on the other hand runs you a bit more than 200€. That is a significant price difference! I often get asked by aspiring artists what tools I use and while I am always honest with them, I also preface it by saying that they should not invest in a Cintiq if they are just starting out. They are high quality professional tools and have a price point that reflects that. You do not need these expensive tools to create art. You can get great results on a lot cheaper alternatives! I do this for a living so I can justify paying extra for the QoL upgrades the Cintiq offers me, but I have no illusion that they are an accessible tool for most people. 

I can recommend the Artisul D16 as a beginner screen tablet for people who are just getting into art or want to try a display tablet for once. I wouldn’t give up my Cintiq for it, but I can appreciate the value it offers for the competitive price point. If you want to get an Artisul D16 for yourself, you can click this link to check out their shop!

AMAZON.US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TQLGC81

AMAZON.JP: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07T6ZT84V

AMAZON.MX: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B07T6ZT84V

Once again thank you to the Artisul team for giving me the opportunity to review their display tablet!

[ammifanart]

Hi I just wanna say I LOVE your art so much!! The way you draw all of them is so fitting to their characters and their expressions make me go insane!!! /vpos so so glad I found your blog! :3 I hope life goes easier on you and remember to take care as well! <3

And, do you have any advice on how to improve one's art(style)? Are there any key points or practice ways you'd recommend to someone?

Hi! Just found your mesage in my mountain of inbox asks. Thank you for the compliments! And Support! I'm here to make others happy! So thank you very much! In terms of learning an artstyle. I would pick an artist, or a few, And try replicate their style. Obviously do not sell or use this artwork as promotions, just use it as study. My favorite artists are the online artist Phobs and Sam Yang. Look up youtube videos on how to draw things like: Tone, lighting, volume form. https://youtu.be/f0r5-f87YK8 https://youtu.be/U156SKXjdUA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDfVyKy-tl0 This video as well I found so useful Also check out companies and their processes. If you want expressive characters I would recommend looking into animation companies, Disney, Warner brothers, look at their model sheets. These are concept artwork that break down their characters for animators to animate.

Like this Finally, one big thing is this: Make bad art. Don't erase doodles you have done, Even if it is bad. Because redoing something over and over won't help you learn. If you don't like something, stop the doodle and draw elsewhere. Use it as reference.

To give you an idea of how many doodles I have:

If you want to practice with digital media I use a completely free software called fire alpaca: https://firealpaca.com/

Download this and you can draw for free on your computer! You can also do animation in it. In terms of a tablet I recommend getting a basic tablet first something like this:

I have a Wacom intuos but for christmas i'm getting a big screen tablet (I'm excited) But the normal ones are best for beginners. It will take practice to draw while not looking at your hand but you will get the hang of it! I don't know much about traditional art sorry :p Always been digital.

Anyway I hope this helps! If you want more tips I'd be happy to break down how I draw

[anniegraves-creates]

"Three years trying to put this thing in the ground. Three years too long ..."

Brushes used: Photoshop Ballpointpen-Brushes by Food For Crows (David Schmelling) and Photoshop Inking Brushes pack by Francisco Beltrán, both found on @cubebrush.

Hardware and software: This was drawn first on lined notepad paper with a ballpoint pen and pencil for shading, scanned into @photoshop, and then finished on my @wacom Cintiq 22"