Wacom Tablet, Crashing, Freezing on Affinity Image Drawing

[ThreadstoTwelve]

I recently bought this program and like it, but I'm having a few issues.

First, it would be great if I could dock the toolbar on the right side, as I'm right-handed.

Secondly, the program crashes or freezes frequently. Lines stop showing up, forcing me to reset the program. After restarting, it works for a bit but then crashes again, often every 3-4 minutes or even less. Since I bought this as a substitute for Photoshop for my projects, I would appreciate a fix for these issues.

because of these issues, an image that took me an hour to draw in Photoshop took me over 5 hours to complete because of the consistent crashing.  Your product is becoming more popular and I saw some posts about this from 2017. I would really appreciate attention to be given to this.

Edited June 10, 2024 by ThreadstoTwelve

[Lee D]

@ThreadstoTwelve Can you give us an example of your workflow that seems to lead to a crash for you?

If you don't use your tablet do you still experience the same issues?

If you open the apps Settings > Performance, is Hardware Acceleration enabled? If so, try turning it off and restarting the app to see if this makes any difference.

Which OS are you running?

What is the model of your Wacom tablet are you using and drivers version?

[ThreadstoTwelve]

Can you give us an example of your workflow that seems to lead to a crash for you?

I will be drawing, using layers and groups for lines and coloring with clipping masks inside. At random times, the lines will stop drawing regardless of the selected layer, even if it's the topmost layer. Additionally, my canvas display sometimes becomes pixelated and stays that way.

I initially noticed that I was losing lines due to accidentally clipping things, but even after being mindful of this, the problem persists, though less frequently. With Hardware Acceleration disabled, the program still freezes, causing tools like the brush, eraser, and lasso to stop working, requiring a program reset to continue working. While disabling Hardware Acceleration reduces the frequency of these crashes (every 7 or 8 minutes instead of every 4), the issue still disrupts my workflow.

 

If you don't use your tablet do you still experience the same issues?
To be honest I have not used the program with the mouse enough to tell, but Ill try to keep it in mind fo0r future posts.

If you open the apps Settings > Performance, is Hardware Acceleration enabled? If so, try turning it off and restarting the app to see if this makes any difference.
Ive changed my settings to this and the crashes are less frequent. They were incredibly frequent with Hardware Acceleration enabled.
 

Which OS are you running?
Windows 10 Pro and Updated

What is the model of your Wacom tablet are you using and drivers version?
Wacom Cintiq 16, fully updated.


 

Edited June 12, 2024 by ThreadstoTwelve

[ThreadstoTwelve]

I am still frequently crashing when I am drawing. I switch between brush types and program will crash. I draw some strokes and the program will crash. Doesn't seem like there's anyone on the forum to talk to. And OBS doesn't record the canvas so I cant record and show you, cuz the program doesnt allow the canvas to be displayed on recording.

[nickbatz]

On 6/10/2024 at 1:52 PM, ThreadstoTwelve said:

I recently bought this program and like it, but I'm having a few issues.

First, it would be great if I could dock the toolbar on the right side, as I'm right-handed.

Secondly, the program crashes or freezes frequently. Lines stop showing up, forcing me to reset the program. After restarting, it works for a bit but then crashes again, often every 3-4 minutes or even less. Since I bought this as a substitute for Photoshop for my projects, I would appreciate a fix for these issues.

I too have a Wacom Cintiq 15 (not the "pro" one) and have posted feature requests along the same lines as your first one. Mine doesn't crash, though (macOS Sonoma and previously Ventura, Mac Studio M1 Max).

You can undock the toolbar and put it anywhere (View menu-> un-highlight Dock Tools), so that's a partial workaround.

But I wish you could store the screen setup with an extra view open on the Wacom, and I wish you could open a second toolbar on the Wacom.

Yeah you can use key commands, but especially when they're redundant (for example K toggles between the clone and regular brushes) you want the toolbar there.

Background: the way I use the Wacom is as an auxiliary tool. Most of the time I just use the mouse on my main screen, which is much bigger - i.e. the 15" Wacom would be much too small to work on all the time.

 

[StuartRc]

@ThreadstoTwelve Hi

Finally someone with a similar issue with brush selection crashing the app..is it like this:

I managed to slow the frequency of crashing by spacing the double tap (Open brush editor) on brushes panel. or slowing downing the brush switching rate. but it still occurs even in the latest live version. I was beginning to think it is just because I am using an older Wacom!

Also recently switched off 'Double Click Distance' in Settings