Wacom tablet use disabling mouse

[obscuremetaphor]

Hey

I have an issue in that when i use my Wacom tablet in affinity photo, often (but not always) this will completely disable my ability to click with my mouse. Once I've used my Wacom , I have to stick with it until I close and open the program again. The keyboard still works fine, but Photo just refuses to accept any sort of mouse input. this is really frustrating as navigating menus and using sliders with a Wacom pen isn't the best. 

I actually have a home machine and a work machine, one with an intuos, and one with a cintiq, and affinity photo does this on both. 

As far as i can tell via google , I'm the only one getting this issue. What am i doing wrong?

[walt.farrell]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, and I think it works that way for everyone. As I understand it, on Windows (not sure about Mac) the tablet and mouse use the same interface, and if using the tablet did not disable the mouse then the Affinity application would end up very confused as the two input sources would conflict with each other.

From the lead developer:

 

[obscuremetaphor]

This cant be how its supposed to work, it would be unlike any other program if that was the case. I'm not sure i explained it. if i use my wacom at all, even if i just move the cursor around the screen using touch, 9 times out of 10 that will mean i cant click anything at all with my mouse in affinity until I restart it. it just entirely disables mouse clicking, permanently until its restarted. Even switching to different software, with affinity still open in the background works, and im able to switch between them with no issue. just not in affinity photo.

im not trying to use them at the same time, i just want the ability to switch between using either without having to restart. this is possible in literally every piece of software i can think of. 

[carl123]

I have a Wacom Tablet and a mouse permanently connected to my computer and they both work perfectly and I can switch between them at will without having to reboot or do anything else. This is for all apps including the Affinity ones.

My mouse is a Trackball mouse (image below) but I don't see why that would make a difference (so don't rush out and buy one)

Both devices are connected via USB ports

 

[obscuremetaphor]

So, i must be doing something wrong, or something is conflicting. Can i ask if you're using windows ink or not? The only previous suggestion was to turn it off, which ive done many times, and it still happens, but it might help to know which stetting does actually give the proper results!

[carl123]

Yes Windows ink is off in Windows, the Tablet software and the Affinity apps

[thomaso]

13 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, and I think it works that way for everyone. As I understand it, on Windows (not sure about Mac) the tablet and mouse use the same interface, and if using the tablet did not disable the mouse then the Affinity application would end up very confused as the two input sources would conflict with each other.

From the lead developer:

 

@Mark Ingram Isn't the use of mouse + tablet pen like on a laptop the use of mouse + build-in trackpad? Do you also expect these to disable each other?

On a Macbook both work well together in Affinity, I can move the cursor with one device (e.g. finger on trackpad) + with the other in different and/or same and/or conflicting directions without unexpected result. For instance move vertically with one + horizontally with the other device simultaneously, or move with one + hold-click with the other. Even moving in opposite (> conflicting) directions doesn't cause an issue but simply might occur as not moving, as expected. Also with two finger actions on trackpad + according mouse action (like zoom or pan) which works simultaneously with both devices as expected.

 

[Mark Ingram]

5 minutes ago, thomaso said:

@Mark Ingram Isn't the use of mouse + tablet pen like on a laptop the use of mouse + build-in trackpad? Do you also expect these to disable each other?

On a Macbook both work well together in Affinity, I can move the cursor with one device (e.g. finger on trackpad) + with the other in different and/or same and/or conflicting directions without unexpected result. For instance move vertically with one + horizontally with the other device simultaneously, or move with one + hold-click with the other. Even moving in opposite (> conflicting) directions doesn't cause an issue but simply might occur as not moving, as expected. Also with two finger actions on trackpad + according mouse action (like zoom or pan) which works simultaneously with both devices as expected.

 

Both a trackpad and mouse provide delta movements, so alternating between them won't make a difference to the experience. With a Wacom pen, the position is absolute, so using the mouse you would never be able to "move" the cursor, as the Wacom pen will always set the absolute position of the cursor.

[thomaso]

5 minutes ago, Mark Ingram said:

Both a trackpad and mouse provide delta movements, so alternating between them won't make a difference to the experience. With a Wacom pen, the position is absolute, so using the mouse you would never be able to "move" the cursor, as the Wacom pen will always set the absolute position of the cursor.

Interesting point, though I don't understand why it should make a difference, since every delta move needs to be related to an absolute position first.

However, it appears to work here in AP on mac: I can brush paint with mouse + Wacom pen together, e.g. click-hold with the pen, + move (> create, paint) the brush stroke with the mouse, or vice versa. (just a quick test with an old Intuos 2, no Wacom driver installed)

Concerning ink (pressure) newer macbook trackpads have a simple kind of build-in pressure sensitivity "Force Touch". Also additional software + pen appears to add more pressure sensitivity to the build-in trackpad: "Inklet". – Would you indeed expect these to disable/exclude the additional use of a mouse?

In macOS it even seems to require a custom "Accessibility" system preference setting for the trackpad to prevent two devices working simultaneously. This sounds quite likely that by default they are meant to not exclude each other, doesn't it?

[obscuremetaphor]

To be clear, I have no issue moving the cursor with either device, both work flawlessly, I just can't click anything with the mouse once it's aware of a wacom tablet.

[amusedave]

Hello,

Just bought a wacoom one medium recently. I used it without no problem for 2 days with my mouse at the same time in windows, as I updated today my mouse drivers for "razer viper mini" my mouse got instantly disconnected and what was left only the wacoom pen that was working, as Im mostly user with my mouse I tried fixing it in many ways, replug didn't fix the issue, restarting didn't fix the issue, even after unpluginn my wacoom one medium I tried replugin my mouse and my mouse seems completely with no response, same happened when I restarted my pc. I haven't tried uninstalling mouse drivers completely, I would think that would fix the issue for the mouse, but do I really need to go through all that? 

[RichardMH]

I have a mouse and wacom tablet on a Windows 10 PC and both work together. In User Interface preferences I have "Enable Pointer Support" on and in "tools" I have High Precision for the Tablet Input Method. Only preferences I could find for tablets. But the Tablet Input Method does allow Windows Ink so maybe check whats happening there.