New Wacom Tablet PC (Feel IT) driver improves edge accuracy

Version 7.2.0-10 adds 25-point calibration and right-click to radial menu

UPDATE 5: I've pulled the link to the Asus VivoTab Note 8 driver because it appears to be harming some systems. Per Wacom, users of Dell Latitude 10 and the Asus VivoTab TF810C tablets should not apply this driver as it includes a firmware update that will ruin the pen sensor on those tablets. 

UPDATE 4: The official Wacom Enhanced Tablet Driver (Feel IT) 7.2.0-10 is finally available for download here: http://us.wacom.com/en/feeldriver/

As many of you have reported, the Asus Vivotab version (7.2.0-9) is compatible with the Surface Pro and other tablet pcs. The version on the Wacom site includes some bug fixes, so you should probably stick to it unless you absolutely need finer calibration control.

Happy downloading and please share your radial menu configurations as you create them!

UPDATE 3: Omitted. Sorry folks, misread the version number.

UPDATE 1 7/21/14 : Asus has published the version I've tested (7.2.0-9) on the Asus Vivotab Note 8 [OMITTED, See Update 5 above]

UPDATE 2: I ran the new driver on the AVTN 8 and it is substantially different. Instead of 25-points, it has 81! Be patient running the tool, but it should make a huge difference in performance.

The Wacom Asus Vivotab Note 8 advanced edge calibration tool has 81 points: 9 rows with 9 targets. In this image, one row is obscured by the finished button.

The Wacom Asus Vivotab Note 8 advanced edge calibration tool has 81 points: 9 rows with 9 targets. In this image, one row is obscured by the finished button.


ORIGINAL POST

Regular visitors to the site will probably be wondering where I've been hiding for the last couple of weeks. Believe it or not, and despite my best efforts, SurfaceProArtist.com barely earns enough income to pay back its hosting costs, so as much as I'd love to do this full time, I've got to earn a living.

I'm starting up a new digital tv venture that takes me back to my roots as a network programmer so I won't be able to post here as frequently as I have over the past year. But I promise I'll be here as often as possible to bring you the latest developments in Windows tablet tech.

If any of you are interested in helping to pick up the slack, just drop me a line via the website contact form.

When Microsoft unexpectedly chose N-Trig over Wacom for the Surface Pro 3, many worried that the venerable digitizer tech giant would forego further development of its tantalizing but imperfect Enhanced Tablet PC drivers (also known Feel IT or Feel drivers).

I regularly check in with my contacts at Wacom and last week I was granted access to a preview build of a new driver version that should be available this week.

I've installed this new driver on both the Surface Pro 1 and 2, the Asus Vivotab Note 8 and the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga and in every instance, the new edge calibration tool has resulted in much improved edge accuracy.

Using the 25-point calibration tool requires some patience and you will have to aim carefully to reach the tiny bullseye targets along the edges while holding your pen in a natural position. Fortunately, it's a simple matter to cancel and start over.

While I'm not a stickler for drawing all the way to the edge (that's what panning the canvas is for), edge accuracy is often an issue when trying to access menu bars, a hidden taskbar or the various Windows 8 Charms bars. On both my Surface Pro 2 and Thinkpad Yoga, I often had to choose between being accurate for most of the screen and being able to unhide the taskbar with my pen. For some reason, with previous calibration setups, I would always end up with just enough offset on the bottom of the screen that the pen would refuse to trigger the taskbar.

With the new edge calibration included with this driver, I am able to access both the hidden taskbar and the top-most menu items with my pen.

The radial menu was probably the most welcomed addition to the previous driver incarnation. But many of you fretted about having to sacrifice your single pen button which many use to reproduce right mouse button clicks.

The new driver solves this by allowing you to assign right clicks to the center of the radial menu. I tried to capture an image of this in action, but I couldn't trigger a frame grab with the radial menu active. And using my iPhone camera, the right click icon was overexposed.

Take my word for it: that white blog in the center of the radial menu is the new right mouse button icon that is visible if you press and hold the pen's button.

Take my word for it: that white blog in the center of the radial menu is the new right mouse button icon that is visible if you press and hold the pen's button.

So here's what you would have seen: when you click and release the pen button, the center of the radial menu is an x (or menu close icon). But if you click and hold your pen button (side switch), the x is replaced by a mouse icon with the right button highlighted.

This next step requires a bit of coordination: hold the switch, hover over your intended target, tap the mouse icon and then release. The radial menu will disappear and you'll see the context menu triggered by the mouse button.

I'll update this post as soon as the driver is available for download. 


The development build I tested was number 7.2.0-9. The release build 7.2.0-10 should be the same except for minor bug fixes. 

The development build I tested was number 7.2.0-9. The release build 7.2.0-10 should be the same except for minor bug fixes. 

As with previous versions, the Feel driver identifies itself as Wacom Pen and is launched from the Windows Control Panel.

As with previous versions, the Feel driver identifies itself as Wacom Pen and is launched from the Windows Control Panel.

To customize the radial menu, click the Radial Menu tab. Notice the new "Use center for right-click"checkbox. This is very useful for one-button pens. The setting requires a little coordination to use, but is easy enough once you get the hang of it.…

To customize the radial menu, click the Radial Menu tab. Notice the new "Use center for right-click"checkbox. This is very useful for one-button pens. The setting requires a little coordination to use, but is easy enough once you get the hang of it. Keep the pen's side switch held and when the radial menu comes up, click on the center and then release the side switch. 

Selecting Calibrate from the pen control panel tab brings up the first new calibration screen with four calibration points. The cross hair has been replaced by a bulls eye. The screen also has useful information on how to hold the pen while calibrat…

Selecting Calibrate from the pen control panel tab brings up the first new calibration screen with four calibration points. The cross hair has been replaced by a bulls eye. The screen also has useful information on how to hold the pen while calibrating.

Upon completion of the standard calibration, you can exit or run the new Additional Edge Calibration.

Upon completion of the standard calibration, you can exit or run the new Additional Edge Calibration.

This is where the magic happens. On this screen you have 25 calibration points. As you can see by the target in the top left corner, you really need to aim precisely to get your pen into these tight spaces. So be patient, give yourself lots of time …

This is where the magic happens. On this screen you have 25 calibration points. As you can see by the target in the top left corner, you really need to aim precisely to get your pen into these tight spaces. So be patient, give yourself lots of time to perform the process and remember you can always cancel and start over. The result is a far more accurate experience throughout the screen.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Posted
AuthorRick Rodriguez
Categoriesnews, Tips
TagsWacom, Feel IT driver
50 CommentsPost a comment

Your first day with the Surface Pro 3: What to expect

Like every new pc these days, the Surface Pro 3 won't let you just use it right out of the box. Before you can play with your technical marvel, you'll have to run the usual slew of Windows updates that have been released in the month or more since the device was sent to manufacturing.

But most importantly, you'll need to install the System Firmware Update that Microsoft released yesterday. The company was vague about the specific issues the update addresses, but we know the most critical power management issues early testers had experienced have been addressed along with other "performance enhancements."

Below is the Windows Update screen I saw when offered the Firmware. It's a small download, but be prepared for it to take a long time to install.

Once downloaded, the Surface Pro 3 will start the install, reboot and sit on the screen below for several minutes. Be patient!

Once your system has rebooted, return to Windows Update where you'll see that the machine has to be restarted again to complete the Firmware installation. Be prepared for another long wait (I really wish Microsoft would provide a little more feedback during this process so I wouldn't be so sorely tempted to interrupt the installation.)

Once your firmware installation is done, you can proceed to install some graphics applications. I recommend starting with Manga Studio 5/Clip Studio Paint 1.3.x or Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 so you can experience graphics applications running with Microsoft's native INK API.

We don't know how long it will take before Microsoft releases its pen control panel, but if you find it difficult to draw light marks, try editing your pen pressure curve if your software allows.

Before installing any software that requires Wintab drivers, you'll need to head over to N-Trig's site to download the latest version (R16). http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/6/20/n-trigs-wintab-driver-update-now-available-for-download

When you're all done installing your applications, it's a safe bet your desktop won't look as crowded as this!  

UPDATE: Here's a useful link to a 100-page Surface Pro 3 user guide PDF courtesy of Microsoft (kudos to Paul Thurrott for the link.) http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/8/9/E8966106-0FAE-40C1-9823-2EC483AC7CF3/Surface-Pro-3-User-Guide-EN.pdf

ADVERTISEMENT



Posted
AuthorRick Rodriguez
CategoriesTips
TagsMicrosoft, Surface Pro 3
9 CommentsPost a comment

Simple text edit reduces Maya eyestrain

Developers would do their users a huge favor by adopting Windows 8.x's UI scaling scheme. But given the wide variety of non-standard interfaces in graphics applications, that may never happen.

Fortunately, creative users can be counted on to find inventive workarounds to those limitations.

Given Autodesk's decision to prematurely retire Softimage, I've been forced to look more closely at 3d applications to replace it. The feeling in the cg community is that venerable 3DS Max is also on the endangered list, so that leaves Maya as the only Autodesk option (fortunately, there are other vendors and other products to consider such as The Foundry's Modo).

The problem with running Maya on the Surface Pro or any screen under 17-inches is that its default UI is extremely cluttered. The top of the standard interface includes six rows of menus, icons, and shelves.

The problem with running Maya on the Surface Pro or any screen under 17-inches is that its default UI is extremely cluttered. The top of the standard interface includes six rows of menus, icons, and shelves.

Fortunately, you can close most UI elements and rely on the program's marking menus which are called up by holding down the spacebar. The downside is that fonts are still very small and difficult to read on a small screen.

Fortunately, you can close most UI elements and rely on the program's marking menus which are called up by holding down the spacebar. The downside is that fonts are still very small and difficult to read on a small screen.

As I was complaining about the issue on Twitter, follower planeteater (@plutoisawesome) came to my aid. He (or she?) pointed me to a cgsociety.org thread explaining how to scale the Maya 2011 interface.

Changing the interface's font sizes is a simple matter of editing the MayaStrings file in a text editor. Look for every item with "*Font_win" in its name and change the first number in the value. By default, most entries were 11 point Tahoma. I changed those to 14 points. There are also 9, 10 and 12 point entries. To keep everything proportional, I scaled each item by 125% and voila! the program is now much easier on the eyes on both the Surface Pro and Thinkpad Yoga.

The person who discovered the hack, Johnny Moore (johnnybob), even created a video (see below).

This video describes how to change the font size for Maya 2011 (32/64) inside the User Interface for Windows PC, but it can be applied to later versions. Tested here with Maya 2015.

Although the effect is subtle and difficult to appreciate in this screen capture, take my word that it is immensely more legible on a small screen. It's possible that the UI will withstand increasing the font sizes even further, but I've found that some requesters in other programs (including Autodesk's 2015 installer) start to look very bad when the UI is scaled to 150%.

With such an easy way to change the program's default font sizes, it's odd that the devs chose not to expose this functionality to users.

If you decide to give this a try (or find other ways to make your software easier to use on the Windows tablet of your choice), please let me know. I'm especially interested to hear from those who choose larger font sizes or different typefaces. I'd love to see what you come up with.

And, if you've come up with a way to hack any other application's interface, please let me know. I'd love to promote your efforts! 


Posted
AuthorRick Rodriguez
CategoriesTips
TagsAutodesk, Maya
9 CommentsPost a comment

Mudbox 2015 paint brush broken on Surface Pro, Intel HD graphics systems

My frustrating "will it run or won't it" investigation into Autodesk's Mudbox has hit another stumbling block.

In the broadest sense of the word, the 2015 version of the software will run and sculpting tools seem to work well.

Unfortunately, one of the most important capabilities of Mudbox is texture painting and there appears to be a crippling bug in the paint brush that makes it useless for this purpose.

Reader and ArtDock collaborator Alex Cheparev first alerted me to the issue which he spotted on his Surface Pro 2 and Wacom Cintiq Companion (see his video below). I've confirmed the issue on both generations of the Suface Pro and the Thinkpad Yoga. 

Using Paintbrush in Mudbox 2015 on Surface Pro 2 appears to be broken. Projection Brush works fine, only the Paintbrush seems broken.

According to Cheparev, he reported the bug to Autodesk who responded that "it's a known bug with the new Intel HD Drivers and they are working with Intel on fixing it in a future release of the drivers. Problem is, they recommended using driver version 9.18.10.3257, but it is nowhere to be found. Intel has removed it from their servers and I can't find it anywhere else...The oldest driver I found on Intel's website also exhibits the same behavior with the paintbrush."

Another bug that Alex didn't illustrate in his video relates to painting in mirror mode. The mirrored side receives 100% of the color applied, but the original side appears to be stuck in Lighten mode.

Although the paint is applied on the right side of the head, it only displays properly on the left side. This issue is repeated regardless of the mirror axis.

Although the paint is applied on the right side of the head, it only displays properly on the left side. This issue is repeated regardless of the mirror axis.

So despite the allure of multi-touch gestures, I'll be putting further testing with Mudbox on hold (at least until the next display driver update from Intel).

Posted
AuthorRick Rodriguez
Categoriesnews, Tips
TagsAutodesk, Mudbox, Intel HD graphics
6 CommentsPost a comment

Get a new Surface Pro or tablet pc? Show us your art!

UPDATE: I decided the comments section doesn't do your images justice, especially since none of the links are live. Keep posting there and I'll update this article with your images.

Untitled piece by Tiffany Ross.See more of her work at Cyantian.net.

Untitled piece by Tiffany Ross.See more of her work at Cyantian.net.

The Grey, the Bag and the Smaugly by Nick Heazell (@Fire_PowR) produced in Adobe Illustrator. See more of Nick's t-shirt designs here.

The Grey, the Bag and the Smaugly by Nick Heazell (@Fire_PowR) produced in Adobe Illustrator. See more of Nick's t-shirt designs here.

Infectious panel by Eric Merced. Eric's a recent Mac convert. See more of his weekly strip here: http://infectious.ericmerced.com/comic/infectious/

Infectious panel by Eric Merced. Eric's a recent Mac convert. See more of his weekly strip here: http://infectious.ericmerced.com/comic/infectious/

Icarus by Melody Ng, created on a Sony VAIO Flip 15 with Clip Studio Paint. More of her artwork can be found here: http://marshyoftheblobs.tumblr.com/tagged/marsh-art

Daddy's Girl by Rubin Pingk. For more of Rubin's amazing work, check out http://rubinpingk.com/blog/

Cafe speed painting test by Thierry Doizon. Read his review of the Surface Pro 2 here: http://barontieri.blogspot.ca/2014/01/testing.html

Self portrait by Austin Balaich. Follow him at austinbalaich.tumblr.com.

Imagination fills the void... by  Thomas Voillaume, created on Thinkpad Yoga. Visit Thomas' blog here: http://blog.apachcreation.com/

Illustration by Owen Freeman of Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin in a new movie directed by Jason Reitman for The New Yorker magazine. See more of Owen's work at his blog

Ark by Ian McQue. See more of his amazing concept paintings here: http://mcqueconcept.blogspot.com/

Illustration by Joseph Yeap done on his Surface Pro 1 in Clip Studio Paint

"Here We Go" by Anwar Madrigal

Joel Swain's first illustration with his new Surface Pro 1.

ORIGINAL POST

For an artists' site, we don't feature enough artwork. Help remedy that by attaching a link to some of your most recent amazing work in the comments section below.

Here's a pic I inked in Clip Studio Paint on the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga while testing that tablet. It's a classic by John Buscema, one of my favorite Silver Age Marvel artists.

Thor.png
Posted
AuthorRick Rodriguez
CategoriesTips
Tagsgallery, tablet art
46 CommentsPost a comment

Photoshop 14.2 pen pressure without Wintab drivers

One of the pleasures of running this site is that I get to take some credit for passing along tips and tricks given to me by readers who are far smarter than I am.

That's definitely the case with this find by eagle eyed reader Graham Mackarel, who let me know of a quiet post on the Photoshop Help site that eliminates the need for Wintab drivers in the latest versions of Photoshop CC (14.2x).

Wacom calls its Wintab drivers "Wacom feel IT" and the latest version (7.1.2 released in October, 2013) has exhibited calibration issues (http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2013/10/7/wacom-updates-feel-it-drivers) and doesn't work with new hardware like the Asus Vivotab Note 8 (http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/2/11/developing-asus-vivotab-note-8-review). For N-Trig tablets, we spotted an obscure 32-bit only Wintab driver from Sony which we were also able to apply to Acer's Aspire R572G. (See http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/1/5/sony-n-trig-devices-now-pen-pressure-sensitive-in-32-bit-photoshop)

Now with this fix, which enables RealTimeStylus functionality, users of Photoshop CC won't have to download anything to see pressure sensitivity in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of that software.

Simply create a text file called PSUserConfig.txt containing the following:

# AllowRTS
uRTS 1

Place this text file in the Photoshop Settings folder: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC\Adobe Photoshop CC Settings\

When pen pressure is unavailable, Photoshop displays a warning if you attempt to use it in a brush control.

The next time you run Photoshop, pen pressure will be recognized.

I tested this technique in 32- and 64-bit Photoshops on the Surface Pro, the Sony Flip 15A and the Acer Aspire R7-572G. I deleted calibration data and uninstalled any Wintab drivers to ensure that the two wouldn't conflict.

If you'd like to read the full Adobe post on RealTimeStylus, including instructions for disabling it, check out http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/tablet-functions-dont-photoshop-142.html.

The advantage of running your tablet pc without Wacom's drivers is that you will now be able to use a higher resolution calibration using the method we first reported here. Wacom's installation uses only 4 pt. calibration and overrides any TabletPC calibration you may have already performed.

Of course, if you run any other software that requires Wintab support, this fix isn't for you. But it's a good sign that we may soon be leaving this early 90's technology behind.

Posted
AuthorRick Rodriguez
CategoriesTips, Windows tablet
TagsPhotoshop, pen pressure, Wacom, N-Trig, tablet pc settings, Feel IT driver
12 CommentsPost a comment