Cintiq pen eraser tip acts like a pen tool

[D.T. Nethery]

I just got a new Cintiq. The new Cintiq doesn't access my old Cintiq preferences, so I am having to recreate all my Express Key shortcuts , etc.

I've noticed an odd behavior with the Cintiq pen: When I first start a new project in TVPaint if I draw a line with a pen tool and then turn the Cintiq pen over to use the eraser tip the eraser puts down a pen stroke instead of erasing. In the Wacom preferences my Cintiq pen is set to "Erase" for the Eraser end. The two buttons on the pen are set to "Undo" and "flip image Horizontally", both of which work. But for some reason TVPaint does not recognize the Eraser end as an erase tool.

If I touch the eraser tip to an Erase tool in the Sketch Panel this corrects the problem . But next time I start a new TVPaint project the problem occurs again until I touch the Eraser tip to an Erase tool in a Sketch Panel.

It is a minor annoyance, but an annoyance all the same. Does anyone else experience this problem and does anyone know how to fix it ? This only occurs in TVPaint . Other apps like Sketcbook Pro or Photoshop always recognize the Wacom pen eraser tip as an eraser.

I vaguely recall experiencing this same problem a long time ago , but I don't recall how to fix it.

I'm using TVPaint 10 on a Macbook Pro with OS 10.7 , latest Wacom driver for Mac installed. I've tried reinstalling the Wacom drivers.

[Paul Fierlinger]

This has always been the case with tablets as well. The best remedy is to break the silly mid-nineteenth century habit of turning your pen around... There are so many more efficient options within these two pieces of software to replace that old pencil twitch.

EDIT: I wanted to make sure my history is correct and it is:
The first patent for attaching an eraser to a pencil was issued in 1858 to a man from Philadelphia named Hyman Lipman. This patent was later held to be invalid because it was merely the combination of two things, without a new use.

[ematecki]

The eraser end is recognized by TVPaint as another pen.
Thus, you can set any tool to it, including a tool in erase mode.

What is strange is that TVPaint doesn't remember what tool was assigned to the eraser between sessions, it should.

[idragosani]

This has always been the case with tablets as well. The best remedy is to break the silly mid-nineteenth century habit of turning your pen around... There are so many more efficient options within these two pieces of software to replace that old pencil twitch.

Yes, the special erase brushes are much better than using the erase end of the stylus, you have so much more control... when I do pencil and paper art, I always use a separate eraser (or rather, different erasers for different needs) rather than one built into the pencil anyway, so not really an adjustment!

[D.T. Nethery]

The eraser end is recognized by TVPaint as another pen.
Thus, you can set any tool to it, including a tool in erase mode.

What is strange is that TVPaint doesn't remember what tool was assigned to the eraser between sessions, it should.

Yes, that is actually the problem . Thank you for clarifying. Previously I think I set the Cintiq pen eraser tip to be an Eraser Tool in TVPaint and it remembered that setting from that point forward whenever I open a new TVPaint session. Now for some reason that is not the case . Maybe I need to delete my current configuration and start over , maybe something is corrupted. (but I noticed the problem started with this new Cintiq that I am using now. And I notice that other drawing apps DO recognize my Wacom preferences for the Eraser tip being designated as an eraser, rather than as a pen tool, so I wondered why that is. But if I can set the Wacom Eraser tip to be an eraser in TVPaint and then TVPaint remembers the setting from session to session then that solves the problem for me. )


Paul- I take your point , but to me since the Wacom includes an "eraser button" on the opposite end of the pen I prefer to take advantage of it. I have the other two buttons on the pen assigned to other functions.

[D.T. Nethery]

This is so simple , I feel silly . I just changed the Wacom pen preferences so that for TVPaint instead of it being the standard Wacom "Eraser" the eraser end of the pen is now designated as a Keystroke which activates the Eraser tool from the Sketch Panel. Now it always stays as an eraser . (I believe that is probably what I did before , but since I've had to reset all my Wacom preferences for the new Cintiq that's why it wasn't working for me anymore) .

[idragosani]

Out of curiosity, did you get a new 21UX or did you get one of those big monster 24" HD Cintiqs?

[D.T. Nethery]

Out of curiosity, did you get a new 21UX or did you get one of those big monster 24" HD Cintiqs?

New 21 UX . I tried one of the 24" HD Cintiqs at CTN Expo last year and didn't think it was that much of an improvement. Cintiq 21" works for me.

[Fabrice]

David,

Did you configure TVPaint Animation to always restart with the same configuration settings ? (check what parameter is in edition > preferences > startup tab)

It could explain that your settings are not kept between two sessions.

[Soom]

In random occasions I had a similar problem - TVPaint suddenly forgets the Eraser setting and acts as a pen tool. I don't know in what relation this was happening, but it was quite rare.
In general I am always using the default Erase setting in Wacom prefs, and TVPaint mostly acts normal - it remembers the chosen eraser (or another tool) for the Eraser tip. Fixing the eraser tip to a certain Keystroke might be a solution to some, but for me it is not, as I have a habit to choose different actions with the eraser tip for different projects...

I can tell that I had some issues with Wacom drivers and TVPaint before, and after installing the new Wacom drivers I'm having new problems. and some problems are not TVP related - for example my screen toggle sometimes stops working... So I would rather blame this on Wacom, but who knows