Hi. As of now, the eraser is set as a mode of the current brush, so when I hit e I get an erasing of color with all the pressure,opacity,etc settings of the current brush. How do it set it so that eraser is a separate tool with its own settings. I'd rather not have my eraser to have both opacity and size set to the way I like my paint brush to work. I don't see it listed in the brush palette.
I can see where it's useful, but I prefer not to be stuck to it.

thanks

There are many ways to do what you want here…
But basically use a different preset for the eraser (I made some eraser presets in the default preset pack, but you can create your own).
To switch to it quickly, you can assign it to the eraser tip of your stylus (if there's one), or just save it to your favorite presets and use right-click on canvas to switch presets, or switch from the preset docker.

It's unwieldy switching to the back side of the pen vs hitting e. Right click canvas sounds better.

I think I just passed by a thread mentioning that you can't yet set these presets to hotkeys...
Is that so?

No, that's not (yet) possible. We're keeping the suggestion in mind, just need to find a proper way of implementing it.

Thanks boudewijn.

It might not seem like much but it does help. You don't have to move the pen to another location to set the tool or anything like that. In photoshop you can switch back from brush to eraser and back to brush without missing a beat. You can stay in the area of focus with fingers being able to walk the keyboard with muscle memory without switching mental gears.

Are you aware of the 'gesture' menu setup in Alias(automotive, surface, design, maya) software?
You can keep the palette to right click but make it so you hold right click and drag in certain quadrant for intended tool. This is a very quick snap of the wrist. You don't have to drag until the mouse is on the icon, just in the quadrant direction, release click and the tool is ready for use.