CompuServe Thread

#tablet doesn't work

11 messages in this thread
#175216From: John ArvanisJun 13, 1995 5:12 PM
Running the new Animator Studio my summasketch II tablet doesn't work right. I have the active area of the tablet set to a 4 in x 4 in area but when I enter Studio it takes control and uses the whole tablet (12 x 12 inch) It moves so slow and I have to move the puck so far it is impossible to work. I exit Studio and the tablet continues to respond that way until I restart Windows. Any ideas? Thanks, John
#175228From: Nik Grant [adesk]Jun 13, 1995 6:14 PM
I have asked Jeremy Hubbell for some ideas on this – he's the person that I know of with the most experience with a digitizer and AAStudio.
#175237From: Jeremy Hubbell [Adesk]Jun 13, 1995 6:54 PM
John, I've run across this using tablets in several painting programs. (This also happens in Fractal Painter) The common link seems to be WINTAB.DLL. Apparently it resets your tablet's active area when you start a program that uses it. It's hard to say exactly what feature of the software packages in question cause the tablet to go "full", but I suspect pressure sensitivity. What other software do you use the tablet for in Windows? Just to let you know, I have not found a work-around for this – my solution was to buy a smaller tablet<g>. Jh
#176512From: John ArvanisJun 21, 1995 4:34 PM
I use the tablet as my only pointing device and have experienced no other problems. My main reason for using it is I do a lot of work in Autocad Rel 12 in Windows. I am switching to a logitech mouse for the time being but would like to find a solution for the tablet. Let me know what I can do. Thanks, John
#176967From: Nik Grant [adesk]Jun 23, 1995 4:35 PM
Hi John, The info I can dig up: we have a bug against WACOM's digitizer doing pretty much the same thing you describe happening to your Summa II. In this case, the WINTAB.DLL driver is the culprit; WACOM has been notified. Derrick (in Product Support) and I talked about this and I've passed your problem to our QA dept. Thanks for your patience. I'm not sure what to promise in the way of a solution though. Nik
#176969From: Nik Grant [adesk]Jun 23, 1995 4:37 PM
John – one other thing: can you let us know the date or version of the WINTAB.DLL? File size would be also helpful. Thanks.
#177490From: John ArvanisJun 27, 1995 5:52 PM
I have given up on the tablet. Gone back to the mouse. I am trying to run Animator Studio on Windows For Workgroups 3.11. I read in Planet Studio that it is written for Windows 3.1 only. Can I run it on WFWG? I am getting out of memory errors when trying to open 24 bit BMP files and also getting Animation Error: I/O errors when trying to save an avi file. And I am talking small files here. Made up of 3 to 4 bmp files that are just a few hundred K each, and I am running a 90Mhz Pentium with 48 mb ram and no other programs running? ANy ideas? Is WFWG the culprit? John
#177504From: Mike KelleyJun 27, 1995 8:11 PM
>Can I run it on WFWG? PMJI, but I'm running AAS on WFW with no obvious problems (there are bugs in the program, but they don't seem to be related to WFW).
#178020From: Sonny MartinJun 30, 1995 2:33 PM
John, the problem is not, I repeat, is not the wintab driver. I have Autocad Light and the problem does not exist using that software. The problem lies as shoddy work done by Autodesk. I just spent 3500 dollars purchasing 3d Studio and Animator, now I have to reset my windows setup to use Animator using a mouse instead of a stylus. Nothing is going to be done by either company(Summagraphics or Autocad) until consumers refuse to accept poor work. there is no work-around to this problem other than trying older versions of the Summa wintab or plugging in a mouse. Sonny Martin 76767,435
#178028From: Jeremy Hubbell [Adesk]Jun 30, 1995 5:02 PM
Sonny, What makes you think that it's not the Wintab driver? Even if AutoCAD uses Wintab, it doesn't use pressure sensitivity which is the likely culprit. I understand your frustration, but it's not always the fault of one particular company or group of programmers. Sometimes things just don't work together- right away. Companies _do_ listen, and Autodesk is aware of the problem. Jh
#178120From: Sonny MartinJul 1, 1995 11:19 AM
Jeremy Hubbell: The solution to the driver problem is to install the 1989 driver that Summa shipped with the Summasketch Plus in that year. The driver works very well with the following software: Micrografix Designer Version 3 & 4 Aldus Gallery Microsoft Word v.1 & Up Microsoft Excel v.3 & Up Visual Reality v.1 Autocad Light for Windows Professional Draw v.1 Adobe Illustrator 4 for Windows Windows 3, 3.1 & WFW 3.11 Canvas for Windows Corel Draw (all versions) The only programs that this old driver does not work with is Photoshop for Windos v.3 & Fauve Matisse. In order to use these programs I will have to re-install the Wintab Driver. The above driver is not a Wintab driver, it was written before Windows came to the masses. What I resent is that no one is recognizing the problem nor are they doing something about it. Otherwise, Autocad, with its resources, would have released a fix. Summagraphics doesn't care. I notified them of this problem when I upgraded in June. Fauve Matisse was notified and did research and notified me that indeed, their software was not compatible with the new Wintab driver and it would be corrected in their new release in October of this year. My point is that in order to use Animator with the Wintab driver am I going to have to wait until version 2 of Animator comes out? I was in retailing for 20 years and customers always let me know when I had made a bad purchase of a product that I was re-selling to them. I always immediately corrected the error. Is it too much to ask that Autodesk, who is acknowledged as a leader, get their collective posterior in gear? You didn't answer the question as to why Autocad Light works with the Wintab driver and Autocad Animator does not. Sonny Martin 76767,435