Now that we got that out of the way. Lets establish trust. I might not be credible in your eyes. I've used Adobes Photoshop since version 4.0. For those of you unfamiliar after version 8 the version numeric system changed to CS, CS1 etc...We are now on CS4. I've never taken a class on how to use Photoshop<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop>, this might deter you from listening to my assessment or it may not. The choice is yours and out of my hands. Although during the past...over 10 years I've used it for just about anything and everything it can be used for. Photo manipulation, color separation for print...oversize, apparel, interface design, icons, compositions, blu-ray menu systems etc, animations... I don't think I've ever used the dodge and burn tools. ever. I know what they are supposed to be used for in traditional photography. BUT I may have done something other that achieved the same results in the PS environment, after all that is what these apps are supposed to enable us as users to do. Currently I have a WACOM and if you are looking for a pressure sensitive solution it is a viable one. Although the sony vaio I have, along with the macbook pro, has a pressure sensitive mouse pad that is very responsive to taps, gestures etc..I found this out on accident. The only WACOM woe I've had is when my kitties were little they chewed threw the chord. It wasn't the WACOM's fault (or was it?) Well, if it was the designers of my floor heater, lap top charger, mobile phone charger, headphones...(what else?) are at fault as well. I think the only thing cool about GIMP is it is open source. Way back when the friend who introduced me to the mac also showcased an app called painter that I think you would have loved. The natural media paired with the pressure sensitive technology was quite impressive and the UI designer for the app is one of the pioneers of all things good for UI stuff, KAI<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai_Krause> . My personal preference and by no means would I try to make that a standard for anyone not even myself to follow; would be to try different combinations that are available and find what works for you. Things change to rapidly to lock anyone into any ridiculous software/hardware ideologies. Example...if I went and bought a guitar it would be based on how it sounds while in my hands being played. What is it you want to do? It sounds like a WACOM would be your friend. On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 11:36 PM, Chris Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On Thu, 2010-02-04 at 17:55 +1100, Chris Jones wrote: > > I was wondering how someone uses photoshop? With dodge and burn and > > other mouse intensive stuff it seems to me a mouse or track ball is next > > to useless. A laptop touch pad is not that much better. So, is a Wacom > > pen tablet the best way to use this app? > > > > Same should apply to gimp and cinepaint, of course, best cj >