The classic combo of mouse and keyboard has flexibility on its side, but any gamer can tell you that for some types of games, nothing beats the speed of a console controller. Funnily enough, the logic remains sound when you move to the realm of productivity — in this case, editing images. As NZ photographer Ben Stewart shows, a PlayStation joypad can have its place beside your Wacom tablet in certain scenarios.
The short video tutorial shows you how to navigate Adobe’s Lightroom software using a controller from Sony’s popular gaming console. Some third-party utilities are required so the peripheral can communicate with your PC correctly, but once configured, you can use the joypad for pretty much anything.
Why does this work? The utilities bind the controller’s buttons, joysticks and directional pad to keys on your keyboard as well as mouse clicks. Even combinations of keys can be programmed — for example, a single press could trigger a copy action, while another performs a paste.
In Stewart’s case, he’s able to navigate photos using the thumb sticks and move between image correction sliders, bumping them around using nothing but the controller.
It’s certainly not for everyone, but at the very least it’s a very creative use of a console joypad!
Using a PlayStation controller in LR [YouTube, via PetaPixel]
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