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4

Photoshop drawing straight lines randomly while using Wacom tablet.

Engaged ,
Oct 11, 2018 Oct 11, 2018

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Hello.

The issue im talking about (popular issue i have googled for days/weeks now and all i found was unsolved threads - some for over 8 years): When i use brush to stroke some curved lines, randomly photoshop instead of rendering my brush strokes renders straight line from the start point to the end point of the stroke i made with pen, and renders them (straight lines) only after i finish the stroke and lift the pen (i see nothing while doing any random moves with brush untill i end it when the issue is on).

I have tryied all the tips and tricks i found via googling (disabling windows ink, changing registry key, creating ps user settings txt file, switching usb ports, updating everything - including gpu drivers, windows, photoshop)

Im currently on:

4x3,4Ghz CPU

Windows 10 64bit

8GB of ram

GTX970 gpu

Wacom Intuos 4 PTK-840 connected via USB

I have cranked the speed of periods of time where i coudlnt reproduce the issue, but i kept the whole test as single video without cuts.

(ignore 2 straight lines around 1:52 - those were drawn by me - not the issue - you can see difference tho - they are shown as being drawn, insetad of popping up instantly). Also, move to 0:45 to fastforward to first occurance of the issue.

What i have learned from the testing session trying narrow down what causes the issue:

  1. I coudlnt reproduce it inside Wacom's calibration tool (where you can test pressure)
  2. Its unrelated directly to PS's OpenGL settings (it happens with it on any of the settings - basic, normal, advance as well as with it unchecked whatsoever)
  3. It might happen bit more often and its quicker to reproduce while working with heavy file with lot of big smartobjects and layers with overlay effects, but its definitely not exclusive to those files - happened on almost empty 2048x2048 canvases too.
  4. It happens most often after panning the zoomed view. And the more area and the longer i pan the view the bigger next stroke's chances of being flawed with that issue. As you can see on the video, the small pans of the view/canvas or not panning at all makes it hard to reproduce the issue. But as soon as i start doing wide, long pans the issue shows often (at the end of the video i got better at it - or the amount of "paint" on the canvas did the trick).
  5. I got close to 90% reproducing rate for first stroke while opening one of my heavy textures files, rotating canvas -90 degrees zooming greatly, panning a lot and then doing first brush stroke. So while its not exlusive to OpenGL, the canvas rotation that it allows might influence it aswell.
  6. The issue often persists longer after those longer panning of the view, untill i make a pause in between the concurrent brush strokes.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Engaged , Oct 15, 2018 Oct 15, 2018

Ok i think i was able to fix it.

I have noticed that it never happens in other circumstances, but only after i use the hand tool on tablet's hotkeys to pan the view. So i went and tested if it happens if i would use spacebar insetad and it didnt.

I have changed tablet's hotkey from hand tool to simply spacebar, and seems it dont happen anymore. Didnt do extensive tests yet, but done quite a bit and results are good so far. If that would change i will update it here.

At this point i cant say if its

...

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Adobe
Community Beginner ,
Nov 13, 2019 Nov 13, 2019

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I get this issue all day long.  It always comes after I zoom in.  Doesn't matter if it's the brush tool or the lasso tool.  Always after I zoom it it will make random straight lines/selections on my Intuos Pro.

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Explorer ,
Nov 14, 2019 Nov 14, 2019

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That's exactly what happens to me.  Kills kills kills my productivity.  I'm aware of it, so I look for it, but I'm tired of not trusting it.

 

I'm still not sure if it's a Wacom problem, an Adobe problem or a Mac problem.  I don't think it's a Mac problem because I see it's happening on Windows machines too.  So it has to be an Adobe problem or a Wacom problem.  But why does it only happen when using the pen and not the mouse?

 

The amount of posts regarding this issue is at the alarming point.  So I hope that somebody is really focusing on this matter besides us.  This is definietely at the "known issue" stage.  Somebody do something...please...

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 08, 2019 Dec 08, 2019

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I'm having the "straight lines" issue with a Wacom Intuous Pro 660 medium tablet. Happens on my i9 iMac running Catalina, and I get the same issue on my MacBook Pro running Mojave. Latest drivers and latest version of Photoshop CC 2020. I went to the store today to get a new tablet and the issue persisted suggesting it's a software (I returned the tablet). I tried reinstalling the Wacom drivers to no avail. Unplugging my second monitor didn't help either. So frustrating, an suggestions for how to resolve this would be most welcome.

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Explorer ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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I'm kinda done dealing with the Wacom people.  Nobody has a solve.  It's a known issue and they can't fix it.  I'm going to contact my IT department to see if I can return my Intuos Pro that's only four months old and try a Huion tablet.  Here's a link for eveyone to try.  I can't work like this.


https://store.huion.com

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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How do the Huion tablets compare to Wacom?  I haven't heard of that brand.  I've had more than just this issue with my Wacom and might look into that.

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Explorer ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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There's issues with these tablets too.  If you search "known issues" they'll pop up.  But it seems to be issues with PC's  more than Mac's.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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Trashing my Photoshop preference file seems to have resolved the issue for now. It came back when I plugged in a different mouse. Pretty sure this is an Adobe issue. I've seen reports around the web of people having the same problem with other tablet brands.

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Explorer ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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I trashed my PS preferences too and it fixed it for about a half day.  I'm starting to lean towards this being an Adobe issue.  Quite frankly I don't care who's issue this is.  Somebody please fix this!  Mr. Adobe please read this and respond.  Please...

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New Here ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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I had the issue for YEARS and finally figured out what the problem was. I realized that since it's the shift key that forces straight lines I discovered that one of my keyboard macros had a sticky shift key which wasn't releasing. It made sense to me when I noticed that I could stop the straight lines simply by pressing shift once thus "unsticking" it. I have a few othe shortcut type devices hooked up besides my keyboard, and it became noticeable that straight lines would show up only after playing one particular macro which happened to make use of the shift key. After I edited the macro to play a bit differently, the straight lines have stopped. 

my only other brush issue left unresolved is where sometimes my brush stops registering ANY brushstrokes at all and I have to flip the pen to the eraser side and then back to the brush again for the brush to resume working brush strokes again. So frustrating. But I hope that my fix might work for someone else...

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 09, 2019 Dec 09, 2019

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It came back for me after half a day too. Damn! I don't use any keyboard macros unless something is built in MacOS that is causing the problem. So frustrating!!!

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 10, 2019 Dec 10, 2019

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I don't use macros either.  My random lines always happen after I zoom in or out.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 15, 2019 Dec 15, 2019

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I'm still having the same issue with Huion 950P (not a bad tablet at a fraction of the cost of the Wacom, despite a few quirks). This is really driving me crazy, I wish someone from Adobe could at least identify why this happens. 

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New Here ,
Jan 28, 2020 Jan 28, 2020

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For me the issue only happens on files larger than 2000 wide. If I close and reopen PS it works fine. Not a dual monitor setup.

 

I have a feeling it's just a memory issue, or a graphics processor issue. Possibly not even something to do with either wacom or PS.

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Explorer ,
Feb 09, 2020 Feb 09, 2020

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i have the same problem with macOS (Mojave or Catalina). i dont use Wacom's hotkeys but it often happens when im pushing ALT/OPT button for picking (stamp tools/ healing brush tools/ brushes tools). i haven t got the solution 

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 09, 2020 Feb 09, 2020

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The drivers for my Huion tablet work much better on Windows 10. No straight
line problems like I was having on the Mac.

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Explorer ,
Apr 26, 2020 Apr 26, 2020

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I have this problem with my tablet and my mouse So it's not the tablet. Is there a preference setting to fix this?

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Explorer ,
Apr 29, 2020 Apr 29, 2020

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I've noticed that in the video that you posted, your rulers are turned on.  This might sound crazy, but, turn them off.  It worked for me on a Mac.  Someone suggested it to me and I'm incident free.  Good luck.  It was probably the twentyfifth "fix" that I tried.  I sincerely hope that this works for you.  As I know how frustrating and how it compromises your productivity.  This suggestion came from a rep at Wacom.

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Community Beginner ,
May 24, 2020 May 24, 2020

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Turning off rulers seems to work for me to too in a quick test. MacBook Pro early 2013 on Catalina with a Huion 950p tablet and the latest drivers installed. Bloody hell. Adobe, please fix this!!!!

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New Here ,
Jul 06, 2020 Jul 06, 2020

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This has worked for me too, thanks SO much, this has been driving me crazy for months! Adobe fix this issue! iMac 2017, Mojave and Wacom 13HD

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Explorer ,
Oct 07, 2020 Oct 07, 2020

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Oh wow this actually works lol. Surely that must help Adobe narrow down a fix.

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New Here ,
Feb 10, 2021 Feb 10, 2021

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Man! I'm glad I kept reading down the list 😄
Turning off Rulers fixed it for me - what a stupid issue to be dealing with! ...
I had just added an EGPU to my system and was sure it was causing the issue ... very glad that's not the case, but The Ruler!?! ... I had the same happen when using my mouse, so this is obviously not Wacom's fault.

Thanks 😄

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New Here ,
Jul 11, 2020 Jul 11, 2020

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Sadly none of these "fixes" helped me and or resolved the problem.

If anyone has any other ideas pls tell right them as a reply.

using a Wacom Intuos Pro M and photoshop 2020. (the problem remains)

btw I can always 100% reproduce this problem by tapping shortly multiple times in a small area of the canvas.

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New Here ,
Jul 19, 2020 Jul 19, 2020

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I've also been fighting this issue for quite a while and I keep coming back to this thread. I'm using a Huion display tablet which makes me think it's not a Wacom problem. I did find a fix that you can try if you just want to get back to work without restarting the program.


The problem appears to happen when I switch focus to another program or window outside of Photshop using the mouse then return using the pen too quickly. There seems to be a slight delay in switching cursor input modes, and if you place the pen on the surface and immediately start drawing, it gets stuck making straight lines. 

 

When the straight lines start, use the dropdown/slider on your Options bar to adjust the Opacity of your brush. You can simply nudge it left or right. This seems to reset the brush in some way, and lets you draw again. This works for me eveytime, but the straight lines will come back if I'm not careful.

I'll make an update on this thread if I find a better solution. Hope this helps...

 

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New Here ,
Aug 11, 2020 Aug 11, 2020

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I'm currently getting crazy while dealing with the same problem.

I'm at a point where I can 100% reproduce this just using my spacebar and left mouse button.
Video demonstration for abstract-speedpainting can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mS5NESObCkYfIIUEriFv8ZcZ1OVFxREs/view?usp=sharing

I tried everything and I'm frustrated. I don't have that problem in Krita, nor in Clip Studio Paint - heck, I even tested this in Rebelle. It's only Photoshop. It doesn't change anything if Photoshop is running on my main monitor or on the WacomCintiq's, no matter how many hardware pieces are connected or disconnected. No difference.
The only change I noticed is that it's much worse when I deactivate that graphics-processor-option in the performance settings - PS then won't do anything else if I dare to use my spacebar in any way. Sometimes doesn't even need the spacebar, one switch to my mouse to skip songs in Spotify or whatever and returning to Photoshop is enough to create a beautiful, abstract piece of art.

 

The lines Photoshop creates resemble my mouse movements (and cursor placement if I would have really dragged the layer to the bottom left as PS does) while using the hand tool.
Is the spacebar a hotkey for a secret "record macro" function?

 

I tried every solution in this thread and also every possible solution I could find in ancient threads - nothing works.

 

Please, dear devs at Adobe, do look into this.

I was forced to learn a new tool and completely change my workflow to meet deadlines - and that while paying the full CC subscription. That really hurts.

Edit: Ugh. Used the wrong reply button. Sorry.

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 15, 2021 Mar 15, 2021

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Ive had the same problem since last night, first running dual monitors with a cintiq on windows which disappeared when I did mentioned tool reset. Today running dual monitors with a cintiq in a mac environment I finally got it solved by going into modifier settings and Disabling shift as a modifier. I am also running clip studio and there it has worked without problems and since I could toggle the straight lines syndrome off by just pressing the shift key there is probably something in the interface between pen displays and photoshops shift modifier settings 

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