Stroke Lag

[ThatOneArtist]

I just downloaded the demo for ArtRage to try it out. And explore its features. But whenever i stroke, the stroke doesn't start from the click but starts a little bit ahead of the click. It's beginning to bother me a bit.
Any suggestions?

Additional Details: I'm using Windows 7; Wacom tablet

[DaveRage]

Are you using the ArtRage Starter Edition or the ArtRage Studio Pro demo?

Is the stroke always displaced in the same direction from the point where the cursor is or something else? Also, can you let us know roughly how far it is displaced from the cursor? What is the model of your Wacom tablet? e.g. Bamboo Fun.

Expected behavior is that during the stroke, the stroke will be a little behind the cursor, then complete when you lift your stylus as we're using a rendered stroke rather than a dab based painting engine which allows us to do the paint and canvas interaction the way we do. The result should be that your stroke starts and ends where you started and ended it however, so if you're seeing anything different, let us know.

[ThatOneArtist]

Are you using the ArtRage Starter Edition or the ArtRage Studio Pro demo?

Is the stroke always displaced in the same direction from the point where the cursor is or something else? Also, can you let us know roughly how far it is displaced from the cursor? What is the model of your Wacom tablet? e.g. Bamboo Fun.

Expected behavior is that during the stroke, the stroke will be a little behind the cursor, then complete when you lift your stylus as we're using a rendered stroke rather than a dab based painting engine which allows us to do the paint and canvas interaction the way we do. The result should be that your stroke starts and ends where you started and ended it however, so if you're seeing anything different, let us know.

I'm using the ArtRage Studio Pro demo and my Wacom tablet is the Bamboo Pen & Touch.

It's either the stroke is displaced from the click, or the stroke just starts late in general. Approximately, from the point, the stroke starts 1/4 a centimeter late (if that's what you're asking).

The stroke DOES end at the the correct cursor point however, but not at the start.

[MattRage]

Could you try a couple of things to help us find out what's happening:

1. Select the Oil Brush and place a single 'dab' of paint on the canvas by tapping without moving. What you should see when the stylus comes up is a lozenge shaped dot that is centered on the point you tapped. If that is not the case, let us know how far offset the dab is from where you tapped.

Note that when you paint a stroke, the starting point is centered on your stylus point as well, the stroke expands around your click point at the origin.

2. Could you do a stroke and export an image of it with a second dot indicating where you tapped on the canvas to start the stroke? You can attach this image to a reply here. We're trying to get a better understanding of the problem.

[ThatOneArtist]

Could you try a couple of things to help us find out what's happening:

1. Select the Oil Brush and place a single 'dab' of paint on the canvas by tapping without moving. What you should see when the stylus comes up is a lozenge shaped dot that is centered on the point you tapped. If that is not the case, let us know how far offset the dab is from where you tapped.

Note that when you paint a stroke, the starting point is centered on your stylus point as well, the stroke expands around your click point at the origin.

2. Could you do a stroke and export an image of it with a second dot indicating where you tapped on the canvas to start the stroke? You can attach this image to a reply here. We're trying to get a better understanding of the problem.

I attached an image to this reply. I hope it shows up.

[DaveRage]

Thank you for that. Can you clarify what happens for this one also? The oil brush is the tool at the top left of the tool picker:

'1. Select the Oil Brush and place a single 'dab' of paint on the canvas by tapping without moving. What you should see when the stylus comes up is a lozenge shaped dot that is centered on the point you tapped. If that is not the case, let us know how far offset the dab is from where you tapped'

[ThatOneArtist]

Thank you for that. Can you clarify what happens for this one also? The oil brush is the tool at the top left of the tool picker:

'1. Select the Oil Brush and place a single 'dab' of paint on the canvas by tapping without moving. What you should see when the stylus comes up is a lozenge shaped dot that is centered on the point you tapped. If that is not the case, let us know how far offset the dab is from where you tapped'

The dab did show up at the center of my cursor surprisingly.
Possibily it's just the stroke.

[MattRage]

There are a few possibilities that leap to mind knowing that the single dab is correct.

It's possible that the tablet settings on your computer are related to the problem. If you have Pen Flicks turned on in your pen settings control panel, try turning them off and seeing if that solves the problem. Having them turned on can interfere with the stroke and delay its starting point slightly. Similarly, try toggling the Precise Tablet Mode toggle in the ArtRage Preferences 'Input' panel, restarting ArtRage and trying that. You can also check your Wacom drivers to make sure they are up to date. If there are newer drivers available, uninstalling the old ones and restarting, then installing the new ones may help.

If those don't help, there's one more quick experiment that can illustrate the situation and why it works the way it does.

In the attached example I put a straight ink line down the left then did 2 paint strokes, both starting with the outline of the cursor bumped up against the left line (Outline Cursors can be turned on by pressing the 2 key if you have them turned off). You'll see that the second one starts further away from the black line. The start point of the stroke is centered on the brush area. The red line indicates the centre of the area. When I do a single dab, the brush bristles splay out from that area to fill the outline the cursor provides. When I move the brush in a stroke, the bristles touch where the red line is (the centre) but flow away from it, so you get space to the left where there is no paint because the bristles didn't spread out over that area.

Because the brush is responding to the pressure of my stroke, it starts off small. This is a rounded brush head, so it's tapering at the tip. If I press harder, the brush head expands, which is why the stroke becomes thicker as it moves to the right.

It could just be that that's what you're seeing.

[prutser]

Hello,
I'm having the same problems, i use windows 7 and a wacom tablet too. It only happens sometimes, and when it happens the stroke starts about an inch away from the point where my pen hits the tablet. It's annoying, but all it takes to act normally is a restart. What could be the cause of all this?

[DaveRage]

Hi prutser,

What you're describing sounds different from what's mentioned in this thread. It sounds like something's interfering with the tablet input at a guess. Could you email me at support@artrage.com with the following information:

-Version of ArtRage
-Version of Windows 7 ( e.g. Home )
-Model of Wacom tablet
-Whether you're using the latest Wacom drivers downloaded from the website
-Whether the problem has always happened or has just started happening
-If it happens after using a specific tool or not.
-Whether you're restarting Windows or ArtRage to make the problem go away
-The settings you're currently using in Edit -> ArtRage Preferences -> Input Device

I can do some more in depth troubleshooting with you via email to see what might be causing this for you.