Wacom Intuos failure in After Effects

[jeffrey.garriock]

I've been using a Wacom tablet for 7+ years (first a bamboo, now an Intuos pen & touch) in place of a mouse for all my applications. Just in the past month, when I open After Effects, after about 3-5 minutes of use, I'm no longer able to move the cursor using the pen. If I click down, I am still able to click and drag, and in the Wacom diagnostic tool, everything looks perfectly fine. The problem is, the functionality stops across ALL applications and I can't get it back unless I fully restart the computer. This means once I open After Effects, i must switch to a mouse until I have a chance to fully restart my computer, and then I can't open After Effects without breaking my pen tablet's functionality. 

Tried calling Wacom support and all they had me do was uninstall and reinstall my drivers several times. I tried moving my tablet to another computer (Brand new 2020 Imac, fresh install of the newest AE) and am still having the same issue. Is this a bug? Is my tablet broken? It's not that old, I've only had it for a year or two and it's functionality with every other app I use is completely fine. This only occurs with After Effects.

Has anyone else had this issue?

[Mylenium]

Without any actual system info, driver versions, actual configuration and so on nobody can tell you much. Could simply be that it's some odd power saving issue. And since you mentioned a Mac, there is a known issue where certain types of USB devices will stop working after a while due to a bug in OS X itself that allegedly only will be fixed in the october update.

Mylenium

[jeffrey.garriock]

Okay. I've had this identical issue on two macs. The first:

iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch 2020

3.6 GHz 10-Core Intel Core i9

128GB 2667 MHz DDR4

Running MacOS Catalina

Before, I was having the same issue on my laptop:

MacBook Pro Retina, Mid 2012

2.3 GHz Intel Core i7

16GB 1600MHz DDR3

Running MacOS High Sierra

On both I'm using Wacom's most up to date driver, version 6.3.40-2

This issue ONLY occurs with After Effects. It does not happen under any other circumstances. Every time I launch After Effects, within five minutes, it occurs. It occurred in After Effects v15.1.2, and After Effects v17.1.3. This is a recent phenomenon, and it was fine for years before. I don't think it has anything to do with this Mac issue you mentioned, because the device works fine for any length of time using every other application apart from After Effects.

[Sofa Digital]

I never saw a situation where informing the system info was whatsoever useful. This is never the issue. MAYBE the OS version, but even this is never the issue.

[harunz95153424]

Have also had the same exact issue. Same configuration.

[emmyelferink]

i have got the exact same issue. Until a couple weeks it worked perfectly, now it stops working after 5 minutes. The tablet i'm using is bought just over 6 months ago

[Filip.K.Forsberg]

I have the exact same issue as well. Been in contact with Wacom soo many times now but it seems like they can't fix this issue. Finally found more people with the same issue. 

MacBook pro 15-inch 2018

Processor: 2,9GHz 6-core Intel Core i9

Memory: 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Graphics: Radeon Pro 560X 4 GB Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

[default6cd0sg86f8fz]

I have a simliar problem and it seems to occur everytime I want to scroll using my Wacom pen in the timeline of the After Effect project. Everytime I do this the Wacom starts to act really strange and the cursor only moves when I touch the pad with the tip of the pen.

This problem has occured on both my Macbook Pro's and it seems to be constant even though I install OS-updates and Wacom updates. Really sucks for me, since I use the Wacom Intous instead of a mouse for all my navigation.

[admuir]

I'm experiencing the exact same issue.

[Filip.K.Forsberg]

That's exactly what happens for me as well. 

[jeffrey.garriock]

Yes, this is exactly what i'm talking about. And for me too, I use my pen/tablet in place of a mouse. I've had to try and teach myself not to scroll when I have after effects open. My stop-gap solution for the moment is I have put a mouse next to my tablet, and when I need to scroll, i use the mouse scroll to scroll along. It's insane to me that in 2020 this is the best solution but Wacom seems uninterested in helping beyond advising me to reinstall the drivers, which doesn't work. I hope Adobe can figure this out! It worked perfectly for such a long time.

[wilson34768957iswk]

2024 and I have this exact issue, did you find any solution?? 

[Josefinaveloso]

I have the same problem!, the only thing that fixes it is re installing the driver. 

[Hannah5EDF]

I am having the exaxt same issue. I was so happy to see your post that someone else is experiencing it, but sad there is no solution yet! I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers. It fixed the issue when I installed an older driver, but then I started having general lag issues with my Wacom so I went back to the newest driver, and once again After Effects messes with my tablet. 

But yes it's the same for me, once it happens in AE, the pen stops working across the entire computer and I have to restart. And the same for me where I can click and drag, but no moving hover etc. So frustrating! I am now having to use a mouse everytime I use After Effects which is not ideal.

Really hope we can get a fix for this soon.

[linadurell]

Here's another one who has the exact same issues. VERY frustrating....

[Josefinaveloso]

I was talking to a couple of designer friends the other day and BOTH of them had experienced the issue as well. 

[Rameez_Khan]

Hi all,

Sorry to hear about your issue!

I want some more clarity so that I can file a bug and share that with the After Effects team.

• It looks like this issue is Mac-only but I'd want to double-check if anyone of you is able to repro it on Windows too.
• Do you experience the same behavior in After Effects 17.5?
• Are you able to repro this on a Wacom tablet other than the Intuous Pro?
• Would it be possible for anyone to share a screen recording of the bug in action?

Will follow up again if I need more details.

Thanks,

Rameez K.

After Effects Community Manager

[linadurell]

For me:

• Yes, I have a macbook with MacOS Catalina 10.15.7
• Yes, I have After effects 17.5
• No, I only have the Intuos pro so I can recreate this with another tablet.
• Unfortunately I don't have time to create a screen recording right now, hopefully someone else can do this.

[Rameez_Khan]

Thanks for providing all the info, linadurell.

Let me try and grab the screen recording from someone else.

Best,

Rameez

[scottbarker]

got it to break in less than 30seconds - After the wacom stops working I am then able to use my Apple track pad. Also the wacom doesn't work till I log out of the mac user and log back in.

Intuos BT S

Catalina 10.15.7

2018 Mac Mini Intel

AE 17.5.0 

[Rameez_Khan]

Hi scottbarker,

It looks like you have removed the Dropbox asset. Would you mind sharing it with me via DM?

I'm in touch with an After Effects engineer and would need the following info from you:

• Your Wacom driver version
• Firmware version of your Wacom tablet
• After the device stops working, what's the status of the tablet in Wacom Desktop Center - is it still recognized or is it shown as missing?

Thanks,

Rameez

[Jose5C82]

 I also have the same problem, after 5 minutes of working on After Effects the graphics tablet freezes. the problem arises when I press the space bar to move on the artboard, from that moment on, the only way to move the arrow using the graphics tablet is by holding down the right button on the pen or restarting the computer. If I use the classic mouse this works while the tablet remains locked:

After Effects 17.5
Catiline 10.15.7
Wacom intuos CTL 6100WL

[SOPFEU5D0A]

Any update? I'm having the issue on a Mac OS Big Sur 11.2.3 - After Effect version 18.1.0 and Wacom driver 6.3.42-1. 

Please tell me you have a solution. 

Thanks

[Jose5C82]

Hi guys, I also have the same problem, after 5 minutes of working on After Effects the graphics tablet freezes. the problem arises when I press the space bar to move on the artboard, from that moment on, the only way to move the arrow using the graphics tablet is by holding down the right button on the pen or restarting the computer. If I use the classic mouse this works while the tablet remains locked:

After Effects 17.5
Catiline 10.15.7
Wacom intuos CTL 6100WL

[Rameez_Khan]

Hey Jose5C82,

Would you be able to share the following info with me?

• Your Wacom driver version
• Firmware version of your Wacom tablet
• After the device stops working, what's the status of the tablet in Wacom Desktop Center - is it still recognized or is it shown as missing?

Thanks,

Rameez