Wacom Bamboo strokes truncated

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

I am a math teacher in a synchronous online environment, coming to Adobe Connect from Wimba.  I am using a WIN 7 PC with the Bamboo Dock software and Wacom Bamboo CTL-470 tablet/stylus combo.  Last year's experience in Wimba was less than ideal, but fully functional.  Now my school has transitioned to Adobe Connect.  When I attempt to write on the whiteboard or annotate a PowerPoint slide, the first "x"percent of each stroke is not visible, as if the stroke is being monitored, but no "ink" is being deposited on the screen, then the last "y" percent of the stroke is "written."  I hope my screenshot will illustrate...

As I hope you can see, the beginning of each stroke is missing. (I wrote that at normal speed, like I would while teaching.)  Again, it worked fine in Wimba.  Also, drawing with the mouse does NOT have this problem.

The problem appears to be time vs length of stroke dependent, meaning if I write VERY VERY slowly, the missing part of the stroke is quite small. But I would have to write too slowly for a live classroom to make this work.  As another workaround, if I simply delay moving the stylus until it is "ready" to write, it thinks I am trying to right click, which I sometimes need to be able to do (so I can't turn off that setting).

Any suggestions?  (Finding something via Google, I already disabled the Tablet PC Input service via services.msc without seeing any change.)

Thanks in advance!!

[sameer_puri]

Hi,

We have had issues in the past with Performance of Adobe Connect when a touch device was attached to a system. But of late we have fixed them all.

Will really appreciate if you can please tell the Connect version you are using.

Thanks

Sameer Puri

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

Hope this helps...

[sameer_puri]

Hi,

Thanks for the screenshot. Your are one of our few customers who were upgraded to latest Connect version a few days back only. And unfortunately (or fortunately?), this latest release does have all the fixes that i was talking about. 😕

We do have bamboo touch devices in-house. We will try and see if we can replicate the issue. Till then can you try one more thing. Can you open your meeting in browser instead of Connect add-in and see if there is any improvement. You can open your meeting in browser by appending ?launcher=false at the end of the meeting url..

Let me know if you have issues launching the meeting in Flash player.

Thanks

Sameer Puri

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

First, I am experiencing the same issue without using the Bamboo, this time using an HP touchsmart tx2 convertible tablet PC with WIN 7.  The results are the same, with the first part of each stroke missing.  I also saw a similar result using the Adobe Connect ipad app.  The drawing was VERY slow in responding, but it was accurate, and I could hold my finger in place briefly before drawing each stroke in order to get the entire stroke on the screen.  (This is fascinating in that detached, "if only this was happening to someone else and I could help THEM" kinda way...)

Second, I tried again, this time appending the classroom address with ?launcher=false as I linked from my dashboard.  The result with that new address was also the same.

Finally, I will try the Bamboo on my PC this evening and report back either way.

Thanks for the help--I know this will all be worth it when we get it solved!

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

You mentioned trying the add-in vs going through the browser via Flash. 

I opened a classroom and selected share a document, then selected a PPTX file.  Once the file loaded, I attempted to draw with the pencil tool and got the same truncated response.  Then I checked under Help > About Adobe Connect and found the screen shot below, showing the add-in.  I see no performance difference between the browser and the add-in using the pencil tool.

As a side note, I have no problems using the shape tool as advertised.

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

I have continued exploring.  I tried sharing Paint instead of using the whiteboard pod, and that appears to work without incident.  I think that will be my current workaround until the bamboo works in the latest version of Connect.  I also found the link for the Adobe Connect Connection Test, so I tried it.  Results are below:

Then when I clicked on the "Install Add-in" link:

This is the same computer that reported the Adobe Connect 9 Add-in above.  When I exit the classroom, this is the message I see:

If this is not helpful, I apologize.  Class starts Tuesday and I am trying to find a solution...

Message was edited by: Cyber Calc Teacher to add third screenshot

[Guest]

Check your installed programs, I have seen this too.  It was happening when our users had the Adobe Connect 8 Add-in installed and but needed the Adobe Connect 9 Add-In. 

In Programs and Features (Windows) we saw Adobe Connect Add-in with no version information and then a second Adobe Connect 9 Add-in with varied version information. 

There were some known conflicts documented about having both I saw, so we are working to remove and re-install only the one version of the add-in.

Hope this helps others.

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

It's funny, I was just thinking yesterday about putting in a "bump" entry to get this issue some attention again, as I have no communication from anyone on a fix.  I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience -- hopefully it will help someone.

In my case, I did check to make sure, but I am a recent adoptee of Connect so I never had any piece of version 8 installed.  I just confirmed I only have one version of the Connect add-in, and it is V9.

I did find some help in looking into Chrome Add-ins, where I found a potential Flash conflict.  Chrome contains an internal version of the Flash add-in that is separate from the downloaded version.  I went into http://Chrome/plugins and found two instances of Adobe Flash running.  I disabled the version internal to Chrome and much of my problem vanished, although not all of it.  I also still occasionally get periods where the strokes with the bamboo stylus are segmented instead of smooth curves.

It's been almost a month with no "official" progress, so I am assuming this has fallen off the radar.  Thanks again for your reply!

[dlwesley]

I am having the same issue. I searched on this forum so try to find a fix for myself. I would appreciate any help given.

[Guest]

Hi

I have a new bamboo pen and touch tablet and have exactly the same problems as described above.  I haven't been able to see a solution in the thread.  Adobe Connect is the only program where this problem has occurred.  Please help!

Georgina

[sameer_puri]

Hi GCK365,

Will really appreciate if you can share the tablet details as in the product code etc with us. We do have some bamboo models in house, but we aren't able to reproduce the issue with them.

Thanks

Sameer Puri

[Guest]

Hi Sameer

I had some live help today, and we were unable to resolve the issue. Wacom

think that the driver of the tablet won't interact with the Connect

Classroom.

My tablet is Wacom Bamboo pen and touch model CTH-470

Thank you

Georgina

[sameer_puri]

Thanks for this information, let me check if i can get my hands on this device in-house.

Btw, Did you try in addin or in browser? Can you try in both and see if there is any differenece that you see. For opening your meeting in browser, you need to append ?launcher=false with the meeting URL.

Also, there is a workaround as mentioned by other users in this thread; you can screen share while drawing in MS Paint rather than using whiteboard.

Thanks

Sameer Puri

[Festive_user15B9]

I know this thread has been quite for a while, but in the process of looking for a new tablet that I can with Adobe Connect for both meetings and live classroom activities I noticed that there is a huge difference in stylus performance between the Adobe Connect Add-in and the web browser.  I have been considering several tablets with various active stylus/digitizer technologies [ASUS with Wacom, Surface Pro 3 with N-trig, and Dell with Synaptics(I think)], however with each of these there is the same difference in performance between the add-in and browser.  The add-in performance is completely unacceptable and begs the question of why there is even a whiteboard option of the best solution is not to use it. 

Is there an update to this thread that can provide a better answer then the workaround options?

[RTiverton]

I am having exactly the same issue with a Trust tablet that has always allowed me to write freehand perfectly well before. Since the update I have been unable to write precisely in a dark colour in fine detail.

This upgrade has cost me work. I have found it is slightly better using IE compared to Chrome.

I will try the screen sharing options next if I get any more work.

[Guest]

Sameer,

This is happening to my teachers as well, some are using the Genius Pen Tablet - Mouse Pen i608X.  Also we have users with a Starboard Model : T-17SXL.

This is causing serious issues for our teachers - experiencing serious lag too when using the tablet or Starboard

Thanks,

Dean

[Guest]

Hi Sameer

Yes, I've tried both browser and addin - same problem in both.

I generally use prepared slides from powerpoint so I'm not sure screen

sharing is an option for me.

Georgina

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

Georgina,

While I can't help with the Bamboo/Connect issue (I started this thread in August) you got me to wondering:

Couldn't you share your screen, then share the PowerPoint application, and inside PowerPoint, click on 'Review' and then 'start inking' then draw to your hearts content?  That should bypass the Connect stripping part of your Bamboo stroke.  On the other hand, it would also allow your audience to see the slide sorter and menu inputs, and changing settings to use various colors could also be distracting for them, but in my test, the bamboo was once again glassy smooth and flowing!  As another option, you could start your slideshow in PowerPoint and then share, and just use the PP slideshow annotation tools.

I certainly don't know what is going on in the background, but it seems to me that Connect is not playing well with our systems, and we could possibly bypass that bottleneck if we could do everything possible on our PC and only use Connect as a communications conduit until they get it fixed.  (Note that research on this problem had apparently ceased since they could not duplicate it in-house)

As a second issue I recently discovered, Connect was stripping handwritten annotations and MathType functions embedded in saved PowerPoint files when it processed them for uploading into shared meetings.  I am now uploading my PPs individually from my PC into each classroom to keep those annotations intact.

Hope you can get things at least functional until Adobe can find and fix the bugs...

[Guest]

Thanks for this advice - I read your thread with great interest as it

developed! I almost DIDN'T buy the bamboo tablet on the strength of it.

It was only when a student bought one and used it (on a mac) without any

problems that I took the plunge.

Regarding screensharing, my internet connection is fairly pedestrian with a

significant lag because I have satellite broadband, and I've found it to be

slow in the past so I have tended not to use it. Can you tell me if my

student can write on powerpoint when screen sharing or is it just me? It's

no good to me if written communication isn't a two-way process...

Georgina

On Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 5:48 PM, Cyber Calc Teacher <

[Cyber_Calc_Teacher]

Georgina,

Please forgive the delay in replying--I know how frustrating this can get!

I experimented with sharing the screen and allowing a student to write on it.  Don't bother.  We have 17 MB wired connection to my PC and my son was getting 7 MB over wi-if and it would not provide anything useful from his end--only a dot where he started each stroke...

Someone at my school passed out some suggestions that have garnered a good bit of positive feedback, so I will share them here.  Certainly no guarantees here!

For a a Windows machine,

1. Open Start menu.

2. Type "wacom".  (If that gets you nowhere, try typing "Bamboo." 

3. Open "Wacom Preferences".

4. (Optional) Click "Bamboo Dock" and choose "Wacom Preferences" for easier access in the future.

5. Click the "Pen" tab.

6. Select the "Mouse mode" option in the upper right. 

7. Click the "Details" button.

8. Set "Mouse Acceleration" all the way to the left.

9. Set "Mouse Speed" one notch from the far left.

10. Click "OK".

11. Close the Wacom Preferences window.

Several teachers have gushed all over the improvement they have seen since they made those changes.  I did not see much improvement myself, but I was not doing terribly beforehand anyway.  I DID note that one of those changes meant I was running into the ends of the Bamboo tablet much more quickly than before, so I was having to pick up he pen and take two swipes of the tablet to get across the screen.  I will continue to tinker...

All the best!

[Guest]

Thank you! I have a lesson this afternoon so I'll be able to see how it

goes.

Georgina

On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 9:42 PM, Cyber Calc Teacher <forums_noreply@adobe.com

[Guest]

Much, much better! Quite odd not to have it tracked according to the pad,

but a saviour as a work around until Wacom / Adobe can find an

alternative. Thanks so much!

On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 8:58 AM, Georgina Kitching <

[leucin]

I'm resurrecting this thread as I have run into the same problem with an Intuos and Adobe Connect 9. However, I have found a solution that works for me: Start->Run->Services.msc and stop the "Tablet PC Input Service" (You can also set the startup type to manual so that it will not restart on the next boot). It appears that while this service is running Adobe Connect is fighting with Windows to figure out who gets to handle the input, causing that awful delay.