#wacom #intuos2 #sinewave #issue #drawing #troubleshooting
So I wanted to do a quick post about a problem that I've been dealing with the last week or two. It might have developed about two weeks ago but I didnt really notice till the Drawing Request Show streams I was doing this week. Theres a problem, that I've found is pretty common after browsing google searches and wacom forums. After years of use the Intuos2 from Wacom suddenly starts having fits of wavy-ness while drawing diagonal lines (and in the case of drawing circles, creating some crazy arse ovals). While irritating and throwing off my timed-drawings on the twitch stream on occassion, I was able to change location on my tablet or just deal with it till it quit doing it 10-15 seconds later. I was sure Inkscape maybe started having issues and needed reinstalled. But I went down the checklist. Heres a forum of folks with similar issue:
1. Updated/reinstalled Wacom tablet drivers.
2. Tested the stylus in Sketchbook pro and Photoshop as well which proved that it was doing it in them too. So it must be a universal influence in windows, or perhaps the tablet itself.
3. I went into 'Tablet PC' and 'Pen and Touch' options in Control Panel and made sure all that stuff was off. Pen and Touch had a few things on that might have interfered and it did seem to work better after turning them all off.
4. As you can see at the top, on the left is how it has been for years. Your first clue on how used it is might be the stained/ worn grip area above the button. I decided to replace the drawing tip. And also swapped that grip and button for a buttonless extra grip that came with it. Kinda nice as I didnt use the button anyways. When i took the button and grip off, you can see lots of inputs/ sensors for the buttons etc and a little screw. I shot some air in there cleaned it out a bit. When I took the nib out i blew in there a bit incase there was any dust or whatever in there too. Put a fresh nib on and the nice new buttonless grip.
5. Afterwards I read up on it more in the forum. Peoples solutions ranged from buying a new tablet, to buying a new stylus to removing the button and cleaning the gyzmos inside. Short of buying a new tablet I sort of inherently did this by removing the button, cleaning out the inside of the stylus and putting some new thingies on. Also turning off all that pen and touch stuff that seemed to be messing with it.
6. A final note, in the pen and touch area theres an area where it says 'automatic learning' where it collects info and learns about your handwriting style. I switched that to dont use automatic learning and delete any previously collected data. I have a suspicion that messed with stuff too. Who knows!
So it seems to be working normal again now. I believe the culpirate was the dirty button/ inside, cleaning it out and turning off any interfering utilites in windows. Time will tell though. At this point if it develops any new issues i might invest in a new offbrand tablet like huion or something. They're making competative desktoppads far cheaper than wacom...
Will do a follow up edit to this post if anything else happens. But for now, the steps above worked for me. Goodluck out there.
Amendment 8/22/16 - yeah the sine wave problem came back and twice as bad. I dont know if it ever really went away. Time for a replacement. Its ordered and on its way. #ripIntuos2
