I wanted to learn more about using the Grease pencil.
And working with a mouse device will work but fluid lines are difficult.
As part of upgrading my current hardware, I decided to buy a HUION pen tablet first.
Connecting it to my laptop was a problem. My docking station lacks a HDMI port.
But I do have a parallel printer port, a PS-2 keyboard input, an SVGA port, and some other obscure video cable connections.
But I managed because the laptop itself had one HDMI port. This docking station had a lot of USB-B ports, but my laptop didn’t. So connecting this pen tablet was a bit problematic (It has video input via USB-C).
This video USB-C cable is a strange one. It combines HDMI, A USB port and power.
I use Ubuntu and HUION has software for it. But Luckily the tablet worked out of the box. Installing the software .deb package was without success at first. It crashed my system. Got strange hardware errors and needed to start the system in debug mode. I was glad I could repair the system. A second try on installing the software worked.
To overcome all those obscure errors and crashes I decided to connect the tablet to a Windows 11 machine (provided by my employer, Yea). Also here it worked immediately, with MS pen driver already active.
You need the HUION software to configure the penbuttons.
Today I played hours with this tool. It works fantastic! But also a lot of frustrations. I feel as if I’m learning Blender again. I miss the mouse scroll wheel. Zooming, and clicking (third button), it’s very different from the mouse pen.
Also, you need a full keyboard. I have bought also the HUION keyboard mini. With enough keys for Photoshop maybe. But Blender … I’m so confident with those hotkeys in combination with the mouse. I need to completely re-learn this using the pen.
My second pen button acts as the right mouse button. Handy for dropdown menus.
But those menus are difficult to read because I’m hovering over them with my right hand.
moving the hand (and thus the pen) deactivates the menu (no mouse over hover).
The first pen (main) button acts as the left mouse button. You get used to it, having a finger positioned over it.
The biggest irritations yet are those hotkeys or typing on the keyboard. If your pen doesn’t hover over the tablet (less than 1 cm). Blender (probably) thinks, no mouse, so your hotkeys don’t work. I use both hands, to hold Ctrl-Shift and far away key.
Also, a fun feature with drives me nuts is that pointing (clicking) with the pen is an action.
For sure you say! But if you drag something (G-command) and want to place it wants you to press the pen down. I’m used to clicking on the mouse’s left button (pen button). But while in this grab mode, the pen’s (left mouse button) changes the way of dragging (axis) and not placing the grabbed object.
My verdict so far. I LOVE WORKING WITH THE PEN TOOL.
The UI experience is totally different. Some things are easy to accomplish with the mouse, but problematic with the pen. And visa versa. When modeling, use the mouse. When Sculpting, drawing, painting, Grease pencil, use the pen. But switching between those modes is a challenge …
Blender Grease pencil has also a steep learning curve. Also here a lot of switching between 2D and 3D.
Have fun!
