Shortcuts Bug ? (help!) -- Assign FLIP shortcut keys to Wacom Express Keys Topic is solved

[D.T. Nethery]

At the very first you have to ensure that your tablet works properly, outside TVPaint.
So that's why I suggested you to open a text editor (or any tool that takes text as input, even the browser url bar should do). You must keep the focus in it, meaning that the caret (text cursor) should be blinking. And then press the buttons. The letter should appear in the text.

In any case, if your key was recognised in TVPaint, it should mean that the hardware is allright.

Yes, I did confirm that the keys are recognized in TVPaint when I open the keyboard shortcut configurations in TVPaint and press the keys, TVPaint highlights the key combo that is assigned. (as seen in the screen capture movie I uploaded , called Flips keyboard shortcuts.mov )

Could try assigning other letters to these Expresskey buttons and then conduct the same test in the text editor, please?

Ok, here is what I did. I unassigned key F from my Flips for "Flip KEYS only" . Then I reassigned key F to Open FX Panel. This works , both when I press the F key on my keyboard and when I press the Wacom Express Key which is a configured to F . The same result if I reassign F (or any other letter key) to any other function ... EXCEPT for Flips . It is only Flips shortcuts that are not activated when I press on Wacom Express Keys.

open a text editor (or any tool that takes text as input, even the browser url bar should do). You must keep the focus in it, meaning that the caret (text cursor) should be blinking. And then press the buttons. The letter should appear in the text.

With the text editor open with text cursor blinking in the text editor I press the Wacom Express Key buttons. No letter appears in the text editor. But even so the Express Key works to activate the shortcut in TVPaint ... except for shortcut keys that are assigned to Flips.

Is it possible for Flips configurations get corrupted ? Should I just delete my current ones and start over ? But the odd thing is , the shortcut keys I assigned to Flips (F, G, H) work fine if I press them on the keyboard ... but not when I press the Wacom Express Keys ... so it seems like Flips configuration is ok , it works when I use the keyboard ... but for some reason Flips is not communicating with Wacom Tablet Express Keys or vice versa ...

I have tried the same tests with an Intuos 5 Pro tablet and my Cintiq 21 UX tablet. It is only shortcuts assigned to Flips that do not work when pressing the Wacom Express Keys on the Intuos or the Cintiq.

I'm fairly sure it is not a problem with the Wacom hardware communicating with the software ... because to make things easy for myself to remember when switching between applications as I must sometimes do , I also have Wacom Express Keys set up for ToonBoom Harmony NEXT KEY and PREVIOUS KEY as F and G , and I have FLIP ALL as H . These shortcut keys (F , G, H ) work fine in Harmony when I activate them from the Wacom Express Key buttons.

[D.T. Nethery]

I don't know if this is any help but as I tried so add custom actions (double tap, long press etc.) using AutoHotKey to my Expresskeys I noticed that they don't exactly work like regular keyboard keys. If you assign a modifier (SHIFT, CTRL, ALT etc.) you can tap or hold it. If you assign a shortcut (or a letter etc.) it will just send a tap, no matter if you tap or hold the key, which makes it impossible to use it for stuff like the flip shortcut. If this could be your problem I guess I could write you a little AutoHotKey script to fix it.

By the way I tried It and it doesn't work for me too to use the flip shortcut on the Expresskeys.

THANK YOU, schwarzgrau , for confirming that Flips shortcuts does not work using Wacom Express Keys! Now I know I am not crazy.

Also, thanks for your kind offer to write an AutoHotKey script to fix the problem. If that does not take up too much of your time, I would appreciate it (and I'm sure others , too, so you could post the script in Contents Sharing.) I would try it with AutoHotKey myself, but it appears as if that app is Windows only (?) and I'm on MacOS.

[schwarzgrau]

On MacOS the Alternative would be Hammerspoon. I discovered it a few months ago and need to take a look at it again, but I guess I can send you a script, which makes it possible to hold an Expresskey.
Maybe you can already install Hammerspoon and I send you a simple script. But to be clear: Hammerspoon can only rebind keys with other functions. So lets say I rebind F13 to send F (which could be used as a TVPaint Flip shortcut), you bind F13 than on the top Expresskey using the Wacom settings and get an functional F key. The downside is that this will make F13 always send F. If I remember correctly I can tell Hammerspoon that this rebinding should only happen if TVPaint is running, so I guess it's an acceptable trade.

[Xavier]

Just wondering ... could it be related to your keyboard configuration ? I know that it's quite specific on MacOS, and that's also one reason why the keyboard shortcut management is quite tricky on TVPaint : for each language there is an additional "PC" configuration.

Here's a trick you may use to check if your key input is recognized : in TVPaint, assign your key (f/g/h) to "TVPaint Animation: About". Then press the button : does the about window appear ?

[Xavier]

I think it is a problem with the FLIPS shortcuts specifically, so I believe this is a bug. (developer's please confirm). I say that because if I assign keys F, G, or H (or Shift F, Shift G, Shift H , or Ctrl Page Down, etc. ) to other functions , and then use the Wacom Express Keys it works. It is only the FLIPS shortcuts that it do not work with the keys assigned to the Wacom Express Keys.

Ah, sorry you already tried this, my "about" test is worthless. But what now if you assign another button, like J or K to the Flips shortcuts ?

[D.T. Nethery]

I think it is a problem with the FLIPS shortcuts specifically, so I believe this is a bug. (developer's please confirm). I say that because if I assign keys F, G, or H (or Shift F, Shift G, Shift H , or Ctrl Page Down, etc. ) to other functions , and then use the Wacom Express Keys it works. It is only the FLIPS shortcuts that it do not work with the keys assigned to the Wacom Express Keys.

Ah, sorry you already tried this, my "about" test is worthless. But what now if you assign another button, like J or K to the Flips shortcuts ?

Yes, it is only Flips shortcuts that are the problem. If I assign f to "TVPaint Animation: About" (or any other function) it will work when the Wacom Express Key button is pressed.

But what now if you assign another button, like J or K to the Flips shortcuts ?

Ok, I assigned J and K to Flips shortcuts. It is the same result as with F or G. It works from the keyboard when pressing J or K , but when pressing the Wacom Express Key button it does not work.

[D.T. Nethery]

On MacOS the Alternative would be Hammerspoon. I discovered it a few months ago and need to take a look at it again, but I guess I can send you a script, which makes it possible to hold an Expresskey.
Maybe you can already install Hammerspoon and I send you a simple script. But to be clear: Hammerspoon can only rebind keys with other functions. So lets say I rebind F13 to send F (which could be used as a TVPaint Flip shortcut), you bind F13 than on the top Expresskey using the Wacom settings and get an functional F key. The downside is that this will make F13 always send F.

If I remember correctly I can tell Hammerspoon that this rebinding should only happen if TVPaint is running, so I guess it's an acceptable trade.

Yes, that would be acceptable for my purposes. I'll download Hammerspoon. Thank you.

[Xavier]

Yes, it is only Flips shortcuts that are the problem. If I assign f to "TVPaint Animation: About" (or any other function) it will work when the Wacom Express Key button is pressed.

But what now if you assign another button, like J or K to the Flips shortcuts ?

Ok, I assigned J and K to Flips shortcuts. It is the same result as with F or G. It works from the keyboard when pressing J or K , but when pressing the Wacom Express Key button it does not work.

It would make me crazy too
That said, we tried to reproduce the behaviour you describe, without "success" : the keyboard shortcuts worked when pressing the tablet buttons.

[schwarzgrau]

1. If you installed Hammerspoon you need to click on the hammerspoon icon in the menu bar. There you need to choose Open Config. An empty textfile which is called init.lua should open. Paste my code into this file and save it.
2. Then use the menu bar item again and choose Reload Config. Afterwards F17 will send F, F18 sends G and F19 will send H.
3. Make sure you also check "Start Hammerspoon at login" in the preferences.
4. Now you need to set these three F-keys in the Wacom Preference Panel. You find them in the dropdown I attached (I can't tell what its called in English).

This is the code. I guess it's pretty self-explanatory, so that you should be able to modify the keys, add or remove something if needed.

Code: Select all

-- TVPaint Expresskeys Hold ---------------------------------------------


-- F17 to F ----------------

hs.hotkey.bind({}, 'f17', 
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("f", true):post() end,
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("f", false):post() end
	)


-- F18 to G ----------------

hs.hotkey.bind({}, 'f18', 
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("g", true):post() end,
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("g", false):post() end
	)


-- F19 to H ----------------

hs.hotkey.bind({}, 'f19', 
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("h", true):post() end,
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("h", false):post() end
	)

Please tell me if it works or if you need help.

[D.T. Nethery]

Please tell me if it works or if you need help.

Thank you for taking the time to write and upload this script. I believe I followed the instructions correctly, but I could not get the Flips shortcuts to work when using the Wacom express keys set to F17 ( F) , F18 ( G), F19 (H).

[schwarzgrau]

Damn. I tried to recreate it myself and it works like it should. The only difference is, that I'm on 10.13 and you're on 10.14, but I guess this shouldn't be a problem. I try to figure out if I missed something in my guide, but it seems it's just

• Install Hammerspoon
• Open the Config/ paste the code / save it
• Reload the Config
• Add the F keys to the Expresskeys

Maybe try this code, which only rebinds F10 to F. This way you can use the F10 key on your keyboard to see if hammerspoon does it's job and turns F10 to another F key.

Code: Select all

  
-- F10 to F ----------------

hs.hotkey.bind({}, 'f10', 
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("f", true):post() end,
	function() hs.eventtap.event.newKeyEvent("f", false):post() end
	)
  

[D.T. Nethery]

Maybe try this code, which only rebinds F10 to F. This way you can use the F10 key on your keyboard to see if hammerspoon does it's job and turns F10 to another F key.

I tried the code to rebind F10 to F. It worked as expected , to turn F10 into another F key . Both F and F10 function as the Flips shortcut for Flip KEYS.

But it still will not work if I press the Wacom Express Key button (the Express key buttons are not broken, because any other shortcut I assign to the Wacom Express Keys works ... except for shortcuts assigned to Flips in TVPaint .)

I'm completely baffled by this . You said that the Hammerspoon workaround worked for you , so I don't know what to think. But I sincerely want to thank you again for your help with trying to find a solution to this issue.

I wondered if my configuration was corrupted . So I started over with a fresh default config. But that did not change anything.

[D.T. Nethery]

I have learned something new:

Flips Basic and Flips Directional will work when the shortcut keys are assigned to Wacom Express Keys.

Only Flips Manual does not work with Wacom Express Keys.

So this is still not a solution to my problem , because I want to use Flips Manual , but perhaps this information will provide a clue to the developers about why Flips Manual does not work.

[schwarzgrau]

Yea, it worked for me on my Cintiq Companion 2, while just binding F to one of the Expresskeys didn't work.

Some technical explanation, which isn't that important:
As mentioned if you bind a regular key to an Expresskey the Wacom Driver sends only a tap of this key (or shortcut) but somehow also an information about the key beeing released if you release it. This tiny script overwrites the tapping and sends an keydown at this moment and uses the information about the keyrealease to send a keyup. To be honest I don't know why it works, I just found out it does by fiddling around really frustrated a few years ago.
But maybe the driver of your Cintiq works slightly different somehow.

However, if you're still in the mood we could try something else:
If you assign a modifier (Shift, CMD, Ctrl, Alt) the Wacom driver sends a constant keypress, till you release the key, instead of a tap. This also works with Space, I guess cause this is needed for the Adobe apps.
Since this is what we want, you could try to assign SHIFT + SPACE in TVPaint to the Manual Flips and SHIFT + SPACE to your Expresskeys in this other panel of the Wacom Preferences (again sorry I don't know how it's named in English but I attached a screenshot of the German one)

[D.T. Nethery]

Yea, it worked for me on my Cintiq Companion 2, while just binding F to one of the Expresskeys didn't work.

Some technical explanation, which isn't that important:
As mentioned if you bind a regular key to an Expresskey the Wacom Driver sends only a tap of this key (or shortcut) but somehow also an information about the key beeing released if you release it. This tiny script overwrites the tapping and sends an keydown at this moment and uses the information about the keyrealease to send a keyup. To be honest I don't know why it works, I just found out it does by fiddling around really frustrated a few years ago.
But maybe the driver of your Cintiq works slightly different somehow.

However, if you're still in the mood we could try something else:
If you assign a modifier (Shift, CMD, Ctrl, Alt) the Wacom driver sends a constant keypress, till you release the key, instead of a tap. This also works with Space, I guess cause this is needed for the Adobe apps.

Since this is what we want, you could try to assign SHIFT + SPACE in TVPaint to the Manual Flips and SHIFT + SPACE to your Expresskeys in this other panel of the Wacom Preferences (again sorry I don't know how it's named in English but I attached a screenshot of the German one)

SHIFT +SPACE worked when I assigned it to one of the Wacom Express Keys !

I have three manual Flips: Flip KEYS only , Flip KEYS and BREAKDOWNS , Flip ALL. So I assigned SHIFT+SPACE to Flip KEYS only.

Next I tried to assign CTRL + SPACE to Flip KEYS and BREAKDOWNS . Guess what happened ? Yes , I got a weird line tool that pops up.

I looked for CMD+SHIFT on the list of available shortcuts in TVPaint, but it doesn't exist. Too bad , because Wacom's Modifier's include Command.

I hope TVPaint Developers can figure out how to fix the problem. It is so frustrating that this only occurs with shortcut keys assigned to Flips Manual . Any other shortcut assigned to a single key such as F, G , H , etc. will work with a Wacom Express Key to trigger it's assigned function, but not for Flips Manual. I suppose for Flips Manual it is as you mentioned: the keys must be pressed down constantly while in use , but the Wacom Express Key sends it as a "tap" not a "press and hold" .

Of course, I can simply continue to use my keyboard to trigger those functions, just press the F, G, H key combination that I have assigned to trigger my three different Manual Flips, but the whole point of this was to be free from needing to look down at the keyboard to locate the keys. With the Wacom buttons along the side of the Cintiq I can locate those by touch memory more easily than on the keyboard , so I don't have to look away from the screen while I'm animating , don't have to break my concentration .

I've been meaning to try one of these X-KEYS sticks with programmable keys - https://xkeys.com/xk16.html I saw pictures of some animators at Pixar using these on their Cintiqs when they were animating on the short film "Kitbull" . A friend of mine who I knew from my time at Disney worked on it and he told me about these X-KEYS . What has kept me from buying it is that the software used for programming the keys is Windows only , however once programmed the macros are stored on the device’s MCU, so the unit can then be brought over to a computer running MacOS. But I don't have a Windows computer to do the initial programming. I suppose I could borrow one.

XKeys_stick.jpg (35.57 KiB) Viewed 14540 times

Cintiq Xkeys_strips.jpg (58.45 KiB) Viewed 14540 times