Skip to main content
Carlos_Oliveras
Carlos_Oliveras
Known Participant
April 25, 2014

P: Switching from Wacom tablet to mouse, every click gets lag (latest CC & CS6) on Win 7/8

  • April 25, 2014
  • 42 replies
  • 2558 views

In Photoshop CC and CS6 (only if latest update has been applied, apparently), mouse clicks on the canvas area (*not in menus or palettes*) are lagged after using a Wacom tablet. Detailed explanation:

• When starting Photoshop, mouse works okay. Then, if I switch to my Intuos Pro (latest drivers), everything is fine too.
• But here comes the problem: when I switch back to the mouse, the very first mouse click (after switching from tablet) is NOT lagged, but the rest from then on, ARE.
• If the switch from tablet to mouse is done very quickly (clicking on canvas or ruler area with the pen while swiftly clicking with the mouse), then the lag does not happen.
• Closing Photoshop and re-opening it gets rid of the lag, until the tablet is used (then the problem starts again when switching to the mouse).

This problem has been debated here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/5768548
It has also been repeteadly reported to Wacom, who have not acknowledged or denied the problem: http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f...
User pinkbunkadoo posted a 15 sec video demonstrating the problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D51R...

While the knowledgeable Chris Cox suggested that this seems a driver issue, we (the affected users) still believe that something changed in the latest Photoshop versions that brought up this problem, since it does not happen at all with CS6, CS5, etc. (although CS6 with latest updates seems to have the problem too). It doesn't happen either with a couple other pressure-sensitive design programs I've tried (ArtRage and SmoothDraw).

I've been able to reproduce this problem in all the machines I've tried it on (Win 7 and Win 8 systems), which do not seem to share any particular software or hardware that suggests a pattern. I've tried reinstalling the OS twice to no avail. My main machine is Win 8.1 x64, i7 930@2.8, 20 MB RAM, gfx card ATI Radeon HD 6800 series, and using Photoshop CC latest version (14.2.1).

This bug is extremely annoying for people like me that switch a lot between mouse and pen (I use mouse with my right hand, for menus, marquee selections, paths, etc., and the pen with my left hand to draw with brush tools). I'm more than willing to provide any additional info, should Adobe staff be kind enough to look into this or at least try to reproduce this issue. Thanks.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    42 replies

    Show previous replies
    Carlos_Oliveras
    Carlos_OliverasAuthor
    Known Participant
    August 3, 2014
    mihkeltt: Thanks, but isn't that the same info I already posted a little above? Anyway, that method is intended not to fix the lag, but to recover the lost pressure sensitivity of the new API. And indeed it works, pressure sensitivity works again, but then the lag, which is the issue here, is back too.

    Chris Cox: Thanks a lot for dropping by, your insight as well as your time is very very highly valued. The problem is that leaving the tablet API enabled (the one that comes by default in PS CC 2014) we lose pressure sensitivity in certain scenarios:

    - If the tablet is set to relative positioning mode (so called "mouse" mode), pressure sensitivity won't work at all in PS CC 2014 (it did work in CC 14.2.1).

    - If the tablet is set to absolute positioning (pen mode), sometimes pressure does work, sometimes it does not, and I can't find the reason why.

    But in both cases, pressure is being correctly read by the diagnostics section of the Wacom driver interface. So the pressure information seems to be there, it's just that, for some reason, it seems not to be getting through to Photoshop CC 2014.

    So, in short, it seems that either we have the mouse-pen switch lag, or we lose pressure sensitivity randomly, at least in relative positioning mode.

    I've abandoned all hope on this thing being fixed by Wacom or Adobe, but seeing your name here makes me think that perhaps that miracle is still possible, although I don't know if people at Adobe have been able to reproduce this kind of issues (the lag with the "old" api, and the lack of pressure sensitivity with the new one, at least in relative positioning mode).

    By the way, turning windows ink on/off does not seem to make any difference to me.

    Again, thanks for your comment and for all your work and help in the past.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    August 3, 2014
    On Windows 8, you should leave Ink enabled a not disable the tablet API unless you have a third party device that doesn't use the Windows APIs correctly.
    On Windows 7, you will always be using the older WInTab API.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    August 3, 2014
    There is a workaround for photoshop. Apparently CC 2014 changed the way it communicates with windows api. In order to get the tablet to work properly, you need to disable "Use windows ink" in the Wacom Preferences utility, then create a user configuration file for photoshop as outlined in this forum post:

    http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f...

    Completing these steps removes all lag issues and the annoying Ctrl, Shift and Alt hints, keeps pressure sensitivity in photoshop and generally keeps the wacom tablet working as it should.
    D
    dbleja
    Inspiring
    July 27, 2014
    It's incredible. I first saw this problem reported over a year ago, and it still remains unresolved. I can semi-understand Adobe ignoring this. They have a million things on their plate, and as a result Adobe software often has had flaws that took years to iron out.

    But it shocks me that Wacom hasn't solved this, considering it affects such a core part of their business. Without fluid productivity, their products are nothing. For me, the problem arose when I upgraded from an Intuos 3 to an Intuos Pro, but now I'm seriously considering returning the Intuos Pro, since it has downgraded my overall experience.

    Even if the problem is inside Photoshop, you'd think Wacom by now would have harangued Adobe until they fixed it on their end.
      H
      hayungs
      Known Participant
      July 25, 2014
      Yeah, problem STILL consists. Adobe and Wacom just don't care.
      D
      dbleja
      Inspiring
      July 25, 2014
      I have the latest Photoshop and wacom driver as of writing, but I still get this problem.

      Anyone else?
      Carlos_Oliveras
      Carlos_OliverasAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 4, 2014
      Still worse news - Adobe has changed something in Photoshop CC 2014 and now the lag is apparently gone, but there's no pressure sensitivity when using the tablet!! Pressure sometimes works in absolute mode (pen mode), never at all in relative mode (mouse mode). Of course, this might not be happening for everybody, but it is for me and more people. Pressure sensitivity was never an issue so far.

      It is possible to recover pressure sensitivity by doing what you can read here:

      https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1502616

      It works, but guess what, then you have the pen-mouse switch lag AGAIN.

      Wacom says the problem should not happen if we turn "Use Windows ink" on (it's a setting found in the Projection tab). Strange, since so far, we had been told by Wacom that "windows ink" was evil and should be disabled to avoid lag, so... wtf??? Anyway, turning it on or off does nothing for me regarding pressure sensitivity or lag.

      Personally, I've given up on any hope of seeing this issue fixed anytime soon, if ever at all.
      Carlos_Oliveras
      Carlos_OliverasAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 18, 2014
      Bad news - Wacom seems to be backing off from their initial words. There's been no further info for a month and they say there's no further info. In fact, they somehow suggest that the problem might be on Adobe's end. It seems as if they' (Wacom) are not planning on fixing anything, since they recommend that we avoid using the mouse altogether as a way to avoid the lag (???):

      ____________________________________________________________
      Re: Mouse click lag when switching from pen to mouse in PS C
      by Wacom » Thu 12. Jun 2014, 14:21

      The known problem is with the mouse after using the pen in CC. If you only
      navigate with the pen, it should be fine. I have no further info on this at the
      moment.
      ____________________________________________________________

      So... anybody reading this and suffering from this issue, please keep clicking the +1 button.
      Carlos_Oliveras
      Carlos_OliverasAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 16, 2014
      UPDATE: Some days after posting this problem, Wacom finally acknowledged this bug. They say they will fix it in a future update:

      http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f...

      (Anyway, please keep clicking the "me too" button if you have this problem, just in case - thanks)
      Xilius
      Xilius
      Participant
      April 28, 2014
      Photoshop CC and Intuos 5. Same bug. Latest drivers installed, to no avail. Mouse lags after using tablet. I also have a very high-end computer.
      Please do something, Adobe.
        Show more replies
        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices