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August 20, 2020

P: Pen Tablet & Windows Ink

  • August 20, 2020
  • 104 replies
  • 7205 views

Hello everybody.

With the latest Photoshop update (21.2.2), the fix we had  to get the pressure sensitivity back with the PSUserConfig.txt fix is no longer working.

This fix was necessary to work properly with a Pen Stylus on Windows, without using the Windows Ink features.

We are used to turn of  Windows Ink systematicaly when using a Pen Tablet because it causes a lot of issues. (Wacom and other brands)

 

Why Windows Ink is not suitable 

Windows Ink ON :

 

1-There is a 1 second delay with every new clic and drag before the cursor catches up with the stylus. It happens when dragging a window, using a slider to adjust a value (in photoshop or any other app), resizing a layer, and even when drawing. So the begining of each new stroke will freeze for 1 sec before catching up to the movement of the stylus. You can imagine the hell it can be when hatching, or doing fast repetitive movements/adjustements.

 

2-Certain applications, like Chrome for exemple, don't respond to the stylus for certain things. You can't move the chrome window around at all when windows ink is enabled. You can't drag and drop email in your inbox from one tab to another, some clics and double clics aren't registered at all ...etc.

 

3-Windows Pen & Stylus fonctionnalites are working against a fluid use of a Stylus. Especially the infamous "Press and hold" setting, that needs to be disabled systematically if you don't want this "mouse freezing blue circle of death" to appear each time you stop moving your hand for more than half of a second. (I suspect this functionnality to be responsible for the lag before each new stroke, even when you have it turned off)

 

4-Just while typing this post, I've discoverd a new issue. With Windows Ink enabled, it is impossible to select text by dragging over it with the stylus. I had to drop it and use my mouse each time I wanted to edit a sentence.

 

 Windows Ink OFF:

 

1-Everything works perfectly.

2-Pressure sensitivity in Photoshop is gone, and need to be reactivated with PSUserConfig.

 

These are all the reasons (I can think of right now) why we have no choice but to disable Windows Ink, and use the WinTab alternative to get the pressure sensitivity back in Photoshop.

 

I hope you now understand why enabling Windows Ink is not a solution.

We had a solution, please do not take it away from us.

I'm assuming that everyone would love to use regular settings, and not to have to tamper with this kind of work around, but unfortunatly that is not possible.

 

Again, using WinTab is not a choice, it is essential for any serious workflow.

 

I'm currently paying for the full Adobe suite, and not being able to work properly is a big issue right now. Not knowing when this will be resolved is very worrisome.

 

PS: "Windows Ink" or "Pen and Touch" drivers on Windows, are currently pushing for touch and tablet functionnalities. These are cumbersome and unfit for any professional Stylus use.

104 replies

Participant
October 3, 2020

@chad_rolfs  The bug on the Clone/Healing brush source point not tracking with Win Ink is still present on the latest Photoshop 21.2.4 Release on Windows 10/Wacom Intuos Pro. I hope one day soon there will be a resolution to these ongoing issues.

Inspiring
September 18, 2020

EDIT:  Nevermind, user error.  Make sure you don't fat-finger the file name and call it PSUserConfig.txt.txt.

 

@petegreen The solution isn't working for me.  I've disabled Windows Ink my Wacom tablet properties and have the PSUserConfig.txt file in the appropriate location.  As soon as Windows Ink goes off I'm stuck with a solid brush (but at least I can see my healing brush cursor move)!

 

 

Inspiring
September 13, 2020
Six months passed and we still have the same problem, right?
https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/problems-with-actions-and-lasso-tool
And Adobe labelled this as "Solved", go figure why..

Wazza999
Inspiring
September 12, 2020
Thanks for that Chad. However, reinstating this has also caused another issue (which is why I stopped using this fix a while ago)
When making a selection with the lasso tool, I now cannot pan across the image by pressing the space bar to temporarily enable the hand tool in order to carry on with the selection. Basically, this txt solution removes the spacebar / hand tool shortcut whilst using the lasso tool.
Inspiring
September 10, 2020
Are you able select with the lazo tool while panning (by pressing the spacebar)?
It used to work with wintab until version 21, then something broke..

Edit: nevermind, I checked and it's still broken. Could we please fix that too?
AxelMatt
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 10, 2020
I've installed the update to 21.2.3 and the pen pressure is working.
Thanks Chad for the quick solution.
My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
Known Participant
September 9, 2020
Rolling back to 21.2.1 again. Slow during cloning. I am going to wait updating when there is a final fix that works. In 21.2.1 everything works fine!
 
Known Participant
September 9, 2020
dual brush resize bug is now happening with or without PSUserConfig.txt.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/819hoi1xkt0jdwq/photoshop21.2.2brushresizebug.mp4?dl=0
Legend
September 9, 2020
Chad, are the problems with Camera RAW and Wacom tablets fixed as well? The stylus doesn't work at all with some buttons (for example, the More Local Corrections Settings button.)
mattstix
Known Participant
September 9, 2020
Thanks Chad. I think we’d all be extremely grateful if you could agree that whatever you do to try and sort Windows Ink in the background, the WinTab fix won’t be removed until every aspect raised in this extensive thread works on Windows Ink... I’m sure the community here would be glad to agree a minimum, sensible criteria for general acceptance...

After all, this is clearly the most contentious issue raised anywhere...

Whilst you mention it’s “one of the things fixed”, for most of us WinTab is “the only thing that needed to be fixed”... so please keep it secure. It’s a matter of perspective but WinTab works, Windows Ink doesn’t. Very simple.

PS please could someone reply as to when the Blend if on Groups issue will be resolved