Guides
A controller for drawing and photo editing
Tablet artists have used off-hand shortcut devices for years, and photo editors keep one hand on the keyboard for modifiers. A game controller does both jobs, and it does them while resting in a lap. Brush size on a stick, undo under the thumb, Shift and Option latched with a press, tools on the face buttons, zoom and rotate on the other stick. This guide builds a deck for Photoshop and shows how to adapt it.
The deck
| Control | Photoshop |
|---|---|
| A / Cross | B (brush) |
| B / Circle | E (eraser) |
| X / Square | Command Z (undo); hold for Command Shift Z |
| Y / Triangle | L (lasso); hold for M (marquee) |
| D-pad up / down | Bracket right / left (brush size) |
| D-pad left / right | Shift bracket (brush hardness) |
| LB / L1 | Shift, toggle mode |
| RB / R1 | Option, toggle mode (eyedropper while painting) |
| Left trigger | Space, held (hand tool while pulled) |
| Right trigger | Command, held (temporary move tool) |
| Right stick up / down | Command plus / minus (zoom), turbo 6 per second |
| Right stick left / right | Option bracket (previous / next layer) |
| Left stick | Pointer, for menus and panels |
| L3 | Command 0 (fit on screen) |
| R3 | X (swap foreground and background) |
| Start / Options | Command S |
| Back / Share | Command Shift N (new layer) |
| Touchpad press | Tab (hide panels) |
Modifiers that behave
Shift and Option on the bumpers use Toggle mode: press to latch, press to release, so a hand that cannot hold a bumper while drawing does not have to. The triggers are the opposite: Space and Command are held only while the trigger is pulled, because panning and temporary move are momentary by nature. Both patterns are one switch in the row's Options.
Brush size on a stick
A bracket key per press is coarse. The right stick's vertical axis with turbo at 10 per second and Variable Sensitivity off steps the size smoothly while held; push a little for a few steps, hold for a sweep. Lightroom users can point the same rows at the exposure or the slider nudge keys.
Adapting to other apps
- Affinity Photo and Designer: the tool letters mostly match; brush size is bracket keys too.
- Lightroom Classic: replace tools with ratings (numbers), flags (P, X), and the develop sliders' nudges; the D-pad becomes previous / next photo. The Smart Preset Maker's Photo Review workflow is a start.
- Clip Studio, Krita, GIMP: same shape, different letters. Duplicate and re-map in five minutes.
- iPad apps through Sidecar: the controller sends keys to the Mac, and Sidecar passes them to the Mac app on the iPad screen. Procreate itself is an iPad app and is not reachable this way.
Two-handed control without a keyboard
With a tablet in the drawing hand and the controller in the other, the keyboard can leave the desk. Add per-app auto-switch so the deck appears with the app, and put Command Q and Command W on holds so nothing important is one accidental press away.
Download
- Photo Editing Deck (Photoshop) presetThe table above, with toggle-mode Shift and Option on the bumpers and momentary Space and Command on the triggers. 12 KB
Open a downloaded preset with InputConfig, or drag it onto the app icon. It lands in the sidebar, ready to activate or edit. Any launch target inside a preset file is cleared on import; add one yourself in the editor if you want it.
Questions
Does the tablet keep working normally?
Yes. InputConfig sends keys; the tablet is untouched.
Can the controller's stick draw?
It can move the pointer and the trigger can hold the mouse button, so yes in the sense that a mouse can draw. It is a menu and panel tool, not a brush.
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