Canvas Input randomly stops working

[angrymidget4728]

Device: Huion Kamvas 12
Pen button 1 set to Space and button 2 set to RMB.

Generally, I like have a podcast open on my main monitor while I draw, but occasionally, when I need to check out references or just random browsing, I switch to that browser window. When I Alt+Tab back into Krita, or even just click on the window using my pen, Canvas Input stops working.

The first time I noticed was when I tabbed back in, but clicking my pen buttons wasn’t letting me pan or zoom. I thought it was an active window issue at first, so I tried to minimize and maximize it, as well as move the window around, but it didn’t fix it.
Then I thought it was a driver/device issue, so I tried using my keyboard’s space bar to pan, but it didn’t work either. I tried drawing strokes to see if it really was a driver issue, but it wasn’t. The pen sensitivity was working perfectly fine.

So far the only solution has been to close krita completely and turn it back on. But it gets really annoying when I’m in a long drawing session and it happens at least five times.

I am confident that the problem lies in the Canvas Inputs not registering, since:

• Panning (Spacebar) doesn’t work. Consequently, zoom, rotate and brush size change also doesn’t work.
• RMB to trigger Popup Palette doesn’t work
• Scroll Wheel to zoom doesn’t work

but it is the CAUSE that I have absolutely no clue about. Whenever it does happen, it always because I tabbed out of the Krita window. But that doesn’t mean it happens “every time” I tab out. I am genuinely unable to reproduce it on my own volition and basically just have to keep drawing until I get ‘unlucky’.

Any ideas?

[Michelist]

Hello @angrymidget4728, I have to admit that I don’t know what the issue may be, but I know that there were other users that had issues where Krita hung in different ways too, you’ll sure find topics with the forum search, and as far as I remember some of these situations were solved with the press of another key.

So, as unusual as it may sound, perhaps you get Krita back corresponding with a press of F3 or F4, like this user got Krita back corresponding as the pan-tool got stuck:

Pan tool not working

Hello, So I stumbled upon this issue just now and my Krita version is 5.1.5. I am here to share my experienced and the possible fix that my work to some people who experienced this issue. So I followed KnowZero “Log Viewer Docker” and because I have a little but not so great knowledge about programming I noticed that the logs says that the F3 and F4 is being pressed despite me not pressing it. Hence, I came to conclusion that this pressed keys are interfering with the “Ctrl + Space” or other Ke…

The Escape-Key also solved a few of these situations, as far as I know. Sometimes it was in combination with the standard modifier-keys, like CTRL, ALT, SHIFT.

But else, I don’t know much about these situations where Krita hangs, sometimes the keyboard stopped responding other times there was no further action possible on canvas like in your case. It’s like poking in the fog to explore an unknown path, the solutions were mostly chance finds.
I wish you luck and keep my fingers crossed you’ll find a solution.

If you can not get your Krita back corresponding with these simple hints, then please report back and tell us in your reply
the version of Krita you use and the operating system as well.

Michelist

[YRH]

Hi @angrymidget4728 , this sounds eerily similar to a bug that I filed a while ago, although the triggering mechanism seems different in your case - 464175 – Pressing Ctrl+Shift+2 blocks spacebar panning and mouse right click

In my case, the input gets “fixed” if I simply click inside the layers docker:

I wonder if this would help get it unstuck it your case?

I’m afraid Windows has quirks like that… It may be a problem outside of Krita, like some compatibility issue between different apps. Someone I think mentioned problems with Discord client, too.

[angrymidget4728]

Thanks a lot for your responses @Michelist and @YRH ! It took a while to reply because I was busy trying to actually figure out what the source was. Turns out, the effective problem is exactly as @YRH has described, but the cause is entirely different. I was skeptical at first because even though the problem is exactly as you say, I have never, even mistakenly, pressed Ctrl+Shift+2. Weirdly or not, the solution turns out to be occasionally the same.

The cause:
So it looks like it was due to my pen??? For obvious reasons, I don’t use my tablet when I’m just browsing, meaning all the commands (pen and tablet) are set to default. For ‘All Programs’ my pen’s pan button was set to ‘E’. So when I’m browsing for references (browser is active window) and then I want to switch back to Krita, I just forget that Krita isn’t my active window and my natural instinct is to use my pen’s pan button to move around my canvas for further painting, resulting in the problem.

Basically, I press my pen’s button while browser is active (meaning it registers ‘E’) and then drag the pen tip across my Krita canvas, which turns Krita into the active window and also switching the pen’s function to ‘Space’ mid-press (resulting in nothing occurring). Followed by the sense of confusion as to why my pen’s pan button (and everything else) isn’t working anymore all of a sudden.

Further testing:

• I have tried to test if it’s a windows issue or not, by manually pressing my keyboard’s E while on browser and then dragging my pen across Krita canvas. The problem does not occur.
• I have assigned pen button’s default to other keys (notably, B, ], and 1) and trying the same thing. B and 1 result in the problem. ] does not cause the problem.

The real solution:
Set pen button to nothing (or maybe double click) for ‘All Programs’.

Extra
I find it extremely weird how such an action to cause such a problem. Like, think about it for a second. Registering a alphanumeric key by an external device (pen) and switching to Space mid-press causes an entire set of program function to become… just… disabled??? Huh??? How does that make any sense?

Additionally, despite the problem itself being the exact same as @YRH 's, why does the mentioned solution not always work??? I’ve tried the clicking layer docker solution multiple times today and some times it works, some times it doesn’t, and some times it seems like it worked for a fraction of a second before not working anymore. The cursor just keeps glitching out until it stops working.

PS: Sorry, about marking your answer as the solution but then removing it @YRH . I got hyped up when your solution worked the first time I tried without testing it rigorously.

[YRH]

Huh, that’s beyond weird indeed. I’m glad you found a workaround at least.

I couldn’t get the same behavior as you, but I’m using Huion Giano, which is a pen tablet. I used to have a Kamvas 16, but I’ve since sold it, so I can’t verify. My driver doesn’t have different app profiles, just one global setting. My pen buttons are Middle Mouse (lower button, closer to the pen tip), Right Mouse (upper button).