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Tablet/Photoshop help?
13 years ago
Visual sample of problem - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9611484/
I am experiencing a problem many people have asked me about before, but I never had a solution. I recently reformatted my computer, installed Photoshop CS6. I'm experiencing what I best describe as wiggly or unstable paint lines in Photoshop! This has never happened to me before, and the only way to avoid it is to zoom in to 200% to paint, and that's just not something I can do without it doubling the time for a painting and probably decreasing the quality. I usually do the majority of painting pretty zoomed out to block in big shapes and see the whole thing overall while working.
Anyway, I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my drivers, to no avail. I also added Photoshop to the applications list in my tablet properties, which was suggested by someone on my short (cancelled) stream tonight. I feel like this is probably something really simple that I'm just not doing, or not doing things in the right order. ANY suggestions welcome, no matter how "stupid" they are! I'm pretty technologically illiterate. ><;
Halp!
BIG FAT EDIT - I've taken everyone's advice and tried uninstalling ALL things having to do with the tablet (while the tablet it unplugged), restart computer, reinstalling drivers directly from Wacom, restart again, plug tablet in, and same problem! I discovered that I don't experience the problem when I change the pen mapping to "pen mode" instead of "mouse mode". Now, I've always worked in mouse mode, so this is a huge pain in the arse for me, haha! Does this give anyone a new clue of the problem, or is it time for me to just get use to pen mode? =(
SECOND BIG FAT EDIT - So, I've tried a bunch of other things... I tried disabling the mouse drivers as well as uninstalling the mouse to see if they effect the tablet drivers. A lot of the information I was finding pointed towards the mouse and tablet basically not getting a long. That didn't work out. I also tried messing with the mouse settings to see if that helped, to not avail. Although I didn't try every single combination of mouse settings, so I may have missed something. WolfWings had a suggestion I tried too, that didn't work out. I am at a total loss as of right now... I sent a help inquiry to Wacom to see if they can help me out. Any more suggestions welcome!
ENORMOUS EDIT (the third) - I think I have tried all the suggestions posted to me so far, and no success yet. One of the things I don't think I can do is downgrade my Photoshop. I just purchased this for Christmas after getting the funds for it from my entire family. Especially with no guarantee that it will work, sadly! I *might* have to upgrade my tablet, but I do not have the money for that so that would be a hardship. I may have to retrain myself to use pen mode, which would put me behind schedule ENORMOUSLY, and probably force me to procure a new desk so I can work ergonomically for hours without causing injury. Basically, I would really like to find a solution that allows me to use mouse-mode, my current software, machine, and tablet (and desk).
Photoshop mods to stabilize brush maybe? I have no clue how to use those, which ones are good, or how they work, haha! In the meantime I await a response from Wacom, and will try ANY new suggestion!
I am experiencing a problem many people have asked me about before, but I never had a solution. I recently reformatted my computer, installed Photoshop CS6. I'm experiencing what I best describe as wiggly or unstable paint lines in Photoshop! This has never happened to me before, and the only way to avoid it is to zoom in to 200% to paint, and that's just not something I can do without it doubling the time for a painting and probably decreasing the quality. I usually do the majority of painting pretty zoomed out to block in big shapes and see the whole thing overall while working.
Anyway, I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my drivers, to no avail. I also added Photoshop to the applications list in my tablet properties, which was suggested by someone on my short (cancelled) stream tonight. I feel like this is probably something really simple that I'm just not doing, or not doing things in the right order. ANY suggestions welcome, no matter how "stupid" they are! I'm pretty technologically illiterate. ><;
Halp!
BIG FAT EDIT - I've taken everyone's advice and tried uninstalling ALL things having to do with the tablet (while the tablet it unplugged), restart computer, reinstalling drivers directly from Wacom, restart again, plug tablet in, and same problem! I discovered that I don't experience the problem when I change the pen mapping to "pen mode" instead of "mouse mode". Now, I've always worked in mouse mode, so this is a huge pain in the arse for me, haha! Does this give anyone a new clue of the problem, or is it time for me to just get use to pen mode? =(
SECOND BIG FAT EDIT - So, I've tried a bunch of other things... I tried disabling the mouse drivers as well as uninstalling the mouse to see if they effect the tablet drivers. A lot of the information I was finding pointed towards the mouse and tablet basically not getting a long. That didn't work out. I also tried messing with the mouse settings to see if that helped, to not avail. Although I didn't try every single combination of mouse settings, so I may have missed something. WolfWings had a suggestion I tried too, that didn't work out. I am at a total loss as of right now... I sent a help inquiry to Wacom to see if they can help me out. Any more suggestions welcome!
ENORMOUS EDIT (the third) - I think I have tried all the suggestions posted to me so far, and no success yet. One of the things I don't think I can do is downgrade my Photoshop. I just purchased this for Christmas after getting the funds for it from my entire family. Especially with no guarantee that it will work, sadly! I *might* have to upgrade my tablet, but I do not have the money for that so that would be a hardship. I may have to retrain myself to use pen mode, which would put me behind schedule ENORMOUSLY, and probably force me to procure a new desk so I can work ergonomically for hours without causing injury. Basically, I would really like to find a solution that allows me to use mouse-mode, my current software, machine, and tablet (and desk).
Photoshop mods to stabilize brush maybe? I have no clue how to use those, which ones are good, or how they work, haha! In the meantime I await a response from Wacom, and will try ANY new suggestion!
especially when it happened to men, because my laptops touch pad doesnt work -_-
Now make sure when you Uninstall the drivers, that you restart the computer first then proceed to install the driver after the restart.
(If you want to do a true reinstall of the tablet driver/software, remove everything attached to that tablet, restart, then reinstall like you just got the tablet.)
I am assuming you have the most updated version of the driver?
It might be a wild swing in the park, but you could try running a previous version of the driver.
Short version: hold down Alt, Ctrl, and Shift keys while starting photoshop. ***THIS WILL NUKE ALL OF YOUR PREFERENCES.***
"I have noticed when it goes into "Jagged Mode" in there is a change in Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Mouse -> Pointer Options. The box with "Enhance pointer precision" is turned off. Every time I tick it on again, the lines I draw are smooth again for a little while, then it comes back and I have to go and tick the box again."
http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php.....se+mode#p39300
Sorry for throwing so many links at you. You may also want to start your own thread, but again I am unsure how useful it will be. Also, the american forums seem to be awful (or at least, harder to navigate).
http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php.....tart=10#p31750
Go to http://www.wacom.com/en/support/drivers, select Intuos3 and Windows Vista, download "Driver 6.1.1-3(RC) for USB Tablets on Windows Vista & XP (32 & 64 bit)" and tell me how that works.
This is an unideal solution because you may never have up-to-date drivers, and could run into trouble in the future. I have no idea why the windows 7 versions of the driver are causing issues or what is missing. you may want to contact Wacom support with your findings IF THIS WORKS FOR YOU, but I seriously don't expect them to be very helpful.
I wish I had a better answer for ya. :(
My photoshop has been messed up for months now, no matter what I do too. But nothing like that.
I miss my photoshop LOL
Good luck with yours though, I hope you find a solution.
http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/.....5/jaggies2.jpg
i found it here
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/ep1.....n-drawing.html
I tried with SAI, seems there is no problem. But SAI somehow forcefully switches tablet to pen mode, though it is set to mouse mode in driver settings (For all apps, I have no app-specific options set).
Also, I have set mouse acceleration slider in Wacom settings to Off (leftmost position)
It seems to be noticable when you move pen very slowly. A stairs effect. Same happens when I try Wacom mouse on a tablet. And it doesn't happen with a regular mouse. Seems like a driver problem
p.s. no, I am not telling you to abandon Windows and switch to Linux. Learning it might become a worse nightmare than learning pen-mode. XD
sc stop TabletInputService
If that fixes it, run the following to make it permanent:
sc config TabletInputService start=disabled
The service is called "Tablet PC Input Service" on Windows 7, and "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" on Windows 8. I'm unsure which one you're on, but the service is called the same on both from the command line, so opting to give instructions that way. :)
Windows XP onwards sets up an 'input' service that fights with the native Wacom software for control of the Tablet and (especially in Mouse versus Pen mode where everything is still fed through Windows first) can heavily fight with things.
Also, try a different USB port, preferably on the other side of the computer (i.e., if it was plugged in the front, plug it in the back). Could be you zapped the USB port. A gamer friend of mine had this happen to him last year when he got his new computer in the middle of Denver's typical dry-dry hyper-staticy winter. He zapped 3 ports before he realized what was happening.
And as that forum post says, check your actual-mouse settings, and either update its drivers to latest/greatest from the vendor's site, or make it use generic drivers.
Otherwise, excellent, Excellent point, a USB port might have gone Chuck Testa.
One user was having a conflict between IntelliPoint Mouse Software and the tablet drivers. So.. even if you don't have the IntelliPoint drivers, you may consider uninstalling any mouse drivers you do have, rebooting, and see if that makes a difference.
Yeah, totally grasping at straws at this point. :(
when it is clicked in features will be turned on:
- Tablet PC Input Panel;
- Windows Journal;
- Math Input Panel;
- Other Hand Writing Recognition Features.
so having it not clicked in will turn these off and may help.
it requires restarting
hope this helps. this is what came to mind when i saw your problem. you shouldnt have to use pen mode if you used mouse mode before so there has to be a way
Good luck. Really hoping you find a fix for this soon!
Go into start and type services.msc in the search menu. Then select Tablet PC Input Service from the services window that opens up.
Select disabled. And apply then close. Also right click and stop the tabletservicepen service, then right click and restart it.
The other is just below. Called 'Tabletservicepen' leave that one on automatic but right click on it instead and select stop. Restart afterwards... Just like rebooting the computer but simpler, so the effects will take effect.
As I said mine was suffering a similar type jitter where I had to select maximum smoothing in Sai. This actually worked so it is all now real smooth even set at the lowest level.
Once again good luck. Really hoping this or one of the other possible solutions people are offering work.
Okay open a dos prompt and type:
net stop TabletServicePen
Followed by:
net start TabletServicePen
I'll try to find out more if that comes up as unavailable.
This is not a solution since it looks like it's a Photoshop only issue and you never had it before but... the weirdest thing that happened to me once was the static eletricity of the room influencing in my tablet's pen! I had to soak a piece of fabric and rub it agaisn't all the things near the tablet, also sprayed water in the room. It worked! @_@
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9611484/
I thought of something that might offer a palliative solution while you research an actual fix to problem... Try going in the tablet properties, then the pen tab and move the arrow to 'Firm'.
There's also softwares that allows us to modify the tablet pressure curve further, like http://www.lab.envirex.cz/?page_id=3
You'll need to redo this everytime after you boot windows... but it's better than nothing. ^^; It's a really useful software, I use it because Photoshop lines are wiggly for me as well!
That can often make things worse as opposed to better. ;u; Have you tried installing the drivers from your CD?
I've been using downloaded drivers directly from wacom all this time though, and this is the first time the problem has cropped up.
I think it has less to do with the drivers and more with my tablet being a $40 piece of plastic that's been utterly abused...
I'm sure you've tried this already, but I will just say it anyways because it's how I've solved this issue before. Keep in mind that I use XP and a Wacom Graphire 4 tablet. Whenever this issue came up when I was using CS5, I'd just unplug the tablet and plug it back in. If that didn't work, I'd have to unplug my tablet, close CS5, plug the tablet back in, and reopen CS5. I never had to do anything involving restarting my computer. Have you tried even just plugging the tablet into a different USB slot from what you're used to plugging it in?
Have you changed operating system during the reformat?
The issue doesn't seem to effect Sai either (I turned stabilisation off) and AzDrawing tool works with enhance pointer precision on but not off.
Do you have any other art programs to check with?
As both a tech person and a fellow artist, I hope I can provide a few extra suggestions for you to try. :)
First thing: If you are running Windows 7, be very sure to do the following.
1) Go to Control Panel -> Pen and Touch
2) Double-click on "Press and Hold" and disable "Press and Hold as Right-Click Equivalent"
This setting is known to create pressure sensitivity issues and create the jagged line symptom you described, because Windows sometimes interpret long brush strokes as right-clicks, causing the brush strokes to not register properly.
Along the same lines, under Pen and Touch, you should disable "Flicks" functionality in Windows. This little thing can create issues when drawing.
Second: Configure your tablet driver.
1) Go to Control Panel -> Wacom Tablet Properties
2) In the "Tablet" row, double-click on your tablet. This will open a small dialogue windows showing the name of your tablet, and a drop-down menu called "Tablet Mode".
3) Change the Tablet Mode to "Recognition Data". This is a more stringent operating mode for your tablet, and monitors input data. I've read that it solves drawing issues for a lot of people.
One minor setting that's not likely related to your issue, but should be set properly anyway - under your Wacom Tablet Properties, go to the "Mapping" tab, and check the "Force Proportions" option. This forces the tablet's usable area to be in-line with your monitor's perspective ratio - meaning the angles of your lines will match those you see on screen (without this, a 30-degree angle you draw on the tablet may translate into a 40-degree line on the screen, if you know what I mean).
Hopefully this helps; let me know if you need further assistance.
What's funny is that now, the pen and touch option aren't even in my control panel. *laughs* I have no idea now!
I followed your other piece of advice, changing the tablet mode to recognition data, but to no avail. Still at a loss here, hoping something useful will come back from Wacom themselves.
Not sure if you tried reverting to an older version of the driver, but sometimes that helps - try reverting to a driver version that's at least a year old or older. :)
My computer did this after an unhelpful windows update. All I got were wiggly lines and first off I thought it was me, thought my drawing had gone downhill for whatever reason! but then discovered it was the tablet/windows had changed something.
I think a combination of me un-installing and re-installing old drivers and windows doing another update fixed it. It was annoying as all I was getting was jittery lines and lineart was taking 10x as long as I had to keep zooming in and redoing it.
I dont think my advice will help, as I know youve already tried umpteem uninstalls and reinstalls. I hope you can fix it as I know how annoying it can be.
Will keep a lookout on your page to see if you fix it in case it happens to me again in the future
Scott
i might also suggest changing the windows themes. Aero theme can sometimes mess with this.
if your using win 8.... well that might be your problem as well....
Thanks GOD I'm not using Windows 8, hahaha! XD Troubleshooting with Wacom via email, and training myself to use pen mode in the mean time.
themes the best i know with those issues.
and yeah i know how you feel about licenced copys. i got cs4 for christmas. i have a hard time having to pirate a cs5 or cs6 because i got a licenced cs4 x.x i can't afford the upgrades.... i wish they didn't cost so much for people who own the previous versions.
Hope you get this worked out
Or just not installing drivers at all. Plug 'n' go!
Sorry to hear you're having tablet issues. I am too- mine hates the multi-monitor setup and it's gotten to the point of impossible to use. So no digital work from me for a while. x.x
i do remember there being a smoothing setting for the bamboo. it looked more ech-a-shetch like with it dissabled.
It's also been suggested to me that reformatting one every one or two years is good to shed needless data and reorganize, and I love to keep my digital life and organized and clean as possible. =3
I tried scooting my tablet and pen away from everything, no interference problems I don't think. I might be overlooking something small though, you never know. Troubleshooting with Wacom via email, and training myself to use pen mode in the mean time. XD
a lot of the programming software etc i use you cant get anymore or is hard to setup/find. quicker, and easier to just regedit/hdclone.
may be less time consuming to learn to use the other mode at this point, but have you tried disabling the win7 tablet services? they can interfere, and they may have been enabled if the tablet was plugged in when it was installed. it should still work without them.
I think you're right, that at this point it's less time consuming to learn to use pen-mode. After a day I'm already pretty used to it to be honest!
I saw you mentioned your tablet is rather old. Looking around on Google a bit... it seems CS6 has a lot of issues with older tablets :/. Especially the Wacom Bamboo tablet (I'm not sure if that's the tablet you have). It seems most problems started with CS4. It might be a huge downgrade, but you can always try finding a copy of CS3 and use that for the time being. Otherwise you might need a new tablet.
1) Uninstall Photoshop CS6 and your wacom drivers
2) update windows (this is mostly just to get the system running 100%) and restat
3) restart system (you should see the tablet still works but without the pressure sensitivity and works more like a mouse at this point)
4) download the latest graphics drivers , install and restart pc (this is critical)
Nvidia: http://www.geforce.com/drivers
or
ATI/AMD: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo.....ges/index.aspx
5) download the latest wacom drivers, install and restart pc
wacom: ftp://ftp.wacom-europe.com/pub/WIND.....o634-3_int.exe
6) At this point windows has pissed you off considerably with its little RADAR FROM HELL (when you hold down the pen on the surface for a moment that little ring appears and when you lift it a menu appears (right click)) to kill this do the following (if you don't have this problem now but find later if does become a problem just follow these steps :) )
start -> control panel -> programs and features -> on the left you should see 'turn windows features on or off' click this -> scroll down to 'tablet pc components' -> uncheck it (this is nothing to do with the drawing function of your tablet it just removes annoying functions) -> click ok BUT DO NOT RESTART !!!! continue to the next steps below
start -> control panel -> administrative tools -> services -> look for 'tablet PC input service' and double click it -> in the window click the 'stop' button and change startup type to 'disabled' then click apply and ok -> now look for 'wacom professional services' and double click it -> startup type should be automatic if so click ok.
restart your system
7) install Photoshop and restart pc
8) (this will only work if your system has a graphics card capable with cs6) start Photoshop -> in Photoshop click edit -> preferences -> performance -> look for 'advanced settings' and click it -> change drawing mode to 'advanced' and select only the following
use graphics processor to accelerate computation
use opencl
anti-alias guides and paths (this is only if you use paths otherwise leave off)
and that should be it. I hope this helps you. If you have any problems please feel free to note me or IM me.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.studio1productions.com/A...../PhotoShop.htm
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR ADVANCED USERS ONLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you again! <3
If there is anything you need help with in the future please don't hesitate to give me a shout I'll try my best to help if I can ^__^
Keep up the awesome work Wolfy =D
It's actually Photoshop. I recreated your issue in Photoshop and I also tested other software to see if it was present. It appears to only happen in Photoshop and a little bit in SAI paint tool. I tested this in Photoshop, SAI, and Auto-desk Sketchbook Pro 2011.
Before I begin, I found this forum thread (you probably did too) but maybe this will help http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=743 It's something about disabling a certain driver. I can't test it because I use a different tablet and I don't have the same drivers.
Not to call you out for being weird or something haha but it's sort of standard to be using pen mode with professional tablets so I'll go out on a limb to say that Adobe probably configured the current software to be more efficient with using pen mode as opposed to mouse mode. Because CS6 is the current industry standard it is probably programmed with using "Pen" mode as opposed to using "mouse" mode because there's a massively larger install base that will use Pen mode so people who use mouse mode get screwed...
The only thing that is weird is that SAI has this shaky thing too, at least for me. It was present in both modes. I believe this is why I originally why (and still do) hate SAI. here's my test of the three software's using both pen and mouse modes http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2.....rt-d5qf31z.png
For some reason, the interpolation in photoshop CS6 using mouse mode is virtually non existent...other software seems to compensate for some reason. I couldn't find anything in PS CS6's controls or preferences to fix this problem. Open GL, the different drawing modes, nothing seems to help. It may just be a gutted feature that was present in previous versions of PS and was taken out in CS6 for whatever reason (back to the install base thing)
Those are my assumptions. I don't know how they are going to help in resolving the issue (I actually can't even get mouse mode to work on a single monitor, Intuos 4, PS CS-6 and with all the settings messed with. It still has horrid interpolation for me) but that's my best guess as to why it's doing what it's doing. Your best bet is to practice using pen mode. it's actually far more accurate and essentially the same to drawing on paper when you think about it, your pencil can't go off paper and it's constrained to where your hand moves so, The only issue with that is the active area of an Intuos 3's surface area is built for a different aspect ratio. I'm not certain it will work with a widescreen monitor completely because Pen mode maps the edges of your tablet to the edges of your monitor. I do believe you can change this by selecting a specific area but it's still going to be annoying because then your going to have to work with a smaller surface area to compensate. Either that or the movement speed up and down the screen will be faster than the left to right speed due to the sizing difference.
Things to note if you decide to upgrade your tablet:
1. The issue probably won't be fixed. I'm using an Intuos 4 and have the exact same issue with no fix. This probably means it's Photoshop/the newest driver for Wacom tablets, that's causing the issue.
2. The Intuos 4 and the Intuos 5 are the same. If you can get an Intuos 4 on Craigslist or Ebay that's not bashed and is clean go for that. The Intuos 5 is nice but there's nothing different about the two of them and if your low on funds to buy stuff, that's an idea. I believe that the Intuos 5 medium is about 349$ on Wacom's website. Might be cheaper through amazon or somewhere else like B&H photo.
That would really bite if you had to downgrade your software just to compensate. Personally, if I was in your shoes...I would attempt to draw/paint with pen mode. It might only take an afternoon to get used to, who knows? If that doesn't work I guess downgrading is really the only option as it seems to be an actual issue with Photoshop.
Thanks for your thoughts and help, I really appreciate it! <3
Might not solve your problem, but it's certainly easier to try than uninstalling stuff.
When you have the money to buy a new tablet, then you can reinstall CS6 *nods*
Can you use what you were using before, or was there something wrong with that program as well?
Who knows, maybe I'll learn to like it even MORE than mouse-mode! XD Then I'll kick myself or not trying it sooner.
-Move the tablet away from your monitor/other devices. There might be some interference between the tablet and another device right near it. My tablet has acted wonky in the past when I put it too close to other electrical devices.
-Leave the "Wacom Tablet Properties" window open as you're working. I don't know why, but this one seemed to work for a few people?
-If you have "Synergy" installed (it's a piece of software which lets you share mice between different computers), go uninstall it.
No kidding! I was transitioning between my old desktop and my new laptop, so I needed to access both for a while. I had to get a new tablet because the old one wouldn't talk to Windows7. My desk is small, and there is only room for one tablet, so I put the new one on top of the old one. That did not work at all! To describe the cursor as spastic would be a huge understatement. I thought for sure there was something wrong with the new tablet, or with how Window7 deals with tablets. A lot of unnecessary troubleshooting and web searches happened before I figured out that the old tablet was confusing the new tablet and that I had to keep them far away from each other.
http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php.....=2&t=10616
Good luck.