Wacom stylus question

[Thornton]

I found a recent thread on here and it seems that a stylus is a popular alternative to a mouse. I’ve had an old Wacom Bamboo for years, which has had very little use and is in excellent condition still (now that I’ve cured the gooey stylus plastic problem). I decided to try it again, especially because I’m currently getting to grips with layer masking. The problem is that there is an issue with Windows 10. Basically, the stylus can be used as a variable pressure pen OR it can operate sliders in Photoshop without issues, but it can’t do both without constantly going into the settings. If drawing as intended, with variable pressure, Windows Ink has to be enabled. And then operating sliders is a nightmare, to remedy which, Windows ink must be disabled in settings.

There is a lot of stuff on the web about this, and there is a workaround, BUT it does not seem to work with this old Wacom model (as others have found).

Now, what I’d appreciate help with is this: does it matter if I don’t actually want to draw, but only to use brushes? The size and opacity of brushes is set by sliders, so is variable pen pressure simply irrelevant here? Or would I simply be better to stick with my mouse?

A further question: the Bamboo tablet is very small, but I found a video on the web where the instructor uses a much larger tablet but then maps it to use an area a lot smaller than my Bamboo. So, what is the point of a larger tablet, I wonder?

[Donald]

A further question: the Bamboo tablet is very small, but I found a video on the web where the instructor uses a much larger tablet but then maps it to use an area a lot smaller than my Bamboo. So, what is the point of a larger tablet, I wonder?

There are various arguments and is very much a personal preference. The common thinking is that a large tablet is ideal for graphic designers, etc but that a small tablet is more useful for photographers. I use a medium Intous Pro. I got it because is also gives eight programmable buttons.

Is the pen pressure simply irrelevant? You can use the tablet without it and not notice that you haven't got it. It is good, if you have it, for things like dodging and burning. But unless, you want to buy a new tablet I'd say plug that one in and get on with the joy of using it.

[Thornton]

Thanks, Donald, this is good to know. I had the tablet about nine years ago as a present (my request) and have always felt a bit guilty that I’ve hardly used it, so I will certainly persevere with it now. I’m very pleased that the issue with the seemingly-unuseable stylus (because the rubbery coating had gone gooey) is totally solved and that it works, albeit not perfectly, with a new laptop. Hopefully I’ll get plenty of service out of it.

[DanK]

I'll be interested in your experience. I have a Wacom that is probably about as old and that I have never used. I keep telling myself to try it, but it seemed like a pain to get it going, and something else always comes up.

[Geoff F]

Sometimes the pressure sensitive action can cause problems, particularly when using the tablet without brushing for masks etc. Such as simple clicking and dragging for selecting items or scrolling etc; so I often revert to a normal mouse for those functions.

But for serious photo editing I wouldn't be without my Wacom tablet

[Manfred M]

Based on the age of your tablet I assume it is probably an Intuos 3 or Intuos 4. You will need one of the older drivers as the newer ones are only compatible with Windows 8 and Windows 10, so this could be the issue here. Intuos sent out a tech note to this extent when they stopped supporting the older hardware.

I have a medium Intuos 3 but replaced it with a small Intuos Pro a couple of years ago, so have not used it since, so have no experience with the unsupported hardware. Like Donald I use pressure sensitivity all the time in my work.

[Thornton]

Based on the age of your tablet I assume it is probably an Intuos 3 or Intuos 4. You will need one of the older drivers as the newer ones are only compatible with Windows 8 and Windows 10, so this could be the issue here. Intuos sent out a tech note to this extent when they stopped supporting the older hardware.

I have a medium Intuos 3 but replaced it with a small Intuos Pro a couple of years ago, so have not used it since, so have no experience with the unsupported hardware. Like Donald I use pressure sensitivity all the time in my work.

Hi Manfred, I’m a bit confused. Is your reply to my original post or to a later post? My model is an old Bamboo (MT 450, I think! and the copyright date on the instruction manual is 2007, though mine was probably purchased about 2010). If so, are you suggesting that an older driver might serve me better, given that my OS is Windows 10?
I know that the stylus pressure issue which has been around for quite a while can be resolved in most cases by disabling Windows Ink and adding a txt file to Photoshop. This doesn’t work for the Bamboo, so are you suggesting that using an older driver might be the solution?

Thanks,

T

[Thornton]

Update. In fact I located an older driver which is recommended in a video on the web. I removed my (the newest) driver and replaced it. I’m not sure it is an improvement, but what I have found, after much messing about (so much that I’m not quite sure what I DID do) is that there is a fix I can live with. Enabling Windows Ink does give me a nice variable-pressure capability, but it still leaves the slider problem. However, if I just touch the drop down arrow in the layer opacity slider, I can then very accurately move it using the left/right arrow keys. OTOH, other sliders, eg. in HSL, have to be dragged and there is a bit of a delay (spinning ring round the stylus tip), but I can live with it.

If it were possible to use my wireless mouse at the same time, I could use that for the sliders. Unfortunately, because of my set-up, I can’t, because the laptop only has 2 USB ports and the one I would need for the mouse is in the wrong place to fit my tablet ergonomically next to the laptop on my laptop tray. Now if I could maybe figure out the hideous built-in mouse thingy on my keyboard (I hate those things and never use them!)....

[Thornton]

Update. And now that I’ve discovered how to drag the touchpad cursor, everything seems to be working fine (I’m learning fast here!).

T

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred, I’m a bit confused. Is your reply to my original post or to a later post? My model is an old Bamboo (MT 450, I think! and the copyright date on the instruction manual is 2007, though mine was probably purchased about 2010). If so, are you suggesting that an older driver might serve me better, given that my OS is Windows 10?
I know that the stylus pressure issue which has been around for quite a while can be resolved in most cases by disabling Windows Ink and adding a txt file to Photoshop. This doesn’t work for the Bamboo, so are you suggesting that using an older driver might be the solution?

Thanks,

T

That is correct. Sometimes an older driver works better for an unsupported device.

[Donald]

Update. And now that I’ve discovered how to drag the touchpad cursor, everything seems to be working fine (I’m learning fast here!).

Brilliant. Well done.

By the way, why don't you edit your profile and enter your location, so we know where you are. You can add in your 'real' name (if Thornton is just a Username).

[Thornton]

Brilliant. Well done.

By the way, why don't you edit your profile and enter your location, so we know where you are. You can add in your 'real' name (if Thornton is just a Username).

Thanks. Yes, I’ll do this.

[DanK]

Interesting. I found my unused one. It's a Bamboo CTH-460. The copyright date in the manual is 2009, so I probably bought it in 2010.

I looked on the Wacom site, and they have an updated driver for the Bamboo pen as well.

I just tried installing it. First I used the new drivers online. That didn't entirely work. The problem wasn't the driver per se; it's that there are other parts of the installation program set that aren't included. So the tablet worked fine with my fingers, but the pen didn't work, some of the Wacom firmware wasn't installed, and what was installed told me that there was no connected device.

So, I followed Manfred's advice, dug out the old CD that came with it, reinstalled it with the CD, and voila: it seems to work. I haven't yet tested pen pressure, but the sliders work fine, and I can select and paint with it. I don't know which driver set it is actually using; I haven't checked and will leave well enough alone until something doesn't work.

However, this leaves me with one question. Mine is one of the very small ones, and I think that is the root of this problem. Even with the pointer speed and pointer acceleration set to their minimums, the cursor speed on the monitor (24") is faster than I would like. This is partly because I had the computer set to extend the display across two monitors; when I set it to mirror the first on the second, the pointer speed slowed down accordingly. (This is consistent with the manual.) This will get worse when my new 27" monitor arrives in a week or two.

So, for you experienced folks: what size(s) do you use? Do you use it with the display extended over two monitors? And can you please note your monitor size? Unfortunately, the cheapest of the medium-sized ones costs double what the small ones do.

thanks

Dan

[DanK]

After much fussing, including installing the current drivers over the original installation: some of the functions don't work, and some of the Wacom utilities say that a tablet isn't installed, even though it is installed and partially working. In a nutshell, I can use it to select, paint, and run Photoshop controls, including sliders. What I can't do is anything involving pen pressure sensitivity.

I guess I will use it in its hobbled state for a while to see how useful I find it. I would still appreciate any feedback about size, as if I want the full range of features, I will have to replace this with a newer model.

thanks

[Geoff F]

Update. In fact I located an older driver which is recommended in a video on the web. I removed my (the newest) driver and replaced it. I’m not sure it is an improvement, but what I have found, after much messing about (so much that I’m not quite sure what I DID do) is that there is a fix I can live with. Enabling Windows Ink does give me a nice variable-pressure capability, but it still leaves the slider problem. However, if I just touch the drop down arrow in the layer opacity slider, I can then very accurately move it using the left/right arrow keys. OTOH, other sliders, eg. in HSL, have to be dragged and there is a bit of a delay (spinning ring round the stylus tip), but I can live with it.

If it were possible to use my wireless mouse at the same time, I could use that for the sliders. Unfortunately, because of my set-up, I can’t, because the laptop only has 2 USB ports and the one I would need for the mouse is in the wrong place to fit my tablet ergonomically next to the laptop on my laptop tray. Now if I could maybe figure out the hideous built-in mouse thingy on my keyboard (I hate those things and never use them!)....

Will your laptop support a USB Hub? I use one on my computer, not a laptop, which enables me to use a Wacom tablet and a wireless mouse. In fact it gives me 4 extra usb ports.

[Thornton]

After much fussing, including installing the current drivers over the original installation: some of the functions don't work, and some of the Wacom utilities say that a tablet isn't installed, even though it is installed and partially working. In a nutshell, I can use it to select, paint, and run Photoshop controls, including sliders. What I can't do is anything involving pen pressure sensitivity.

I guess I will use it in its hobbled state for a while to see how useful I find it. I would still appreciate any feedback about size, as if I want the full range of features, I will have to replace this with a newer model.

thanks

I can’t answer your question re size, but with regard to functionality I can now use variable pressure. Are you able to get into the Wacom tablet preferences and enable Windows Ink? Certainly with my model it seems to be essential to have it ticked to get pressure variation. If so, it might at least allow you to see how you find that.
I downloaded the driver I’m using for my Bamboo (5.3.3-3, I think: I’m not on my laptop currently, so can’t check) from Softpedia, because the link given in an online video to a Wacom-sourced driver seems to lead to a dead end now. Everything else seems O.K. eg mapping the screen and tablet, and the function buttons and tablet zooming function (a nice one on the Bamboo). The only thing I can’t do is smoothly drag sliders, but the mouse or touchpad cover that fine now.

[Thornton]

Will your laptop support a USB Hub? I use one on my computer, not a laptop, which enables me to use a Wacom tablet and a wireless mouse. In fact it gives me 4 extra usb ports.

Thanks Geoff. I think it might, but given my working environment, I’d have to use the mouse in a rather awkward place, so now that I’ve cracked the touchpad, it isn’t too bad really. One of my problems is that I can’t have the tablet directly in front of me, with the mouse to my right, because my eyesight is too grotty now to see the screen that far away. Maybe I’ll have a solution after my annual eye test next month. I think a new pair of glasses are in the offing. Otherwise I might have to treat myself to a separate, large monitor.....

[DanK]

Thanks Geoff. I think it might, but given my working environment, I’d have to use the mouse in a rather awkward place, so now that I’ve cracked the touchpad, it isn’t too bad really. One of my problems is that I can’t have the tablet directly in front of me, with the mouse to my right, because my eyesight is too grotty now to see the screen that far away. Maybe I’ll have a solution after my annual eye test next month. I think a new pair of glasses are in the offing. Otherwise I might have to treat myself to a separate, large monitor.....

When I call up tablet properties, it says that there is no tablet connected.

I fetched my drivers from https://www.wacom.com/en-us/support/...upport/drivers