Manga Studio For Dummies

Manga Studio 4 Demo @ Comic-Con

Doug — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:05:34 +0000

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that if you’re going to be at the San Diego comic-Con, be sure to stop by the Smith Micro Booth (Booth #4516). They will be demonstrating the soon to be released Manga Studio 4!

Tell ‘em I sent ya.

MS4D at the New York Comic Con

Doug — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:44:38 +0000

Sadly, I wasn’t able to make it to the New York Comic Con this year, but I was happy to hear from a friend of mine that the book was seemingly all over the place, and selling pretty well, to boot!

So, I just wanted to drop a quick note thanking you guys for purchasing it, and I hope you had a great time there. Maybe I’ll be lucky and make it out next year (money willing )

Resetting the Tablet Driver on a Mac

Doug — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:25:25 +0000

In the Dealing With Cursor Offset post, I noted that I was didn’t know how to delete the preference file for a Wacom tablet driver on a Mac. Not long after I posted that, Andy Bold sent me an e-mail that may help you Mac users out:

I’ve never seen this problem myself, but I can tell you that the System Preferences panel that came with my Bamboo doesn’t have a ‘remove preferences file’ option. It does have “Defaults” buttons on the “Pen” and “Tablet” tabs that factory reset the settings on these panels.

If hitting the Default buttons doesn’t fix the problem then there are two preferences files that can be removed to try and fix it.

* Start Terminal to go to the command line.

* Run these two commands:
- rm $HOME/Library/Preferences/com.wacom.pentablet.prefs
- rm $HOME/Library/Preferences/com.wacom.tabletpreferences
Hope that helps!

If you’re unfamiliar (or uncomfortable) with the Terminal program, then I would suggest just re-installing the driver. But, if you’re like me and likes to get their fingers a bit dirty, you now have that option.

Dealing With Cursor Offset

Doug — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:37:59 +0000

If you have (or want) to change the resolution of your monitor, there’s a good chance you’ll run into a very odd problem when you try drawing in Manga Studio with a Wacom tablet (I can’t speak for other tablet brands because I don’t own any other tablet brands. ).

If you switch resolution or orientation (if you’re looking to use a Cintiq in Portrait mode), you may notice that when you try drawing, the pen lines are way off compared to where you’re trying to draw. The obvious solution would be to go back to the original resolution or orientation. However, the problem doesn’t go away.

Apparently The Wacom driver doesn’t take too kindly to a change in resolution/orientation. The offsetting issue actually happens with all the drawing programs I’ve encountered. However, all I usually need to do is close and restart the program for the cursor to become properly aligned. Not so with Manga Studio — you can close and re-open the program until doomsday, and the cursor’s going to remain offset.

So, since that idea is thrown out, you have only one option. Well, two really..but they both produce the same result.

You will need to un-install and re-install the Wacom driver. If you lost or deleted the driver installation, you can pick up a fresh copy at Wacom’s website.*

If you use Windows, you can use the Tablet File Preference Utility to delete the driver’s preference file and restart the driver.** To do this:
1. Find the program in your Start Menu (Start -> Programs -> Wacom Tablet -> Tablet Preference File Utility).
2. The Preference Utility window appears (see Figure 1).
3. Click on the button that says “Remove My Preference File.”
4. Once it does its thing, close the window.

Fig. 1: The Wacom Tablet File Preference Utility

That’s it! If you use Manga Studio now, the cursor should now be properly aligned. Keep in mind though that all of the custom shortcuts you added to your pen and/or tablet will be gone. So you’ll need to re-enter them with the Wacom Tablet Properties program.

* It’s good to check there occasionally just to see if there’s an updated driver. Just be sure to hold on to the previous driver installation program just in case there are any problems with the new version.

** I don’t use a Mac, so I don’t know if the Mac has a File Preferences Utility program (I’d be shocked if they don’t). So, if any of you Mac users can confirm that (along with how to get to it), I’ll post it here.

Broke the top 10,000!

Doug — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:10:12 +0000

I noticed the other day that Manga Studio For Dummies broke the top 10,000 ranking and was ranked 15th in a couple of specialized categories. Like a moron, however, I didn’t think to take a screenshot for posterity before it started going back down. Whoops.

That said, thanks so much to all of you who have bought the book so far, and I certainly hope that you have found it useful.

Perspective Ruler Correction

Doug — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:28:27 +0000

As I was flipping though the book, I noticed a mistake that slipped by me. on Page 316, where it says:
1. From the main menu, choose Ruler -> Create Focus Lines Ruler,

it should read:
1. From the main menu, choose Ruler -> Create Perspective Ruler.

I’m sure you already figured that out yourself, but I figured I’d give you the heads up anyway.

There Are More Chapters!

Doug — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:22:30 +0000

Hopefully you didn’t throw out the CD that came with the book, as there are additional chapters that didn’t make it to the final cut. Two of the chapters cover some of the more advanced features of Manga Studio EX, including using Vectors for your line work, as well as importing 2D and 3D objects into your page using the 2DLT and 3DLT import functions.

The final Bonus Chapter discusses the history of manga (and anime) in the United States. This was more of a fun chapter for those that probably didn’t know how far back there was manga in this country, and how it was much harder to obtain than it is nowadays.

Got Questions? Ask ‘em Here!

Doug — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:03:46 +0000

Part of the idea for this site is to hopefully answer questions that either weren’t covered in the book, or weren’t expanded upon enough due to book-size constraints. So, if there’s something in the book that has you confused (or isn’t in the book at all), head on over to the Contact page, and ask away!

Keep in mind though…if you have a question that is easily answered in the book, I can’t answer it here. I will, however, point you to where you can find it in the book. Sorry…but I have to give you some reason to buy the book!

Manga Studio EX and OSX Leopard

Doug — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:26:03 +0000

A quick FYI regarding some of the latest operating systems and Manga Studio.

According to e-frontier, Manga Studio EX 3.0 will not work properly with Apple’s OSX Leopard. The bad (worse?) news is that it doesn’t look like it’s going to be fixed any time soon. From the sounds of things, the suggestion is to wait until Manga Studio 4 comes out.

I don’t like that suggestion any more than you Leopard users may, especially considering there’s no set date that Manga Studio 4 will be released, and who knows if there will be an upgrade discount.

If it’s any consolation, Leopard users can use Manga Studio Debut, so if you haven’t purchased either version yet, I’d suggest waiting on EX and purchase Debut instead.