Strange opacity/flow bug with tablet

[Slade_Templar]

So recently I've been having this strange occurrence while I am working. I'll be shading with pressure sensitivity on flow/opacity, doing really light(pressure) work, then all of a sudden my brush stroke will become totally opaque and hard edged without me changing my pressure at all.

This is happening with startling regularity as of late, and it is getting really annoying! I can undo back to what it puts down, which is what I've been doing, but I'd prefer it to not happen at all. Do I need to change the nib in my pen, or is it a hardware/software thing?

Any ideas?

[Arshes Nei]

If you're using an intuos and version of CS3 or higher it is a known bug.

[Slade_Templar]

I'm actually using a cintiq and CS4, the problem has gotten much worse recently.

Is there a known bug post I could look at? any suggestions from them on how to fix it?

[Arshes Nei]

The only thing that seems to fix it, is restarting Photoshop.

Yes, cintiqs are pretty much affected too because of the similar board. I do not know if someone has had the same problem with a graphire or bamboo.

[Arshes Nei]

Oh here's another post on the issue see if it helps.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=171616

[Slade_Templar]

Fail. I usually do restart and it can start happening again right away!

Bleh, guess I'll just have to bear it until some kind of fix comes out. Thanks Arshes.

I might try those fixes tonight.

[razimo]

It was me that posted in that thread before; I haven't had the problem occur since then, but bad / corrupted Photoshop preferences really did seem to be the problem. Try the fix I found in this post. (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2482286&postcount=5)

Hope that helps!

The other thing I've done that SEEMS to help, is use the Wacom preference utility to back up my preferences when the tablet is working well. When it gorks out, I use it to restore them. So far so good.

[Slade_Templar]

I updated the drivers and the problem seems better, will have to have a longer painting session before I know for sure.

[Slade_Templar]

So now I took the advice in that post of yours, Razimo. Hopefully it works, because just installing the latest driver didn't.

[Slade_Templar]

ffs, now the problem is still there and I am having all kinds of weird zooming issues (doesn't animate when cursor is on the tablet screen, animates when it isn't), and crazy monitor flickering when I put it into full screen on my main monitor >:{

[Slade_Templar]

Any other tips on this? It is literally driving me insane now and I have attempted the fixes listed here.

I cleared my tablet settings and that appears to have slightly helped. I'll see if it continues to be bearable.

[Agent 9]

First the Questions:
What video card are you using? How much "functioning" ram does your system see (should be able to look it up in "task manager" or the like)? other specs on your rig?


Possible Solutions:
Maybe try different USB ports (or whatever port the Cintiq is using to interface with your computer, try all the ones you have though) sometimes hardware craps out, or can't handle the bandwidth.

Find the latest graphics card drivers from your card's manufacturer's website. this sounds like it will solve part of your problem (the weird color stuff).

What OS are you on, it might matter, If it is Win 7 or OSX (Snow Leopard) then try updating the OS, patches ect... sometimes solve stuff. make sure your hard ware has functioning drivers (For example my desktop does not have the "correct" audio drivers for Win 7, so it doesn't work right)

If any of that doesn't work then try to un-install the drivers entirely (unplug the Cintiq entirely first) then install the drivers from the disc you got with your Cintiq and try not updating them and see how it works. Then update if you want to and see if it changes anything.

good luck!!!

[Slade_Templar]

Hey Agent,
video card is a Nvidia GTX260. I just downloaded the latest driver for it when I read this post, although I thought I already had the latest driver installed, I'll go ahead with this one just to be sure.

I am still on 32bit vista, so functional ram is probably somewhere in the 2.6gb range, although I do have 4gb of physical memory. I may try and change the USB port it is plugged into. I am not sure when this problem started happening, I know it didn't use to, heh. If I could find my original cintiq drivers I might try them.

Thanks for the help, I'll see if the new video drivers help at all.

Edit after latest video drivers: sigh, no.

[Agent 9]

Have you tried different USB ports?
Do you have the latest Cintiq drivers from Wacom's website (make sure it is for your Cintiq version, and for Vista 32-bit) http://www.wacom.co.in/download/download_index.html
Can you try a different computer (laptop or desktop, it doesn't matter) with VGA or DVI out?

The video driver may have solved some of your problems, but it seems it didn't. :(

Can you try the CS5 demo and see if it's working?

[LuckyDevil]

This used to happen in my old computer, while played music on the background every once in a while photoshop would choke and i would be painting in opaque for a few seconds then it would be back to normal and never had the problem when the music was off. I don't know if its a lack of hard disk space problem or a ram problem.

So im guessing you might be running a few things in the background that are making photoshop choke so try to run photoshop without any other intensive software running at the same time.

[Agent 9]

@Slade_Templar
Did anything we say help you? are you still having this problem?

You may not have all the vista drivers (or at least current ones) as many motherboard/ peripheral manufacturers took their time making Vista and Win 7 drivers. these kinds of things can interfere with your system, and it is worth looking into updated hardware drivers.

It also may be as LuckyDevil posted; you are simply running too much in the background.

well get back to us, and we'll see how we can help.

[Slade_Templar]

@Agent 9 & Luckydevil,

Hey guys, I think the main culprit is what Lucky just pointed out: too much shit running in the background. I have a... tendency to have about 10 tabs open in my browser, and that sort of eats up a lot of processes (lol). Generally if I keep an eye on my memory usage and cpu load, it doesn't happen as much. Still does sometimes, but not nearly as bad.

If it does get bad I'll restart photoshop, if its still bad I'll reboot, and the problem seems to go away for a while. I definitely think it is some kind of memory/processor issue at this point. I really need to upgrade to Windows 7, lol... damn vista.