This has been talked about a fair amount in the GIMP newsgroup, but basically, all GTK+ applications behave erratically with a Wacom tablet, or Stylus, or other Pen Tablet.

Most notably I have problems with my newly acquired Graphire4. I am using Windows XP. I realize Ubuntu Linux and a few other distributions get it right just fine. Of course the LinuxWacom project helps that a bit too.

In both The GIMP, and Inkscape, most notably when using painting tools (brush in The GIMP, pencil in Inkscape) the movement jerks around, and the quickest solution for me is to raise my stylus off of the tablet, wait a moment and place it back down.

Oddly enough, the calligraphy pen is not so badly affected by this odd and catastrophic behavior.

Also, the fact that it is a GTK+ problem is speculation. However, I can verify that only GTK+ applications are affected in my scenario.

I sure wish I could find a solution to this. Otherwise, it appears I will be resorting to another vector package for my actual "drawings." Luckily, I am proficient enough with my mouse to do basically everything else, including rudimentary drawings.

This is twice now I have noticed that I am unable to edit a post, or rather, I edit it, submit it, and nothing changes and no error is issued.

Anyway... I was going to add that I have tried the development snapshot of Inkscape, 0.46 and the problem persists.

I have a Wacom Intuos which works flawlessly with Inkscape. I'm not sure if this might be because of the extra resolution.

I recommend reporting this to the developers.

The developers of Inkscape, or Wacom themselves? If Inkscape, to whom and where exactly do I report something?

Also, in reference to the resolution. I never thought of that, as resolution (of a tablet) doesn't really make sense to me. Do you mean in general the size of the tablet or... ?

It'd be nice if other tablet users could report with their findings. Well, if any exist here.

Also, you stink. I wish I could afford an Intuos (or even better a Cintiq), but graphics are not my current cash cow. Otherwise, I'd invest.

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy it from work and get a discount. It was still more expensive than a Graphire, but not so much as to pass up.

The resolution of the Intuos is 5080 lpi (lines per inch) whilst the Graphire is 2032 lpi. I wasn't sure what the resolution of tablets were before I suggested it could be the problem. My theory was that if you monitor is running at a higher resolution than the tablet it would have be accurate enough. But I assume your monitor doesn't display more 2032 pixels per inch of screen So it's not likely the cause.

You can contact the developers on their mailing list.

microUgly wrote:The resolution of the Intuos is 5080 lpi (lines per inch) whilst the Graphire is 2032 lpi. I wasn't sure what the resolution of tablets were before I suggested it could be the problem. My theory was that if you monitor is running at a higher resolution than the tablet it would have be accurate enough. But I assume your monitor doesn't display more 2032 pixels per inch of screen So it's not likely the cause.

Ah, OK. Um, resolution-related topics have always confused me. Resolution means the actual dimensions, or it can mean the actual pixel/color depth... um, I need a dummy tutorial for that one.

So, how big would a screen have to be to accomodate 2,032 pixels per inch? Or rather, does a monitor exist that can have 2,032 pixels per inch. Really, I'm clueless.

Thanks for the link. I'll drop them a line.

FooManChu wrote:Or rather, does a monitor exist that can have 2,032 pixels per inch.

No Most monitors run at either 96 or 120 DPI (dots per inch / pixels per inch), so it's really not a factor at all.

Resolution very basically is the number of dots or pixels you can fit in a given physical dimension, normally measured per inch. It's not something you normally think about on PC until you need to print. This is because the resolution of your screen is very low so something that looks large and very sharp on your screen will not look the same on a printed page.

Let's say you have two identical pictures, PicAlpha and PicBeta. They are both 900 x 600 pixels in size. But their resolution is different. PicApha has a resolution of 96 dpi (dot per inch) and PicBeta has a resolution of 300 dpi. Now on your computer you won't see any difference between the two images - they will both appear the exact same size because they both have the exact same number of pixels.

If you print PicAlpha its size will be 9.4 inches (900/96) by 6.3 inches (600/96). Each inch of the printed picture will only contain 96 pixels and it will appear noticeably pixelated. If you print PicBeta its size will be 3 inches (900/300) by 2 inches (600/300). Each inch of the printed picture will contain 300 pixels and whilst the picture will be very small you will barely be able to see any pixels.

BUT, this all only applies to raster/bitmap images. Inkscape and other vector applications are resolution independent. You can print the SVG image at any size without any pixelation. It's not until you want to save your image as a PNG do you need to factor in resolution.

I use a tablet with inkscape under XP all the time, Its a big really old A3 wacom, that I salvaged from a scrap pile at work last time we moved building. I cant say I've noticed any issues with the input being jerky, although I use the caligraphy more than the pen to be honest. So its behaving smooth for you in other non GTK apps but not in inkscape and GIMP? Sounds like a deeper gtk problem, although why the calligraphy tool is not too bad I'm not sure. Best thing to do with this is probably bring it up on the developer mail list and see if any of the other guys have any ideas.

Simarilius wrote:although why the calligraphy tool is not too bad I'm not sure.

Probably because of the mass setting. Any jerky movement would be averaged out. Although, it would be interesting to see an example of what the results of this jerkiness is.

microUgly wrote:Although, it would be interesting to see an example of what the results of this jerkiness is.

If you can tell me how I could illustrate it to you, then I'll gladly do so next time I experience this problem. See, it basically just stops drawing. To get it to move again I have to raise my Stylus far enough away from the tablet to get it to lose "signal."

Then I just start drawing again. So really, I don't know how I could illustrate it without you actually sitting here beside me.

Which would be cool, because then you could teach me some of your elite inking skills.

And for the record, I seemed to always have problems with the pencil tool (F6). The Bezier tool (SHIFT+F6), and Calligraphy pen (CTRL+F6) never gave me any problems.

Also for the record, I'm not sure what is different, but I installed another art program, and modified several settings again in Inkscape (basically, I let all tools use previous settings, and a few other things). Now, the problems seem diminished greatly. Still a little bit of jerky movement, but definitely lessened. I'm not sure if it was from installing the newest GTK+ (which does not go into the Inkscape directory, so no clue if Inkscape benefited from it), installing Artweaver, installing the development snapshot of The GIMP alongside the current stable, uninstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader and that's pretty much it.

I assumed when you said it was jerky the line must have been jumping around, not stopping. This is definitely a case for the developers. You will find they are most helpful.

Whenever I use gimp the stylus works for things like menus and clicking buttons in gimp. But the brush wont draw anything. If i switch to the mouse then the brush will draw but when i switch back to the tablet it won't. It usually will work if i completely restart gimp and use the brush from the start

Guest wrote:Whenever I use gimp the stylus works for things like menus and clicking buttons in gimp. But the brush wont draw anything. If i switch to the mouse then the brush will draw but when i switch back to the tablet it won't. It usually will work if i completely restart gimp and use the brush from the start

This post has your fix - viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3054#p14219