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[Bug] Using an N-trig Stylus to Draw Freehand

Hey guys, I'm fairly new here, but have been using Roll20 for almost a year. Just love it. I recently got a touch-sensitive windows PC that comes with a stylus, and I was trying to draw with the freehand tool on Roll20 but it doesn't "hold" the click. It can do dots, but when i try to do a line it doesn't show. This is a shame, as it was one of the uses I was most excited about with the new computer. Does anybody have a fix? Specs: HP Spectre x360 15" early 2017, running Chrom 63
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B Simon Smith
Marketplace Creator
You're trying to draw via raster, while Roll20 does everything via vector.
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keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
It's perfectly possible to draw with vector based tools. That's why vector based illustration apps (Like Adobe Illustrator) are often called "drawing" programs, while raster based apps (Like Photoshop) are often called "paint" programs. You will get point-by-point lines by using the polygon/line tool. To simulate freehand drawing, use the freehand tool. With that one you should be able to click and draw a curved line that follows your input device's movement. If click by click with the polygon/line tool or click and drag with the freehand tool (which appears to be your case) fail to create a visible line, check your color and line palette, to make sure you don't have stroke and fill both set to transparent. If that is not the case, it may be possible that there is a fundamental incompatibility between the drawing engine and your stylus. Does the stylus draw in other programs using the same motions and clicks? FWIW, I use a Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch without issue.
Thank you both for the quick reply! To answer @keithcurtis' question, yes, my input device works fine on onther programs, such as Inkscape, even with a fairly sensitive pressure detection. The tool settings are fine (i was testing with the default color, and drawing with the trackpad produced the expected result). Even the tool itself, as i mentioned before, "works" in the sense that it produces dots (so it shouldn't be a "failure to recognize clicking" issue). It worked with other web-based drawing apps, as per testing suggestion on another similar thread. The stylus uses N-trig technology, which is the same as the MS Surface line. If anyone has a hint as to how to make it work, i would much appreciate it. I'd really love to be able to make maps on the fly for my (largely improvisational) campaign. thanks!
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Carl T
Sheet Author
Drawing using the "Freehand" tool on my Surface Pro 4 doesn't work. Sounds like the same problem. Here's what happens when I do it: If you start drawing normally nothing seems to happen. Then when you lift the pen point off the screen a bit it draws the path you moved. You can then manoeuver the pen point by hovering just above the screen (not touching it) and it draws, but the second you put the nib back on the screen it erases everything. You can do the polyline draw, but the freehand tool would be the most useful and probably what you were after. 
Thank you @Carl T, it puts my mind at ease knowing that the problem isn't exclusive to my system. It appears to be the exact same problem, and it may be due to the N-trig technology itself (as it seems to work with Wacom, according to other threads and @keithcurtis' answer). What would be the proper channel to ask the dev team if they could take a look at that? Getting it working would give the games a very nice nostalgic "drawing on a battlemat" feel. Thanks again for the reply!
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keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
You're in the right forum to report a bug. I don't think you can edit the original post subject, but if a mod doesn't see and respond to this soon, I'd suggest starting a new thread with a subject like [Help] or [Bug] in the title. There might be nothing they can do, but you might at least find out that this is the case.
another good idea is to report this bug to the device developer sometimes they overlay a command structure that interferes with other sources in this case roll20 via a browser.  i also would make a feedback to the browser as well for the same reason. alot of times one tries to blame the other but it you do some leg work you  can get them to possibly work together to find the cause and possible fix 
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Gen Kitty
Forum Champion
I'm just a janitor, so I'm not following all the nuances of this discussion, but if you tell me specifically what you'd like to rename the thread to I can do that for you :)
GenKitty said: I'm just a janitor, so I'm not following all the nuances of this discussion, but if you tell me specifically what you'd like to rename the thread to I can do that for you :) Thank you very much @GenKitty! I think if it was changed to "[Bug] Using an N-trig Stylus to Draw Freehand" it might be more descriptive and catch the attention of the other mods! Thanks so much! @lordmage, will try to do that! That's a good idea! @keithcurtis thanks for the idea, and the involvment in general!
Hi Everyone! Just wanted to drop in here and say a few things :) Essentially, Roll20 does not currently offer explicit support for stylus systems- Interactions between Roll20 and systems such as Wacom or N-Trig are entirely determined by an individual's local setup. If your stylus is set-up to fully emulate a mouse (with no extra features) then it should operate as expected. The problem is that drivers don't always do that properly to the point where it can be very difficult to achieve that configuration. Additionally, we at Roll20 do not have access to anything other than the pointer events provided by the browser. So if a pen's drivers are not providing the correct pointer events, then we cannot properly pick them up.
Drespar said: Hi Everyone! Just wanted to drop in here and say a few things :) Essentially, Roll20 does not currently offer explicit support for stylus systems- Interactions between Roll20 and systems such as Wacom or N-Trig are entirely determined by an individual's local setup. If your stylus is set-up to fully emulate a mouse (with no extra features) then it should operate as expected. The problem is that drivers don't always do that properly to the point where it can be very difficult to achieve that configuration. Additionally, we at Roll20 do not have access to anything other than the pointer events provided by the browser. So if a pen's drivers are not providing the correct pointer events, then we cannot properly pick them up. I see i was right in my assessment when i suggested they take it to the device maker :D