My pupils can't paint

[TeacherEm]

Hello, I'm a teacher currently in online teaching mode because of current world events.

I thought since Gimp 2.10.8 comes preinstalled on our pupils computers I'd have them use it for art class. But many of them can't paint. Not using the mouse, nor the pencil that comes with the computer, nor by the touch screen.

Things I have tried:

Have them select all
Have them create a new layer
Check tool color, opacity, size and the actual brush
Check the dynamics settings
Reset tool settings
Restart


I had a pupil share screens with me so I could locate the issue but I could not find it, and it has not happened to me even though I'm on the same kind of computer as they are.

What I noticed when I looked at their screen was that when the left mouse button is pressed down the preview-ring showing where the tool is located gets stuck and will not move when the pupils then continue to move the mouse around.

Some pupils reported they can paint with the mousepad but not with the pencil for the computer.

Anyone have any ideas?

[rich2005]

@TeacherEm You have not been forgotten, but no definitive fix for you. I do not have a touchscreen computer and I run linux. Gimp 2.10.8 is more than a bit old. Now up to 2.10.18

Are these touchscreen computers running Windows or some other OS ?  Assuming Windows (same as you)

From what I see, Gimp problems with touchscreens is mixed, Some working, some not, much the same as your case. Depends on the type of touchscreen, those based on Wacom tech seem to respond to a update in hardware driver, but then there is MS hardware which is more a problem.  see: https://windows10skill.com/fix-hid-compl...indows-10/
This an example of a Wacom problem https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/issues/936

Quote:Some pupils reported they can paint with the mousepad but not with the pencil for the computer.

Is the 'pencil' some sort of stylus, same as you get with a graphics tablet ? Apart from your check list, look in Edit -> Input Devices and see if anything is disabled. Although when my wacom tablet is disabled it does act as a regular mouse, still  worth a try.

   

[TeacherEm]

I seem to have gotten somewhere because I think I have managed to recreate the issue, and maybe solve it. I am most familiar with mac myself, but our work computers are Lenovo YogaBook ThinkPads with a built-in pen that is stored in the computer in a charging nest so to speak. 

The stylus seems to be Wacom based, at least this is what shows up in my input device list.


WACOM Tablet Eraser
WACOM Tablet ISD Stylus
WACOM Tablet Pressure Stylus
WACOM Tablet Puck

When all of them are off it seems to work best for me as it then acts as a regular mouse. But when only one or a few of the options are activated (I have tried some combinations, not all) it does not seem to work and it gets stuck as I described in my previous post. I'm going to try this fix with some of my more tech savvy pupils today to see if it helps to turn everything but core pointer off.

[Ofnuts]

(04-28-2020, 05:38 AM)TeacherEm Wrote: I seem to have gotten somewhere because I think I have managed to recreate the issue, and maybe solve it. I am most familiar with mac myself, but our work computers are Lenovo YogaBook ThinkPads with a built-in pen that is stored in the computer in a charging nest so to speak. 

The stylus seems to be Wacom based, at least this is what shows up in my input device list.


WACOM Tablet Eraser
WACOM Tablet ISD Stylus
WACOM Tablet Pressure Stylus
WACOM Tablet Puck

When all of them are off it seems to work best for me as it then acts as a regular mouse. But when only one or a few of the options are activated (I have tried some combinations, not all) it does not seem to work and it gets stuck as I described in my previous post. I'm going to try this fix with some of my more tech savvy pupils today to see if it helps to turn everything but core pointer off.

But remember that the "core pointer" is not pressure sensitive. Speaking of pressure, if the default Painbrush has a brush dynamics that uses pressure, you may have to apply significant pressure to reach a visible opacity/size. You can turn off brush dynamics by using the special dynamics called "Dynamics off".