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Thread: Stylus Tracking - Cannot get it to Work properly

  1. #1
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    Stylus Tracking - Cannot get it to Work properly

    Hello:

    I have ArtRage 5 installed on my WACOM MobileStudioPro running Windows 10 ... with multiple styluses (newest ones).

    I am trying to track multiple styluses using a single tool: the Custom Brush... but things get wonky. I assume that when working correctly, each stylus has its last used color and preset brush as its "current" settings... so when ever you pick up a stylus it has the same choices as when you last put it down.

    Observations
    1. The system lists twice as many styluses than I actually use. When using two, four entries get produced in the list.
    2. Instead of tracking the color and brush presets for each stylus (say color1 and brush1 for stylus 1 and color2 and brush2 for stylus 2)randomly from time to time I get an old set of presets and colors erroneously assigned to the brush...

    For example
    a. I choose with stylus 1, color 1a, and brush 1a, after painting I pick up stylus 2 and choose color2 and brush2... when I go back and forth between stylus 1 and stylus 2 things are ok for now...
    b. If after a while I choose color1b and brush1b for stylus1, and use it for a while and then switch to stylus 2... then switch back to stylus1... for some odd reason I sometimes get color1a and brush1a again ... these are no longer "current" choices for stylus1 (nor are they current for any stylus).


    Is Stylus Tracking broken or am I not using it properly?
    Last edited by DarkOwnt; 01-26-2019 at 03:26 AM.

  2. #2
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    If there are any further tests I should perform or any further info which would help, please let me know.

  3. #3
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    I've run through the process you're describing and I'm not getting the same problem here so I think the problem may be at a driver level. Stylus Tracking uses the ID of the stylus provided by the OS when it approaches the tablet to recall the last settings that stylus had when it was last used. If there's an issue with the ID system then it's possible that your stylus is being given different IDs when approaching the tablet, which would result in too many entries being displayed and odd behaviour when styluses return.

    It's important to note that Stylus Tracking only works with Wintab, Realtime Stylus does not support stylus ID, and as you're using a screen input device it's possible that your drivers are providing RTS data not Wintab data, so the random values may be a result of that. Could you check to see what input settings you have and see if Wintab is turned on? If not, try turning it on and turning RTS off (you should also clear your stylus tracking settings in the stylus control center in ArtRage) and see if that helps. You may lose pressure or tilt functionality depending on how the drivers work on that device.

    That should at least let me know whether the issue is inside Wintab or whether it's just the device not supporting this feature.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for the feedback. I have tried turning off RTS entirely and keeping WinTab on. It still has the odd functionality.

    Do you have a good relationship with WACOM? I’m sure they’d want your program to work on thier latest and most advanced equipment!

  5. #5
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    We have worked pretty closely with Wacom and the testing I've done has been with Wacom devices. We'll get in touch now that we know there's something odd going on on the device and see what they say.

  6. #6
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    The joys of software development!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by MattRage View Post
    We have worked pretty closely with Wacom and the testing I've done has been with Wacom devices. We'll get in touch now that we know there's something odd going on on the device and see what they say.
    Hello Matt, any word from WACOM on the issue?

  8. #8
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    Nothing at this point sorry, I'm wondering if newer devices are abstracting their Wintab data in a way that's going to make it impossible to track stylus ID properly.

  9. #9
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    That would be sad. Stylus tracking is really useful.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by MattRage View Post
    Nothing at this point sorry, I'm wondering if newer devices are abstracting their Wintab data in a way that's going to make it impossible to track stylus ID properly.
    I'm not sure if this is of any help, but wacom tool ID support has been pretty wonky on the intuos 5/mac os combo for a few years already as well.


    typically if one uses several pens (as I do), the individual application preferences are not recognized for certain apps, preference panel refuses to detect different styluses correctly when swapped on the go, sometimes the driver itself hangs up if tapped with a certain pen (noticed this on the couple recent wacom drivers when accessed with an art pen) - I ended up disabling the feature altogether, and looking back at the AR 4.5 installation that I still have around, it's also disabled over there.
    the broken behaviour is just as bad as OP described, and I think it boils down to a shoddy driver, because their in-app support of different pens for the wacom control panel is also pretty broken (but not broken enough to get escalated on the priority list? are users who use multiple features that much of a minority? they keep gutting that feature down slowly too and I'm somewhat fine with that, since the only two apps I'm aware of that provide tool ID recognition are artrage and corel painter, and I haven't used the latter in ages.)

    those issues might not pop up that severely on a clean system with a fresh driver installation and a relatively small # of custom application profiles in the wacom control panel, but they do get annoying to the point of rendering tool ID entirely unusable.

    I'm planning on upgrading my wacom soon, but I have a hunch it's just as bad with the newest intuos pro models, we're lucky if wacom drivers just work on some basic, barebones level at this point.

    I probably should report it at the wacom forum too, but their support people are mostly very useless, and have a tendency to "forget" about non-crucial bugs like this one, since mobilestudio hardware is a generation ahead of my own, and it's still not fixed.

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