Photoimpact 7 and Wacom tablets

[Khazi]

I have just discovered a problem with my Wacom Intuos tablet whilst trying out my new copy of Photoimpact 7.

If I choose one of the freehand tools (paintbrush, pencil, whatever) and attempt to draw with it on the canvas, a line shoots out in one direction or another - most disconcerting.

Oddly, this occurs whether I use my home equipment, or a totally different spec machine at work.

I have seen this effect before in Flash, on an earlier machine, and cured it by replacing the video card. But as the machines I am using now have different video cards, and all other drawing/illustration packages work fine with the Intuos tablet, I suspect the problem lies elsewhere.

I have been on to Wacom, who, although quick to reply, haven't really helped much thus far.

Has anyone else experienced this, or got any ideas what could be amiss?

Chris [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

[Khazi]

I have just discovered a problem with my Wacom Intuos tablet whilst trying out my new copy of Photoimpact 7.

If I choose one of the freehand tools (paintbrush, pencil, whatever) and attempt to draw with it on the canvas, a line shoots out in one direction or another - most disconcerting.

Oddly, this occurs whether I use my home equipment, or a totally different spec machine at work.

I have seen this effect before in Flash, on an earlier machine, and cured it by replacing the video card. But as the machines I am using now have different video cards, and all other drawing/illustration packages work fine with the Intuos tablet, I suspect the problem lies elsewhere.

I have been on to Wacom, who, although quick to reply, haven't really helped much thus far.

Has anyone else experienced this, or got any ideas what could be amiss?

Chris [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

[dk_art]

I have noticed this happen on occasion with my graphire but I seem to recall it more in Painter 5 demo that I'm using some now. I'm not sure if I've seen it in PhotoImpact 6 or the 7 demo. I have no idea what the problem is but maybe getting any updates for your tablet software from wacom would help (if you haven't already).

David K
www.dkingdesign.com

[Khazi]

Thanks David - Wacom's latest driver is installed, as are up-to-date drivers for the video cards.

[This message was edited by Khazi on November 13, 2001 at 14:38.]

[stephaniebt]

That seems very odd. I am using the Wacom Graphire and haven't had any problems like that. Have you set your tablet's pressure and sensitivity Preferences in PI?

Stephanie's PhotoImpact Tutorials

[Khazi]

I've tried everything - this occurs immediately any tool comes within active range of the tablet, just on this one programme (version 5, 6 or 7).

[dk_art]

I tried something out and got the effects below with various drawing tools;

[img]//www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/photoimpact_test/wacom_prob_PI7.jpg[/img]

What I did was go into my wacom tablet control program and set my pen to mouse mode and I got the above lines shooting out at both the start and the end of drawing a vertical line. If my pen is set to pen mode I get no problems. If you have your pen set to mouse mode this may be the problem

David K ... www.dkingdesign.com http://www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/signature.jpg

[Khazi]

Thanks, David - I tried that, and the problem went away (but only in pen mode).

There's obviously a fault there, somewhere, but I will remember to switch modes when using Photoimpact!!

Good advice, thanks - it's odd that neither Ulead nor Wacom came up with that possibility as a work-around!

Chris

[dk_art]

You're welcome....

I tried the pen set to mouse mode while using Painter 6 and I get a different odd situation. The pen doesn't draw the lines on the screen where I draw them (although by lifting and moving the place where I draw I can get it close to matching where the lines start and my pointer is on the screen)

I aso tried drawing in PhotoImpact again and realised I can get the pen to be near where I draw a line by lifting the pen off and starting a line a little over. But lines are definately not draw in the absolute co-ordinates of your pen on the tablet to start. The differnece in PhotoImpact is it appears to try to correct this but still draws in the wrong location before zooming to the correct absolute co-ordinates( then zooming back out to the original relative spot when you take the pen off). Painter just draws the line inches away from the place your pointer is.

Considering that a normal mouse can draw in the right spot without this problem, this is a fault of the wacom software.

David K ... www.dkingdesign.com http://www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/signature.jpg