Wacom / Cintiq driver - manual adjustment of pen sensitivity!
A few years ago, WACOM removed some very important functionality from their driver, and their coding team has refused to restore it in spite of multiple email requests from people. Problem is, most consumers aren't very technical and don't realize how important this actually is... Almost anyone who adjusts their tip response from medium to soft is getting a flawed driver response and they may not even know it... These people would benefit greatly from my solution!
SO: With the current Wacom driver, you can adjust the tip feel from "soft" to "hard" - but you're only adjusting the response curve... You're not actually changing how hard you press down in order to get 100%!!!
Even if you set the sensitivity to SOFT, you still have to press down really hard to get 100% output! Not only that, if you try this from the Wacom driver control panel, you end up with a weird and unusable response curve!
So you're completely out of luck if you want to adjust pressure sensitivity but want to keep a linear response curve --- with the Wacom Tablet Properties panel it's impossible! (A rather incompetent implementation of the driver, by the way, particularly since old versions around version 3 or 4 or so had an extra feature to prevent this problem!)
TONIGHT I FOUND THE SOLUTION, BY MANUALLY ADJUSTING THE PREFERENCES FILE (!)
BEFORE BEGINNING, PLEASE GO TO http://www.wacom.com and install the current drivers for your Wacom or Cintiq tablet!!!
THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS will set your Wacom tablet such that you don't have to press down so hard to get a full 100% opacity, while keeping a LINEAR response curve! I recommend this for ANYONE who is using the "soft" settings in the driver... It's MUCH better.
STEP 1:
Open your Wacom Tablet Properties panel.
Go to start > settings > control panel > wacom tablet properties
Delete any extra old pens or tablets you don't need, because the extra settings in the file will make it hard to find which line to edit in the preferences file. (Only necessary if you have previous pens or tablets like I did.)
STEP 2:
In the Wacom Tablet Properties, set your pen's pressure response to right in the middle so you get a LINEAR response curve. (Go to the advanced tab and look at it... you should see a straight line - no curve.)
STEP 3:
Close the Wacom Tablet Properties. You will now have a linear response from 0 to 100% pressure, and any extra data will have been removed from the preferences. I repeat: CLOSE THE WACOM TABLET PROPERTIES or else it's going to overwrite the changes you make in Step 6!
STEP 4:
Go to Settings > Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Services. Highlight "TabletServiceWacom" and click STOP the service.
STEP 5:
Go to your Wacom preferences file, which is probably located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\mcox\Application Data\WTablet\Wacom_Tablet.dat
(Back up this file before you go change it, in case you need to revert.)
STEP 6:
Search for "threshold" until you find the setting for your eraser and tip.
The settings you want to adjust will look something like this:
"PressureCurveControlPoint 40 0 512 512 1023 1023"
This is three pairs of numbers. To explain what they mean:
40,0 = you have to press to 40 to get an output of 0. Leave this alone, it protects you from too-easily-clicking... It's just culling out anything below 40 to prevent erratic data.
512,512 = you press down to 512 to get an output of 512.
1023,1023 = you press down to 1023 to get 1023.
Get it?
So we're going to change those to 75% of what they are, so we still have a linear response but don't have to press down so hard, wearing out our pen tips!!!
So you would change this line to this value:
PressureCurveControlPoint 40 0 383 511 768 1023
After making your changes, save the file.
STEP 7:
Go to Settings > Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Services.
Highlight "TabletServiceWacom" and click START the service.
DONE! Now start Photoshop and you'll see that you don't have to press so hard to get 100% output anymore! 75% = 100%, but the range from 0-75% is now mapped, linearly from 0% to 100%!
IMPORTANT 1: If Photoshop was open while you did this, you'll need to restart it.
IMPORTANT 2: If it says "There is a problem with your tablet driver. Please reboot your system." - you probably just need to close Photoshop and stop/start the service again like in Step 4/7.
IMPORTANT 3: Your preference file may be located in a different directory if you've been upgrading from an old driver or if you're using Vista. You'll have to find it and figure it out.
IMPORTANT 4: VERY IMPORTANT!!! If your specific tablet has less or more levels of response, your numbers may be different in Step 6. If so, just calculate them yourself... For example, I got 383/511 because 384 is 75% of 512. Likewise, 768 is 75% of 1024. (They're all down by one because the preference file is counting from zero.)
IMPORTANT 5: If you tried this and it didn't work, it's most likely because you have multiple pen settings stored in your preference file and edited a different pen setting from the pen you are using! Go back to Step 1!!
IMPORTANT 5: Another reason it might not work is if you forgot to STOP / START the TabletServiceWacom! Go back to Step 4/7.
IMPORTANT 6: Another reason it might not work could be due to leaving the Wacom Tablet Properties window open. You need to close this before manually editing the preference file because every time you close it or adjust it, it overwrites your preferences.
IMPORTANT 7: One person wrote to me and had a problem because they were editing a preference file from a prior version of the driver that wasn't used by the current driver! Once they found the right location (the same as the one I listed above) it worked fine!
Good luck! I hope this helps you... If so, let me know and pass the word. It literally took me years to figure this out!
PS. Here's a chart I used... It sort of shows you how the values are mapped out. You can adjust the numbers to match your own preferred setting.
SO: With the current Wacom driver, you can adjust the tip feel from "soft" to "hard" - but you're only adjusting the response curve... You're not actually changing how hard you press down in order to get 100%!!!
Even if you set the sensitivity to SOFT, you still have to press down really hard to get 100% output! Not only that, if you try this from the Wacom driver control panel, you end up with a weird and unusable response curve!
So you're completely out of luck if you want to adjust pressure sensitivity but want to keep a linear response curve --- with the Wacom Tablet Properties panel it's impossible! (A rather incompetent implementation of the driver, by the way, particularly since old versions around version 3 or 4 or so had an extra feature to prevent this problem!)
TONIGHT I FOUND THE SOLUTION, BY MANUALLY ADJUSTING THE PREFERENCES FILE (!)
BEFORE BEGINNING, PLEASE GO TO http://www.wacom.com and install the current drivers for your Wacom or Cintiq tablet!!!
THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS will set your Wacom tablet such that you don't have to press down so hard to get a full 100% opacity, while keeping a LINEAR response curve! I recommend this for ANYONE who is using the "soft" settings in the driver... It's MUCH better.
STEP 1:
Open your Wacom Tablet Properties panel.
Go to start > settings > control panel > wacom tablet properties
Delete any extra old pens or tablets you don't need, because the extra settings in the file will make it hard to find which line to edit in the preferences file. (Only necessary if you have previous pens or tablets like I did.)
STEP 2:
In the Wacom Tablet Properties, set your pen's pressure response to right in the middle so you get a LINEAR response curve. (Go to the advanced tab and look at it... you should see a straight line - no curve.)
STEP 3:
Close the Wacom Tablet Properties. You will now have a linear response from 0 to 100% pressure, and any extra data will have been removed from the preferences. I repeat: CLOSE THE WACOM TABLET PROPERTIES or else it's going to overwrite the changes you make in Step 6!
STEP 4:
Go to Settings > Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Services. Highlight "TabletServiceWacom" and click STOP the service.
STEP 5:
Go to your Wacom preferences file, which is probably located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\mcox\Application Data\WTablet\Wacom_Tablet.dat
(Back up this file before you go change it, in case you need to revert.)
STEP 6:
Search for "threshold" until you find the setting for your eraser and tip.
The settings you want to adjust will look something like this:
"PressureCurveControlPoint 40 0 512 512 1023 1023"
This is three pairs of numbers. To explain what they mean:
40,0 = you have to press to 40 to get an output of 0. Leave this alone, it protects you from too-easily-clicking... It's just culling out anything below 40 to prevent erratic data.
512,512 = you press down to 512 to get an output of 512.
1023,1023 = you press down to 1023 to get 1023.
Get it?
So we're going to change those to 75% of what they are, so we still have a linear response but don't have to press down so hard, wearing out our pen tips!!!
So you would change this line to this value:
PressureCurveControlPoint 40 0 383 511 768 1023
After making your changes, save the file.
STEP 7:
Go to Settings > Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Services.
Highlight "TabletServiceWacom" and click START the service.
DONE! Now start Photoshop and you'll see that you don't have to press so hard to get 100% output anymore! 75% = 100%, but the range from 0-75% is now mapped, linearly from 0% to 100%!
IMPORTANT 1: If Photoshop was open while you did this, you'll need to restart it.
IMPORTANT 2: If it says "There is a problem with your tablet driver. Please reboot your system." - you probably just need to close Photoshop and stop/start the service again like in Step 4/7.
IMPORTANT 3: Your preference file may be located in a different directory if you've been upgrading from an old driver or if you're using Vista. You'll have to find it and figure it out.
IMPORTANT 4: VERY IMPORTANT!!! If your specific tablet has less or more levels of response, your numbers may be different in Step 6. If so, just calculate them yourself... For example, I got 383/511 because 384 is 75% of 512. Likewise, 768 is 75% of 1024. (They're all down by one because the preference file is counting from zero.)
IMPORTANT 5: If you tried this and it didn't work, it's most likely because you have multiple pen settings stored in your preference file and edited a different pen setting from the pen you are using! Go back to Step 1!!
IMPORTANT 5: Another reason it might not work is if you forgot to STOP / START the TabletServiceWacom! Go back to Step 4/7.
IMPORTANT 6: Another reason it might not work could be due to leaving the Wacom Tablet Properties window open. You need to close this before manually editing the preference file because every time you close it or adjust it, it overwrites your preferences.
IMPORTANT 7: One person wrote to me and had a problem because they were editing a preference file from a prior version of the driver that wasn't used by the current driver! Once they found the right location (the same as the one I listed above) it worked fine!
Good luck! I hope this helps you... If so, let me know and pass the word. It literally took me years to figure this out!
PS. Here's a chart I used... It sort of shows you how the values are mapped out. You can adjust the numbers to match your own preferred setting.
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