koffice/doc/chalk/tutorial-tablet.docbook

<sect1 id="tutorial-tablet">
<title>Working with tablets</title>

<para>This tutorial is intended to describe you the first steps with working
with a tablet with &chalk;. The tutorial assumes you are using &Linux;.</para>

<sect2 id="tutorial-tablet-configuring">
<title>Configuring it</title>

<para>
As any hardware it nearly works out of the box. &Linux; should recognize it
fine, but you might have to configure the X11 server by hand. The best way to
do this is to follow the instruction on the Wacom &Linux; howto: <ulink
url="http://linuxwacom.sourceforge.net/index.php/howto/main" />.
</para><para>
Then, in &chalk;, you need to enable the various tools (in the
<guilabel>Tablet</guilabel> section of the
<menuchoice><guimenu>Settings</guimenu><guimenuitem>Configure
&chalk;...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> dialog) &mdash; you can find more
information in the <link linkend="settings-preferences-tablet">tablet settings
section</link>.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="tutorial-tablet-firstcontact">
<title>First contact with the tablet</title>

<para>
There are three devices of your tablet that you can use with &chalk;:
</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>the cursor, the mouse that was shipped with the Wacom
tablet</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the eraser, the round part on the top of the pen</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>the stylus, the thin point on the bottom of the pen</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>
By default, when you use the stylus or the cursor on the tablet, the Brush
tool and the pixel brush painting operation will get selected. The eraser
device is associated to the <quote>pixel eraser</quote> painting operation.
But if you select a different tool or a different painting operation with one
device, &chalk; will remember the association when you switch between devices.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="tutorial-tablet-outlines">
<title>Outlines of a flower</title>

<para>
Even if you knew how to draw before you started with a tablet, you will need
to adapt to the tablet. It doesn't feel the same. So I suggest to start with
something simple, like a flower, and to use a picture as a model:
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>A flower</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="tutorial-tablet-1.png" format="PNG" />
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>A flower</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption><para>A flower</para></caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
First, you will need to create a new layer for the outline. I advise you to
lock the layer with the picture, it will prevent you from making mistakes.
</para><para>
Drawing the outline of the flower seems pretty easy, but for your first
experience you will have a great difficulty to precisely follow the line on
the screen while your hand has to move on the tablet. Eventually you will get
something like this:
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The outline of the flower</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="tutorial-tablet-2.png" format="PNG" />
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>The outline of the flower</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption><para>The outline of the flower</para></caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2 id="tutorial-tablet-colorization">
<title>Colorization</title>

<para>
For the colorization, you will need to create a third layer. You will
have to move it below the layer with the outlines, and do not forget to lock
the outline layer.
</para><para>
It's mostly easier than the outline part, just select the color you want to
use (either with the color selector or with the color picker), then for most
of the work you can use the fill tool: with the mouse, click on the part you
want to fill, as by default the fill tool will take the outline into
consideration. On the following image, the different colors of the heart of
the flower are not seperated by outlines, to do them I just completed the
missing outline with a yellow or brown line to create the separation between
the different colors.
</para>

<para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>The colored flower</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="tutorial-tablet-3.png" format="PNG" />
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>The colored flower</phrase>
</textobject>
<caption><para>The colored flower</para></caption>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>
</para>

<para>
The resulting image looks and feels like old fashion clipart, mostly because
it lacks shadows and illumination, which are not covered by this tutorial.
</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>