NTrig? Does it work?

As of this afternoon I'm a proud owner of an Acer R7 laptop/tablet. Wonderfull screen (15" 1080HD IPS), wonderfull layout and at first sight a remarkable machine. And it comes with a NTrig digitizer! So one can use the screen as a drawingboard. Nothing new here since I own tablets since 2004.

But they had Wacom hardware and Ntrig is the new kid on the block, now even used in the MS Surface3 Pro.

Anxious I loaded Xara Designer Pro. And it doesn't work like it should!

First I had to delve in the registry just to let Xara believe there's something like a stylus (HKey_CU\Software\Xara\...\Options\Dragging and changing EnableTouch to 0. So it picks up the pen and one can actually do things with it. But the pressure sensitivity isn't picked up at all!

Bummer...

It is being registered in Journal but Xara shows no signs that it sees the pressure delivered by the pen.

Then I tried to install the WinTab drivers for N-Trig. but alas, still no sign...

Is there a Xara or ComputerConcept engineer in the house that can figure out how to get this combination to work.

I'm entitled to try this machine for 7 days and can send it back without any costs. But I'd rather like to keep it and I can't beleieve that Xara misses out on this. That would mean that Xara won't be of use on a Surface Pro 3!?

Have you selected this?

Attachment 102295

Off course. Even deselected and selected it. You never know. Tried 32 bit version and 64bit version. Tried with and without wintab drivers (32 and 64 bit versions) Oh, Acer provides, quite sensibly with 8GB RAM, Windows 8.1 x64.

Even used XaReg to change some settings.

It just won't work?

have you checked out the registry entries in ...options\PenSupport ?

PressureMode is set to 1 [for standard pressure sensitivity] - but there may be other keys there [I cannot check because I do not have an equivalent installation - for example EnableTouch key is not present at all on either of my computers] and, you never know, other values may work if you feel experimental [and have backed registry up of course]

That setting is either 0 or 1 and is changed by the program itself. It reflects the state of the "Enable/Disable Pressure Recvording".

I've tried the tablet and all sorts of combinations with N-Trig drivers.

Seems I've bought a truly wonderful Laptop/Tablet that I'd recommend to anyone except that it's no use when one relies on pressure sensitive pen support.

Last resort would be a final word someone from Xara who would share some light on this and give some more insight in Xara support for N-Trig devices. As far as I can see the same issues happen on the Surface Pro 3 and the Dell XT2.

yes I know that - the main point was are there any other keys in Options\PenSupport on your installation - I take it the answer is no :)

I have no idea which version of designer pro you are using as you didn't say, and your profile is unhelpful in this regard

also registry keys can be installation specific - different on a tablet to a desktop - I do not have the Options\Dragging EnableTouch key at all, so I do not know if that is because it is a ver 9 feature, a tablet install only feature, or what - I am running xdpx on windows 8.1 laptop and win 7 desktop...

I'd raise a support ticket with Xara re your tablet not working properly... they may need specific details about your setup...

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Originally Posted by handrawn

I'd raise a support ticket with Xara re your tablet not working properly... they may need specific details about your setup...

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Sounds like good advice handrawn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by handrawn

I'd raise a support ticket with Xara re your tablet not working properly... they may need specific details about your setup...

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I'll.... errr.... need your wonderful new laptop as well to test :p

Ya send a ticket and we'll run through some stuff. Not sure off the top of my head what is wrong so bare with me.

Personally speaking, I'd rather bear with you.... :p :D:

I tried the trial version of Xara Designer Pro X. Usually I work on Portege M700 with a licensed copy from my work (Landschapsbeheer Groningen, that's the Landscape Management) I'll ask our IT-staff to raise the ticket.

Laptop was returned yesterday. Now I'm aiming for the Thinkpad Yoga Pro. At least that one's got Wacom tech on board.

Consider the case closed. But I'd advise you to try a Surface Pro 3. It uses the N-Trig technique as well and there seem to be a lot of applications that won't work with that digitizer. (source: http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/201...ns-what-doesnt)

In case you find an answer before releasing Xara Deshgener pro 2014 let me know...

Resurrection of an old thread; but I finally made some progress. In the end nTrig seems to work. But it will take some work.

As you can read from my previous post I bought an Acer R7 in June 2014, used it for a week trying hard to get the pen working. In the end it wouldn't so I returned the machine, with bleeding heart. Yesterday I picked up a second hand Acer R7. Since this second hand was reasonably priced I couldn't resist. Slavelle told us all that she had nTrig drivers working on the Surface3 with Xara. So somewhere it should work....

I reinstalled the OS and to my surprise it came with Windows 10. I downloaded the newest WinTab driver and installed Xara Designer Pro. All 64-bit. Anxious I fired up Xara but, alas,; NO pressure being detected. In first instance it even didn't record the pen but we all know that (XaReg to the rescue, disable touch support...) So I downloaded Inkscape. In Inkscape you can see what devices are connected and for use. But only a blank pointer. So; either WinTab is at fault or the pen is not compatible with nTrig, which it should be?! Even nmerous restarts and driver versions coldn't get the damn thing to work as it should.

Delving into the matter I read on the Internet that Illustrator was working all right wih nTrig providing the WinTab drivers are loaded. Which should be the case with my set-up. I installed a trial version of Illustrator and to my surprise it detected a pressure sensitive device and it worked! So, sorry 'bout Xara but then I have to deal with Adobe's flagship and I registered Illustrator and tuned it to my needs. Happy that I had at least the Acer R7 working for €800 less then before.

This morning I started Xara Designer Pro and to my amazement it suddenly began drawing with pressure sensitive strokes?!? And even Inkscape suddenly recognized a proper device.

So, Slavelle; you were right after all! But not without some remarks. I have a hunge that Illustrator somehow kicked the WinTab driver into life. It would be interesting if anyone else with a nTrig stylus has the same experience. MS acquired nTrig last year so we should see more devices coming with it. It's surface pro's are equipped with nTrig. Anyone working on them and with pressure strokes? Or, if you don't see pressure sensitivity; does it work after you installed and worked with Adobe products?

I wonder if this could help others. And RobXar; try to see if you cab pick up a refurbished or second hand Acer R7; they come at a bargain these days and the do work with Cara, at last. And Slavelle, thanks for your submission. At least you showed us that it should work for all nTrigs.

Support for styluses (styli?) was improved in version 11.

See: http://xaragroup.magix.net/Pro11releasenotes/#xl_other

Phil

That's nice but even then it didn't pick up the Stylus. So I uninstalled the trial version I hopefully installed yesterday. (I still prefer XDP10 because of the light UI it has. Magix really spoiled the user interface with the murky dark colours) The improvement for XDP11 is mainly with brushes (which I seldom use...)