N-Trig Tablet Not Recognized

[_nick_caylor_]

A few other HP and Dell tablet PC users and I have noticed that photoshop does not recognize the pressure sensitivity of the N-trig tablets. I bought this laptop thinking that it was Wacom because I knew it was pressure sensitive (which it is on a couple other programs) so I was a little surprised when I found out that there was more than one type of digitizer pen.

Is there a work around, patch or some other way to get Photoshop and Elements to recognize it?

I contacted N-Trig already and they basically said it's the software's issue.

[AniDyn]

That's great to know, Tolouse. Personally, even with my Wacom-enabled tablet PC, I use Sketchbook Pro and ArtRage for all my drawing and painting. They're aimed at easy use with a pen, so I find my workflow much more streamlined with them.

I still have Photoshop, but I don't paint in it. I use it for photo editing and blending and all those types of things, the vast majority of which I can do with a mouse (and therefore, I can also do with N-Trig).

It's good to know that my purchase decision isn't going to lead to heartache, and I can stick with Dell, my favorite supplier of all time, without having to compromise too much. Or wait for Dell to integrate the new Wacom touch setup (if ever).

In fact, I'm looking into Paint.Net, which looks really nice, is tiny, simple, and, surprise, supports the MS Tablet API right out of the box. Oh, also it's free.

I never even thought about finger-painting. Looking forward to that.

Seth

[Guest]

The new etch-n-sketch USB model is pretty cool too.

[JustenRobertson]

I completely forgot about this thread, heh. Good news - N-Trig is now natively supported in Linux as of kernel version 2.6.30+. For those of you interested, here's a guide on setting it up in (K)Ubuntu 9.04 & 9.10:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1252492

The good news: full pressure sensitivity in *all* linux-native apps - the GIMP, Inkscape, Xournal, Krita, etc. Theoretically it should work in emulated Windows apps too, though I haven't given Photoshop a go in Wine yet as I'm pretty happy with GIMP. This isn't an option for everyone obviously, but I've been running it for 2 months now successfully.

The bad news: it takes a little technical know-how to get it working unfortunately. You'll need to compile your own driver and fiddle around with config files. I have been supplying the compiled drivers on the above-linked thread for 64-bit OS versions for the tx2z. There are still some gaps, too: no right-clicking with your fingertip (but the stylus works fine), and handwriting recognition support is shaky compared to windows' excellent tablet input panel. Also, I personally haven't figured out how to make the side panel buttons work yet, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility. Palm checking on the touchpad is crappy, and you'll have to make yourself a taskbar button to rotate the screen & toggle touch input if you have a habit of resting your hand on it while you draw with the stylus.

Good luck, whichever way you go.

[AniDyn]

Oh my goodness, look at us. What kind of freaking work-arounds do we gotta go through just to get a Tablet PC that uses a STANDARD built-into-Windows tablet interface to work in Photoshop!? Seriously, Adobe, if you're taking the stance that the Ink API (or whatever it is) is too new and buggy and supporting it will create a negative experience for your users, how much worse is the experience going to be if we're running Photoshop through Wine in Linux with a custom-written driver that we compiled ourselves, and is still in development by people who are doing this for fun, just for the privilege of using your product?

At least give us the option of a beta, or alpha, something that might work but we know that it's still in testing and we shouldn't expect perfection. Set up a testing program where we have to sign a big disclaimer form to get the plugin, and we agree that we won't sue you if it doesn't work properly. Please don't make us learn C++ and virtual devices to create a wrapper to fool WinTab into thinking it's talking to a Wacom tablet through the TabletPC Ink API, all just to use our perfectly good tablets with your software.

Throw us a bone, here. You're making us choose between loyalty to Adobe and loyalty to, say, Dell. And, seriously, right now, it's a toss-up for me, and Dell's never let me down.

[JustenRobertson]

To be fair to adobe, I wanted to run Linux anyway. I loathe dual-boot environments, and while I miss some of the features in Adobe's products that don't quite translate into FOSS equivalents, this is the preferred setup for me. I probably would have gone with it even without pressure support, but that was the perk that made me sit down for a weekend and figure out how it's done. Fortunately there are better guides now that Karmic is out of alpha/beta and the patched hid-ntrig driver will be standard in an upcoming kernel (no more custom compiling). So it's far from a workaround for me - I abandoned the idea of using CS on this machine a long time ago. It's just a possible option for those who would like to : ) The really cool thing is pressure support for the apps I'm using in its place - which doesn't even work in Windows. So - about 80% of the functionality, 60% of the usability, and 0% of the cost of a Win/Adobe equivalent setup. Time for MS & Adobe to get on the ball, IMO - they're getting caught up to and surpassed by free software.

[Tolouse]

An update while this unfolds: Paint.net has decided to drop pressure sensitivity in its latest version.  This leaves a handful of remaining applications that actually use N-trig brand/Microsoft Ink/non-Wintab/pick-your-poison pressure sensitivity.  So, either we're witnessing the coming demise of N-trig for art programs OR ArtRage has just cornered a niche market that Adobe was too slow to move into.  The new ArtRage Pro is $80, up from $25 for the last full version.  Will this niche market collapse, or grow?

[yuutsumi]

N-Trig has a self extracting DLL add-on available now on 32-bit windows to make their driver work with wintab api...

http://www.n-trig.com/Content.aspx?Page=Bulletin_Board

it looks like it might only work with photoshop 32-bit... but this might fix it.