No pressure sensitivity with XP-PEN artist 13.3 tablet

[spyderheart]

Yep, I took a gamble on a wacom alternative : http://xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/202.html

It's actually very good for the money but unfortunately I am not getting pressure sensitivity with the device in TVPaint.
One has to uninstall all wacom drivers before installing the XP-Pen drivers. I've done that and restarted everything.

My observations:
- A basic brush with a normal pressure profile (low pressure = thin, full pressure = maximum width) only draws with what looks like the faintest amount of pressure, as though it locks in at exactly the pressure required to activate the stroke drawing.
- If I set the width dynamic to "Constant", it draws at constant maximum thickness as expected.

This seems like different behaviour from when you are just missing a driver, but something is not right here.

Any help very appreciated!

My specs (disregard the ones in my signature):
-Macbook Pro mid 2014
-OSX 10.10 Yosemite
-TVPaint 11.0.8 Standard
-XP-Pen artist 13.3 tablet
-Driver : "Pentablet" v 1.0.1.4

Thanks!

[D.T. Nethery]

I read a review on Amazon that specifically mentioned using the XP-Pen with TVPaint 11 . The reviewer mentioned having trouble with pressure sensitivity in Photoshop CS5 , but it sounds like TVPaint 11 was fine . The review mentioned he's using it on Windows 10 ... so maybe the pressure sensitivity in TVPaint is a Mac issue (?) .

Have you contacted XP-Pen Tech Support about the issue ? The reviewer mentions: "XP-Pen was very quick to respond to my concerns and they sent to me a trouble shooting guide."

Here's the review:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/customer-revie ... B06X1BJM43

I've had and been using the XP-Pen Artist 16e for over a month now. Overall, I'm really loving this tablet. It has a very nice tooth to the surface of the screen to give the pens some resistance to avoid the skating quality of trying to draw on smooth glass. This is a really nice touch as I didn't want the hassle of trying to apply an aftermarket screen protector (with a tooth). I was concerned that the 16 inch diagonal screen might not have been big enough, but a lot of quality reviews stated that the 16 inch size was just fine and didn't seem cramped. I found this to be true and so I'm glad I saved the money by getting this smaller size. I love that it comes with 2 pens so that one can charge while you are using the other. Mind you, I haven't even had to recharge my first pen yet.

Couple of Issues: I've had some troubles with the drivers in that I'm having difficulty getting my main monitor to turn on. And when it does, it is super low resolution - like 800 X 600, with no options available to bump it up higher. It is very likely just a configuration issue with my computer. I'm running Windows 10. XP-Pen was very quick to respond to my concerns and they sent to me a trouble shooting guide. I haven't gotten around to trying this yet as the tablet itself runs very well with my computer, and I've been too busy playing with the fabulous TVPaint 11 software through my great new XP-Pen Artist 16E tablet. The other issue is that I can't seem to get the pen to register pressure sensitivity in Photoshop CS 5, which is a shame as this version of Photoshop is totally adequate for my needs. I have no need to upgrade to a higher version. Doesn't really matter though, as I can just use TVPaint now as my main illustration tool instead of Photoshop CS5. . I'm very glad I bought this tablet - and at such a reasonable price.

[spyderheart]

I saw that review also. I've reached out to xp-pen support as well. We'll see what they say.

They have a specific fix for SAI: http://xp-pen.com/ask/detail/id/200/channel/66.html

Maybe it's a similar issue.

[spyderheart]

That was quick...
From XP-Pen support:

Hello!

Our company is actually working with TV Paint at the moment.

Compatibility may not be available at this time, but it is currently a work in progress.

TVPaint team is that accurate? Are you really collaborating with XP-PEN to make my life better?

I have 30 days to return this thing and TVPaint compatibility will be a deal breaker so... "pressure's on" (ooh...couldn't resist)!

I'll beta test if you like?

[Elodie]

I confirm what XP-Pen wrote : we are talking to each other to improve on both sides the experience with TVPaint on XP-Pen tablets

[spyderheart]

Very happy to hear that. I think if you nail this down we'll all have a good and cheap competitor to wacom (nothing against wacom but it's great to have more choice) !

[spyderheart]

Update on this. I've done some more testing and these are my results:

System: XP-PEN Artist 13.3 with latest driver (v 1.0.1.4) on Mac OS 10.10 (Yosemite)

Performance with 3 available versions of TVPaint:

TVPaint 11.0.8 Standard - 32 bit - NO pressure sensitivity
TVPaint 11.0.8 Pro DEMO - 32 bit - NO pressure sensitivity
TVPaint 11.0.8 Pro DEMO - 64 bit - YES pressure sensitivity

It looks like pressure only works in 64 bit... TVPaint team is that right?

If so, as things stand would I have to spend 750 euro (cost of std->pro upgrade) to make my 300 euro tablet useful ?

[frameweaver]

Hi, any updates regarding the pressure sensitivity with XP-PEN tablets and the Standard version? I am looking to buy one and also use it with TVPaint Pro 11 Standard.

[spyderheart]

I haven't heard anything since my last update.
I ended up returning the XP-Pen tablet within the grace period because there was really no guarantee from either side that the compatibility would be fixed in a workable (for me) timeframe.

Instead, I just found a used Wacom Cintiq 13HD - which is still more expensive that the XP-PEN despite being second hand - BUT - the difference in performance is well worth the money. The XP-PEN was very good for the price but the cintiq is incomparably better at what it does. I haven't looked back since

If TVPaint standard is a critical piece of your set up - I'd let go of the XP-PEN option for now unless the TVPaint team has any new and promising information.