P: Pen Tablet & Windows Ink

[philippev98610928]

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.

[mattstix]

We're all bored of this and it's been going on for years. It's not a small problem like the dozens of others on this site. this issue makes Photoshop unusable for many.

Today I sent the below email, copying in all three CEOs of Adobe, Microsoft and Wacom. Now I KNOW neither they nor anyone 10 levels below them will read them, however it may get passed to someone who may pay attention.

I suggest others do the same and they may notice. If everyone who has commented on here does it in the next day or so, someone "up top" will hopefully spot a pattern!

Then again, probably not but it's worth a shot!



To: snarayen@adobe.com; Nobu.Ide@wacom-europe.com; satyan@microsoft.com 

The Windows Ink / Wacom / Photoshop triangle of doom

Dear all,

I write as one of many, many customers of all three of your respective companies who are currently totally hamstrung by the failure in compatibility between your respective systems, that used to work perfectly.

As you (or rather, whoever actually reads this) will find here and here, Windows users are experiencing insurmountable problems caused by Windows Ink and Adobe’s latest release of Photoshop, not just with regard Wacom tablets but given their dominance, predominantly so.

Photoshop 21.2.2 has removed the slapdash workaround that thousands of Windows users have had to use in recent years, in order to make the pressure sensitivity flaunted by Wacom (and other tablet manufacturers) actually work, without the myriad other issues that using Windows Ink causes. This workaround has been removed in the latest Photoshop, crippling the workflows of potentially thousands of creatives who pay you all to use their products. This was knows as “PSuserconfig.txt”. The latest release has removed this workaround and forced tablet users to make one of two undesirable choices:

1. Turn on Windows Ink to retain pressure sensitivity but suffer UIs rendered unusable by lagging sliders, enormously reduced stylus functionality, repeated popups, zoom issues.... the list goes on and can be read extensively on the links above. OR....
2. Turn off Windows Ink and remove all the issues above BUT without pressure sensitivity – destroying the workflow of designers, photographers, digital painters etc. globally

Neither option is acceptable and these problems have been going on for YEARS. I am just an enthusiast and this is not ruining my career. BUT I still pay hard earned money to you all and am bored with these failings. I pity those who are struggling to make a living in the pandemic but are hampered by things that worked fine suddenly not working, for no reason and with no explanation.

When I say YEARS, I mean YEARS. The Wacom/Adobe/Windows Ink issues are legendary.

I know the individuals addressed in this email won’t read this but I live in hope that it will be passed to those who will.

Please, please sort this out. It’s making your companies look foolish across the creative industries.

Just a suggestion!

[hayungs]

For YEARS and on almost every Update we get new problems with Tablet support. Can't Adobe with it's billions of profits afford pay some professional digital painters as consultants for the developer team?
Is nobody of Adobe using their own software to experience all these problems in daily usage?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

If Adobe would listen to painters, we would have got a more powerful brush engine by now. Their main target group obviously is mediocre photographers.

[hayungs]

Or they excuse themselves out of the problem by pointing to their new apps like Fresco which are at best Alpha phase and doesn't solve the problem inside PS.

[daniellek40801843]

Any updates or possible timeframes for the rollout of a fix? As someone working from home and dependent on Adobe's software, I'd like to know when I can be using the latest version of Photoshop again.

[daniellek40801843]

Any updates or possible timeframes for the rollout of a fix? As someone working from home and dependent on Adobe's software, I'd like to know when I can be using the latest version of Photoshop again.

[hayungs]

If you look at the usual time frames for Photoshop fixes, you can expect a fix in the next 2-5 years

[khellstr]

I hope this get fixed soon. Like Yesterday

[RiverheadStudios]

Use affinity photo, it all works fine there, cheaper too!

[Pete.Green]

Hi all,

We've made some updates to this issue in the Photoshop 21.2.3 update and are hoping things are better for those affected here.
Can you give it a go and let us know how it goes for you?

To update Photoshop to 21.2.3, click "Update" in the Creative Cloud desktop app next to Photoshop. More detailed instructions for updating

[RiverheadStudios]

Where is the update? No new version visible in CC app. Only 21.2.2 is there.
I am in New Zealand, ahead of your time? :-)?

[daniellek40801843]

The only fix listed under 21.2.3 is proportional resizing.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

21.2.3 works using PsUserConfig and disabling Windows Ink. Thanks!

[PhilT_GP]

21.2.3 also works on my XP-Pen tablet. Thanks

[mattstix]

PSUserConfig.txt now works Windows 10 / Intuos Pro

Appreciate the fix but now PLEASE LEAVE IT ALONE!!!

[Rinthe1]

Wow... please hire QA testers.

Broke dual brush resizing even with PsUserConfig. Same bug from 21.2.2.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/819hoi1xkt0jdwq/photoshop21.2.2brushresizebug.mp4?dl=0

[donbarrum]

WinTab is back, thank you! I will gladly switch to WinINK whenever it does what WinTab does in a better way. Currently I have not experienced anything that improves the experience while working on 21.2.2 Just getting rid of the ctrl alt and shift popups blocking your view of the brushpointer is worth keeping WinTab. Please don't break or remove WinTab again. 

[MazStudios]

What exactly DID you fix in this update. Would you mind clarify?

It seems that we now can use the product we pay for, Photoshop, like almost intended, because that you allow the little hack with the txt-file for wintab.

Two short examples. I still cant use crop tool. It freaks out as usual with WinInk.

The ctrl/shift/alt popups are still in the way for work. IF this is a system bug, because it IS a bug, and it cant be turned off in WinInk, WinINK should NOT be used in a professional work environment.

So, again, would you mind clarify WHAT you set out to fix with this update.

Food for thought, Adobe.

[MazStudios]

What exactly DID you fix in this update. Would you mind clarify?

It seems that we now can use the product we pay for, Photoshop, like almost intended, because that you allow the little hack with the txt-file for wintab.

Two short examples. I still cant use crop tool. It freaks out as usual with WinInk.

The ctrl/shift/alt popups are still in the way for work. IF this is a system bug, because it IS a bug, and it cant be turned off in WinInk, WinINK should NOT be used in a professional work environment.

So, again, would you mind clarify WHAT you set out to fix with this update.

Food for thought, Adobe.

[daniellek40801843]

I still can't get pen pressure to work, even with 21.2.3 and the PSUserConfig file and Windows Ink off. What's going on?

[Geoff_MD]

Just tested Photoshop 21.2.3 and if using WinINK and Wacom Intuos Tablet and Pen the Clone Brush tool and Healing Brush tool are still broken as in 21.2.2. The source (+) point is still stuck at the original sample location and does not move along with the brush as it should. Ok, so now we can use the old WinTAB/ PSUserConfig  again as a "fix" but I do not see this as an adequate long term solution for Windows users.

[daniellek40801843]

To clarify, I'm working off a Huion Kamvas 13 (2020 version), and while the pen actually tracks as it should, even after a complete uninstall and restart, I still don't have pen pressure control.

[chad.rolfs]

Yes, PSUserConfig.txt (WinTab) should be functioning again in the update that was just released (21.2.3) - that is one of the things we fixed.

We are working with MS to deal with the popups but we don't own those and can't fix that - MS has to do it or at minimum provide a way to disable them.

Yes, we have a bug on the Clone/Healing brush source point not tracking with Win Ink.  If you use the PSUserConfig.txt workaround to enable WinTab and disable Win Ink via Wacom Settings > Calibrate, tracking should work. 

[Gixxxa75]

21.2.3 Clone tool sample point does not move, same as previous version. That is using windows ink, I find version 20.0.10 works pretty well using windows ink, if that's any help.

[mattstix]

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