Wacom x Mental Canvas Blog Header

Blurring the Line Between 2D and 3D Sketching with Mental Canvas

March 23, 2022

Mental Canvas brings digital sketching out of the traditional 2D realm and into the 3D space by providing artists and designers a new way to approach sketching and environment building. With preset scenes and the ability to add and position independent canvases within a single ‘sketch’ file, artists can develop astounding depth, dimension, and interaction to sketch concepts.

 

With a clean and simple User Interface, artists can immediately focus on developing their ideas. Brushes are beautiful in their simplicity, color options are curated, and file management tools are straight forward. Each transparent canvas within a scene has its own layer stack, allowing for separation of sketch color and linework, typical in most sketching packages.

 

Mental Canvas Full UI Brushes e1647960420664   Mental Canvas Color Menu Wacom Cintiq

 

Toggle between Draw and View Mode to build and explore worlds and ideas as they come to fruition. Whether it’s a room, panorama, or a scene divided into foreground, midground and background, Mental Canvas delivers a new way to plan and execute 2D sketching in a 3D space. Use the camera and navigation controls to fly through a village, examine details of a new kitchen cabinetry design, or have a peek at what’s hiding behind those bushes over there.

Artists can also save canvases and camera angles as scene bookmarks to jump back to specific views, create flythrough animations, and export animations as video.

Mental Canvas is an excellent tool for design exploration and story development. Canvases can be developed quickly and bookmarks set to create a very effective storyboarding tool with the ability to export animatics (without sound).

 

Animated Bookmark Loop

 

Blank canvas paralysis, is typical with all digital sketching software, and can be a challenge for new users of Mental Canvas. However, with the provided basic templates, tutorial scenes and sample scenes, the developers have significantly shortened the learning curve. Sketching and building scenes with new canvases based on camera view quickly becomes quite intuitive.

Being that Mental Canvas is a digital sketching tool, it goes without out saying that Wacom pen tablets and pen displays deliver an absolute best-case-scenario. 

Setting up your Wacom Device for Mental Canvas

There are countless ways to customize your Wacom tablet setting for Mental Canvas. Below you’ll find a few configuration suggestions with a couple different Wacom pens and devices.

Cintiq Pro pen displays with Touch provide a completely intuitive navigation solution using two fingers to control Pan, Zoom and Tumble/Rotate, all while still holding your pen in the same hand. Combined with a few Express Key customizations, there is little need for a keyboard to work effectively.

For Wacom pen tablets and non-touch displays, some minor adjustments to Pen settings in the Table Settings Window will get you on your way in no time.
Currently, Mental Canvas supports Wacom devices on the Windows version of the application.

Pro Pen 2 for Cintiq Pro (with Touch)

Even with the touch display, it’s nice to have scene navigation controls mapped to the buttons on the pen.

  1.     CTRL + LMB to PAN across the scene
  2.     ALT + LMB to Zoom in and out of the active view

Wacom ProPen2 for Cintiq with Mental Canvas

There are a number of shortcuts that could be mapped to these buttons or the ExpressKeys, to streamline workflows. Toggling  between Draw mode (1) and View Mode (2) with the shortcut ‘T’. Assigning ‘E’ to an ExpressKey will switch to Eraser , and ‘F’ will activate the Fill tool.

Pro Pen 3D for Cintiq Pro (with Touch)

Of course, if you’re using a Pro Pen 3D with the additional barrel button, we’ve found that this button assignment works very well:

  1.     CTRL + LMB to PAN across the scene
  2.     ALT + LMB to Zoom in and out of the active view
  3.     Erase (Found in the Tablet section of the dropdown menu) 

CintiqPP3D Pen Settings Copy

Pro Pen 2 for Intuos

For scene navigation control with the Pro Pen 2, we recommend mapping the 2 pen buttons as follows:

  1.     CTRL + LMB to PAN across the scene
  2.     ALT + LMB to Zoom in and out of the active view

IntuosPP2 Pen Settings Copy

Pro Pen 3D for Intuos

If you’re using a Pro Pen 3D with the additional barrel button, we’ve found that this button assignment works very well:

  1.     CTRL + LMB to PAN across the scene
  2.     ALT + LMB to Zoom in and out of the active view
  3.     Shift + LMB to Rotate the canvas. (alternatively, you could also map this button to Eraser. as the Pro Pen 3D doesn’t have a physical eraser like the Pro Pen 2)

IntuosPP3D Pen Settings Copy

 

To take full advantage of the pressure sensitivity of your Wacom pen, ensure that ‘Use Windows Ink’ is selected for Mental Canvas (and any creative application). There are some procedural applications like web browsers and office tools that function better with Windows Ink turned off.

 

Corner Room Window Sketch

 

Mental Canvas is a revolutionary digital sketching application that blurs the line between 2D and 3D sketching. Artists can develop 3D sketches of environments, products, architecture, storyboards by creating a series of canvases in an ‘infinite’ 3D space. Combined with a Wacom tablet or pen display, Mental Canvas offers a unique and powerful digital sketching experience like nothing you’ve experienced before.

To learn more about what can be done with Mental Canvas, head on over to the Mental Canvas Gallery for some incredible examples.

Related posts:

How to draw a stylized illustration in Adobe Illustrator, with Kirk Wallace aka Bone Haus

How to draw a stylized illustration in Adobe Illustrator, with Kirk Wallace aka Bone Haus

How To Draw Polar Bears, with Legendary Animator Aaron Blaise

How To Draw Polar Bears, with Legendary Animator Aaron Blaise

The best storyboarding classes on Skillshare

The best storyboarding classes on Skillshare

Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Art: The Magic of Michelle Mee Nutter

Ordinary Days, Extraordinary Art: The Magic of Michelle Mee Nutter

Connect with Wacom on social media

What are your favorite Intuos Pro features? For @adam_theillustrator it's pan scroll, the three finger zoom shortcut, and the toggle display for dual monitors option ✍️✨
#intuospro #wacomtips #wacomtablet #digitalartist #digitalart #adobeillustrator
687 22
This week's giveaway is closed now. ✌️✌️✌️
Congratulations @naviecomet, you're the lucky winner. 
Thanks to everyone who participated.

Stay tuned for this week's giveaway coming up soon! 

🎉✨ December of Giveaways is HERE! ✨🎉

The holiday magic is upon us and we're ecstatic to bring you weekly giveaways throughout the month of December! 🎁 Come back every Friday for your chance to unwrap something amazing! ✨

This week, we're giving away a Wacom Movink! 🎨 

Here's how to enter:

🎅 Follow @wacom and @wacomedu

❤️ Like this post

🌟 Tag a friend + your favorite creator!

This week's giveaway ends 12/27 at 9 am PST. Winner will be tagged in this post and ONLY contacted through official Wacom accounts. Please be extra cautious if contacted via DM – make sure the sender is @wacom or @wacomedu before sharing any personal info. 📩 We’ll only ask for your shipping details if you win!

Good luck 🍀 #Wacom #WacomForEducation #WacomGiveaway
634 422
Have you ever tried masking out a person using a mouse? 🫢 @ruthiesmagicalcamera did and it really sucked. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Ruthie likes to have full control over every single detail on her photo composites, and editing with a Wacom pen allows her to get really deep in the details, with razor sharp precision, as if she were painting over her photos 💃✍️📸🌾
Check her out trying out the new #WacomMovink! 

PS. The Wacom Movink is now on sale! 

#photoediting #photoretouch #madewithwacom #creativeprofessionals #creativesonthego #digitalphotography
425 9
Jake aka @killerrabbitmedia prefers working on a Wacom Intuos because it's easy to carry and super durable. He also loves pixel art and Asperite because it blends artistry with technical skill. There's a long tutorial video on our YouTube explaining how Jake achieved this look. Go check it out! 
#madewithwacom #wqcomintuos #intuos #wacomtablet #pixelart #artistsoninstagram
439 6
Enjoy this stylized illustration created by @bonehaus inspired by his recent trip to Amsterdam. ⁣
⁣
He goes full circle, collecting inspiration and reference, sketching in #AdobePhotoshop, illustrating in #AdobeIllustrator, and then right back to #photoshop for finalizing color and texture 🔄✌️⁣
⁣
Once in Illustrator, Kirk outlines and traces the major shapes of his sketch, then removes the lines and focuses instead on shapes and shadows. ⁣
⁣
"I start building in more shadows and more details to help separate any of the shapes that are struggling without that outline. I like my art without a ton of outline, so I prefer the challenge of using some shadows and highlights and stuff to separate them.”⁣
- @bonehaus⁣

Head to the #WacomBlog to read the full interview! 
⁣
#MadeWithWacom #WacomCintiqPro #DigitalIllustration #adobeillustrator #Photoshop
382 1
El óleo perfecto para tus ideas es tan delgado como un espejo. 🪞🌾
Descubre la magia de Wacom Movink, nuestro primer lienzo digital OLED. 
Video creado por la maravillosa @martinab.illustrations 🌹
#WacomMovink #creativeprofessionals #creativesonthego #tabletadigital #artedigital
512 5
📝 Managing license requests and agreements is an essential part of protecting your work as a professional artist.

And in this tutorial we show you how to do it easily.

Wacom Yuify allows you to easily view, approve, or reject requests, ensuring your creative rights are secured. Streamlining the process means more control over your art and less hassle.

🔒 Ready to simplify your license management? Register for free at yuify.com

*Yuify Licensing is only available in selected regions and may require additional agreements for specific cases not covered by the License Builder.

#WacomYuify #Yuify #CreativeRights #DigitalRightsManagement
85 2
This week's giveaway is closed now. ✌️✌️✌️
Congratulations @dumartrigali, you're the lucky winner. 
Thanks to everyone who participated.

Stay tuned for this week's giveaway coming up soon! 

🎉✨ December of Giveaways is HERE! ✨🎉

The holiday magic is upon us and we're ecstatic to bring you weekly giveaways throughout the month of December! 🎁 Come back every Friday for your chance to unwrap something amazing! ✨

This week, we're giving away a Wacom Cintiq 16! 🎨 

Here's how to enter:

🎅 Follow @wacom and @wacomedu

❤️ Like this post

🌟 Tag a friend + your favorite creator!

This week's giveaway ends 12/20 at 9 am PST. Winner will be tagged in this post and ONLY contacted through official Wacom accounts. Please be extra cautious if contacted via DM – make sure the sender is @wacom or @wacomedu before sharing any personal info. 📩 We’ll only ask for your shipping details if you win!

Good luck 🍀 #Wacom #WacomForEducation #WacomGiveaway
934 585
Therapeutic break! 
Let's draw some Winnie stickers with @konistudio on a #WacomOne 13. 🧣❄️🌲
#Wacomworkspace #madewithwacom #artistsoninstagram #artistlife
717 14
How to draw fire without burning yourself 🧯🔥
@lplucas thank you for this important service. 
Stay cozy and stay safe out there friends ✌️
#madewithwacom #drawingtips #digitalartist #digitalart #wacomtips
153349 110
How do you keep inspired during ordinary days? 
@buttersketch shares a glimpse into her creative process, full of graphic novels, picture books, music, journaling and art materials. 

"“I really love bribing myself with new materials,” she confesses with a smile. “I think it helps my brain bypass the anxiety of starting, because now I’m focused on just playing.”
- @buttersketch✌️
#Wacomworkspace #WacomMovink #creativeprofessional #artistlife #artistsoninstagram #creativeinspiration
239 2
As an artist, protecting your work can feel impossible. Watermarks distort your art, and even then, they can be removed.

Many have felt the frustration of seeing creations copied without credit - and that’s why Wacom Yuify exists ✨ —it adds an invisible mark to your work, keeping it safe and traceable without compromising its beauty.

🔒 Ready to protect your art? Visit Yuify.com for more info. Now available for @escapemotions 

#WacomYuify #Yuify #CreativeRights #DigitalRightsManagement
154 2
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
Error: There is no connected account for the user 17841445048021802.