Pressure sensitivity with Wacom tablet without windows ink

[MarkusEker]

Hi. Is it possible to use a wacom tablet with illustrator and get pressure sensitivity without having windows ink in enabled in the wacom drivers?

Windows ink is driving me crazy. In Photoshop you can still use pressure sensitivity if you add a user config file like this:

1. Create a file that contains instructions to revert to the WinTab functionality.

2. Create a text file in a text editor such as Notepad.

Type in the following lines:

# Use WinTab

UseSystemStylus 0

3. Save the file as a plain text file named PSUserConfig.txt

4. Put (copy) the file into the Photoshop settings folder: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2015\Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 Settings\

5. Restart Photoshop and check the pen pressure and overall performance.

I have tried to google for a similar solution for Adobe Illustrator but nothing came up. Does anyone know?

[andreamaestri · Accepted solution]

Hi MarkusEker​ I have a wacom tablet as well. I find when using with Photoshop I disable Windows Ink, but on Illustrator I think you will need Windows Ink for pressure sensitivity, there's not a workaround like in Photoshop unfortunately.

[mayflyaway]

Hey @MarkusEker you gave me the solution to my problem with photoshop and windows ink so thank you SO much!! I wish I had a solution for you but thanks so much for providing this solution!

[Bobby Henderson]

I simply cannot stand Windows Ink for all the text entry pop-ups when I don't want them popping up into my view. I prefer using a keyboard to enter text. There is a reason why computers have mechanical keyboards: it's faster to type text using a keyboard than writing it by hand. Heck, the iPad Pro with iPadOS 14 now has a similar function with the Apple Pencil, yet I still prefer to use the on-screen keyboard (or an attach-able keyboard) than handwriting text into an entry field. Apple's handwriting recognition does work pretty well though, FWIW.

Here's another possible solution for Illustrator: Astute Graphics' new InkFlow plugin. It's an additional purchase, but the tool does offer pressure sensitivity while Windows Ink is disabled for its own Ballpoint Pen, Brush Pen, Calligraphic Pen and Marker tools. 

[Joe Bt]

A Wacom tech helped me through the same issue today with Photoshop on Windows 10.  Now the Spot Healing Brush only leaves what is like a black brush mark rather than retouching/healing.  Clonging Tool, Healing Brush and Patch Tool  work fine.  Any suggestions to solve the SHB issue?  Thanks in advance.

[Joe Bt]

Never Mind.  I just reset the tool and it works fine now, maybe a bit slow but it works.

[Hunternif]

Hi! Just wanted to report for posterity that I had a similar problem with Photoshop and a Wacom tablet, and just now I was able to fix it.

My problem:

Pressure sensitivity in Photoshop would only work when Windows Ink was enabled. This was causing many annoying issues which made work uncomfortable:

* Small pen movements with Move tool would not register at all; I would need to drag my pen much farther than I intended to force the layer to move at all.

* The brush menu that opens on right-click (which is mapped to one of the buttons on my Wacom pen) would immediately close if I moved my pen just a couple pixels.

* I tried creating the file PSUserConfig.txt, but Photoshop would stop recognizing my pen at all after this.

My solution

1. I updated my Wacom driver to the latest version (6.3.45-1)

2. I added the file PSUserConfig.txt with UseSystemStylus 0.

3. I disabled Windows Ink in Wacom tablet properties.

4. (Not sure if this is related, but in Windows 10 "Pen & Windows Ink" settings I enabled "Let me use my pen as a mouse in some desktop apps" and "Ignore touch input when I'm using my pen").

Now pressure sensitivity is working as expected, and the issues above are not present anymore

My specs

Wacom Intuos Pro M  PTH-651

Adobe Photoshop 23.2.0

Windows 10 Education:

* version 21H2

* build 19044.1526

* Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4170.0

[Hunternif]

(Sorry I replied to the wrong thread. My problem was not related to Illustrator, just Photoshop. I can't seem to edit or delete my post.)