Ayatsuri2D

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Pen tablets

Ayatsuri2D works with a pen tablet the way a paint program does. The pen moves the pointer, so every tool works with it as with a mouse, and the pen's pressure comes on top: press harder and the brushes push harder or grow.

It works with Wacom, XP-Pen, Huion and other tablets that report pressure to the system. There is nothing to install: plug the tablet in and Ayatsuri2D picks it up.

What pressure does

Pressure drives the four brushes:

  • the Deform Brush, which pushes points along your stroke;
  • Brush Selection, which paints a soft selection of points;
  • the glue weight brush;
  • the eraser in Mesh Edit.

Each brush can take pressure as strength (how hard it pushes or how much weight it paints) and as size (how wide the circle is). Strength is on by default and size is off, so a light stroke makes a light change and the circle stays the size you set.

Settings

The pen settings are in Settings > Appearance > Pen tablet.

  • Pen mode: a pen's double tap may take longer than a mouse's double click, since a pen lifts and lands again. Turn it on if double tapping a mesh to edit it sometimes misses.
  • Pressure: on or off for all brushes, and whether it sets Size, Strength or both.
  • Pressure curve: left, a light touch already goes far; right, it takes a firm press. Start in the middle and move it until a normal stroke feels right.
  • Lightest touch: how much the lightest press still gives, in percent, so a feather-light stroke is never nothing.
  • Test: press on the tablet and the meter shows the pressure as Ayatsuri2D reads it, after the curve. Below it, Settings says where the pressure comes from on your system.

Pressure is smoothed a little against jitter, so a shaky hand gives a steady stroke.

By system

System How the pen comes in
Windows 10 and later Through Windows' own pen input, the way Windows passes a pen to every app.
Linux on Wayland Through the tablet protocol on the window's own connection, as Krita does. The pen clicks and drags even where a compositor's own pointer fallback drops a pen's clicks.
Linux on X11 The tablet's own input device is read directly for pressure; the pointer stays as it was.
macOS 11 and later Pressure is read from the tablet events macOS sends. It is in, but not yet tested on a real tablet; reports are welcome.

When pressure does not come through

  • Settings says "No pen tablet found": check the tablet works in another program, then plug it in again. It is picked up without a restart.
  • Linux says "Found … but this user may not read it": your user needs to read input devices. Join the input group with sudo usermod -aG input $USER, then log out and in again.

If it still does not work, open an issue with your tablet, your system and the line Settings shows under the meter.

Updated