Switching between Applications and/or Input Device breaks UI

[Florian K.]

First of all, the same issue was already filed last year for Affinity Photo 1.10, however, I now have the same problem with Affinity Photo 2.1.1. I think, this happened to me in the past with some previous version, too.

Problem
The problem in general is, that sometimes the UI stops responding to user input, with the only exception being the artboard. You can draw, but you cannot click any buttons or even save the file. The only way out is to force close the application, you cannot even click Save using the keyboard.

Reproduction
I attached a screen recording showing that problem. It this very instance, switching between applications and between input devices (from pen to mouse) seems to have triggered the issue. However, I think I could also trigger it by just using the pen and switching between windows. The linked thread concluded with Windows Ink being the problem, but using High or Low Precision in the Affinity Photo settings instead did not solve the issue. Furthermore, disabling hardware acceleration also did not solve the issue - maybe only reducing the chances of happening. All of this happens only sometimes, but it is reliable enough to reproduce within maybe two minutes of trying.

Hardware
CPU: AMD FX-8320
RAM: 12GB DDR3 1600
GPU: GTX 1070
Tablet: Wacom Intuos Pro M PTH-660
Mouse: Logitech MX Vertical

Software
Windows 10 22H2 19045.3324
GPU-Driver 531.79
Affinity Photo 2.1.1
Tablet-Driver 6.4.2-3

[Florian K.]

Update
It seems like, that the UI is not completely unresponsive. It just starts to listen exclusively to a certain input device. I already mentioned that switching between pen and mouse can cause this problem. I just found out, that if I cannot use the mouse anymore for clicking buttons, it indeed still works when using the pen. And after some clicking around, switching applications, and switching input devices, the mouse suddenly works again for some time.

[NathanC]

Hi @Florian K.,

I was able to somewhat replicate a similar issue using an Intuos BT S, but it was incredibly inconsistent and easily resolved. Switching between the devices as shown as your recording worked 100% of the time for me regardless of the tablet input settings.

However, I found that during brushing onto the canvas with the tablet pen If I accidentally pressed in the scroll button on the pen this would intermittently cause the brush to continue painting onto the canvas despite no pressure being applied, If I then switched over to my mouse and then tried to click on a UI element it would not work as it assumed I was still painting on the canvas, so it prevented me from changing any settings. Although, if I double clicked during this unresponsiveness to stop brushing onto the canvas it would then allow me to click onto the UI again.

In your scenario, does double/triple clicking anywhere on the UI when the issue occurs allow you to start changing settings again, or do you have to close the app every time when this occurs?

[Florian K.]

Hi @NathanC,

Thank you for looking into the issue.

I can reproduce the following behaviour consistently, however I am not completely sure whether this is the exact same problem or only part of it.
1) Draw a line onto the canvas with the pen and then directly (still using the pen) switch to another application via Taskbar and back into Affinity Photo
2) Without clicking on anything with the pen, use the mouse and directly click an UI element which is not the canvas
-> The buttons cannot be clicked with the mouse
3) Use the pen to click some UI element (does not matter how often), and then try again with the mouse
-> The buttons can be clicked with the mouse

Since I tried clicking the UI with the pen before and I cannot remember this to have helped, there might still be another, very similar bug that is harder to solve.

[NathanC]

Thanks for following up, unfortunately following your steps also worked 100% of the time for me, I'm thinking this could be down to something environmentally different between our tablet settings, the model or something else completely. When switching between the applications using the pen how are you switching back to Photo, are you just clicking back onto the Photo Icon or alt + tabbing?

Could you also send me a screenshot of your in app Preferences > Tools and your Wacom tablet properties 'Mapping' tab?

Many thanks

[Florian K.]

I was using the taskbar icon for application switching. However, I tested it a bit and discovered the following:

The problem appears, as long as (1) I clicked somewhere in the application with the pen and (2) then leave the app also using the pen. It does not matter, what I clicked in the application (drawing, choosing a color, clicking a button, ...) or whether I am clicking on another taskbar icon, or directly on another window for leaving. It also does not matter, how I return to the application (click on the window or on the taskbar icon with mouse or pen, or Alt+Tab), I cannot click on UI elements with the mouse before clicking with the pen on something UI which is not the canvas.

Here are the screenshots of the Photo settings:

 

Regarding the pen settings: I did not find a way to switch the language, so I put translations into the screenshot.

[NathanC]

Hi @Florian K.,

Thanks for following up with the additional screenshots, I've now been able to consistently replicate the issue using the exact same settings as shown in your screenshots.

I believe I may have identified the setting causing the issue. Under Preferences > User Interface could you try unticking 'Enable Pointer support', restarting the app and then trying it again? Having this setting disabled should have no effect on your tablet function, as it is a setting specific to Surface Pro tablet pointers.

I'll be logging this with the developers as well, thanks for your patience. 🙂

[Florian K.]

Hi @NathanC,

disabling `Pointer support` seems to have done the trick. At least in the short time that tested it now, I could not replicate the problem after disabling this option. Thank you! 🙂

I would, however, suggest adding somewhere an explanation on what exactly this setting `Enable Pointer Support` does. It is neither explained in the settings themselves, nor in the help page. But it sounds like it could do something useful, so I had enabled it to be sure. Well...