Okay, this isn’t my usual coding-related post, but I hope it helps someone. There are a million different threads about Wacom tablets not working properly with various software on various system configurations, and there’s no shortage of suggested solutions, so I’ll describe my specific situation and its specific solution:
Problem: Wacom tablet pen pressure sensitivity does not work in Adobe Photoshop CS4. More specifically, it draws at full brush thickness all the time, unless I double-tap the tablet quickly and then begin drawing immediately after, which surprisingly allows pressure sensitivity to work.
My Configuration: Windows 7 Ultimate, Wacom Bamboo Pen tablet (the most basic model), Adobe Photoshop CS4 (as mentioned above)
Solution: In short, disable using the “press and hold” pen action as a right-click equivalent in the Windows tablet pen control panel. To do this:
Click the Windows button, and in the search box type “Change tablet pen settings". Open the item that appears.
In that dialog, in the Pen Options tab (the default), in the Pen actions group, select the Press and hold pen action and then click the Settings… button.
Then, in the dialog that appears, uncheck Enable press and hold for right-clicking and click OK.
Windows’ Tablet PC settings are fighting with the tablet’s usefulness, doing their best to turn it into a primary input device rather than a dedicated drawing instrument. In my specific case, you’ll notice that every time you tap the pen and start drawing (interpreted by Windows as a “tap and hold”), a circle will start drawing around the tap location, and once it finishes drawing, the equivalent of a right-click is received. This is not a Wacom thing; it’s a Windows thing, and it’s messing with your ability to use your pen with proper pressure sensitivity.
Since my Bamboo tablet pen has a button on it which maps to a right-click by default, I don’t need the “press-and-hold” right-click functionality, and you likely don’t either.
I hope this saves someone some frustration.
