Quick Summary

1. Click Start > Wacom Tablet > Wacom Tablet Preference File Utility
2. Under ‘All User Preferences,’ click Remove.
3. Enjoy pressure sensitivity in Animate!

Reflections

A while back, I received a brand new Wacom Intuos 4 from StudentDiscounts for around AU$500. As ecstatic as I was with it, after a day or so, I soon discovered that my pressure sensitivity in Animate had disappeared. It was fine when I first used it but not thereafter. Since I was hastily incorporating the new tool into my already-established workflow, I let it slide, thinking my settings would return to normal as soon as I rebooted. I was wrong. A couple days later, after various reboots and troubleshooting, I was still without any pressure sensitivity in Animate.

I searched Toon Boom’s FAQs and Support sections on their website, but they weren’t too helpful. I suppose they might have been more helpful if I had emailed them but, in terms of what was readily available, their knowledge base didn’t provide a working solution for my problem. So, pressed for time, and looking for a quick fix, I started applying some of my own “logical” solutions. I thought back to what might have possibly caused the loss of sensitivity, and realized it was when I had changed some settings for my Expression Keys (to work in Animate).

At first, I tried Toon Boom’s solution, but that bore no fruit. So, the next thing I did, was check out Wacom’s provided utility tools and discovered the Wacom Tablet Preference File Utility. This opened up a dialog box, which allowed to me decide whether or not I wanted to delete saved preferences, or erase all (pretty much start anew).

I first deleted my user file preferences but, when I went back into Animate to test my pen out, I still had no pressure sensitivity. I was on the verge of uninstalling all the drivers, and then re-installing them again, but I decided to take a risk and just ‘delete all preferences.’ After I did this, my screens flickered once or twice, and… wallah! He’s aliiiiive… he’s alliiive! Pressure sensitivity was revived in Animate.

So, there you have it, how to fix pressure sensitivity in Animate (if you ever, somehow, manage to lose it like I did). In summary, this is what was done (assuming you have the latest Windows Wacom Tablet drivers):

Twitter is a great tool but suffers from a lack of organization in the ‘posts’ department. (I think this might simply be because Twitter has exceeded the expectations of its creators.) After I hit 100 followers I noticed it was becoming difficult to keep up with all the neat links my followers were sharing. I kept gaining more followers by the day, but was eventually pulling my hair out because I was starting to miss out on my favorite guru’s links. So, I tested out as many applications as I could and came up with my own workflow.

Thanks to the wondrous efforts of our fellow humans, there are now a couple of third-party developers who offer more for the meticulous Tweeters who like to organize everything (myself included). At the moment, I use only two main applications (both online and offline) to organize my followers’ posts. First up is TweetDeck.

TweetDeck

In my opinion, TweetDeck is by far the most versatile offline application for Twitter. So versatile, there’s even a version for iPhones! The user interface is pretty straight forward, offering you a multi-column view for everything you need to view from Twitter: your friends’ posts, @mentions, Direct Messages (DMs), and (here’s the best bit) groups.

The ability to create groups is what makes this application ideal for neat-freak Tweeters. I currently have two extra groups setup to separate my close friends and “gurus” (or big-name posters).

TweetDeck also offers another couple neat features: TwitScoop for Twitter trends; 12Seconds for sharing short videos; StockTwits for integrating stocks with your Twitter account; and Facebook integration.

HootSuite

When I don’t have access to my computer at home, I use Hootsuite to take care of all my Twitter needs. This online application does everything that TweetDeck does, and then some. Along with the ability to create groups, Hootsuite utilizes its native owl.ly URL shortener to help keep track of user interaction with your posted links. This becomes very helpful when trying to determine which links appeal to your readers the most (although I still use TweetStats to do a more in-depth analysis).

If you want to know how I organize my posts, I do it using eight columns (only a maximum of four columns can be shown at any given time, though, because of a side-scroller). I have my first four separated like the left image. The other four columns are organized like the right.

Hope you enjoyed the post and if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below!