Guideline to change Wacom tablet Intuos Draw express keys and stylus buttons

Support & Help Requests
#1

Hello, i wanted to know if there was a specific guideline to operate with the express keys and buttons on the stylus.
I am aware that the graphical interface is glitches or something so I tried mapping the buttons to "Button 1-4" for the express keys and "Button 1-2" for the stylus, with no result whatsoever.

I have tried tried searching on what might be wrong, but a lot of post only indicate to a folder with blank checkerboard image files with model names for more tablets.

If anyone has the knowledge to help me with this and how can i do multiple key inputs (like ctrl+z)

The commands i have done are:
xsetwacom --set "Wacom Intuos S 2 Pad pad" Button 1 "key ctrl" "key z"
xsetwacom --set "Wacom Intuos S 2 Pad pad" Button 2 "key space"
xsetwacom --set "Wacom Intuos S 2 Pen stylus" Button 2 "key ctrl"

i would like to achieve from, up to down just on the left side. Control + Z and Space and on the stylus the first button to be the panning/zoom and the second to be the control key

but i get this instead

heckers.jpg1024×1024 79.5 KB

#2

Not sure if it can help you but if some buttons are unused or not set properly, it might be because libwacom is missing a profile that matches your model but you might be able to make one.

I’ve had issues making an old Graphire 2 properly recognized on Ubuntu GNOME so I digged up a bit in this. My tablet is far less advanced than yours so I can’t really give you a proper profile and you’ll have to make a few tests to find which buttons have to be set to what in the profile, though I’m not sure if you can set keyboard shortcuts to buttons there.

The profiles are in /usr/share/libwacom (.tablet files − the layouts subdir is for graphics used in the Wacom tool but we don’t have it on Ubuntu MATE). You can start by checking if there is one corresponding to your model (based on the tablet ID). If not, you can make a copy of one, change the tablet ID to match yours (you can get it with lsusb) and properly set the buttons. From there, I’m not sure if you can set shortcuts from the MATE settings or something like that.

If you wan to use xsetwacom, have you read the manpage? Here is what it says on this topic:

The “key” keyword is followed by a list of key names. These can optionally be preceded by “+” for press and “-” for release. If +/- is not given, press-and-release is assumed, except for modifier keys which are left pressed. Key names can be X11 KeySyms or some aliases such as ‘shift’ or ‘f1’ (the full list can be seen with the list modifiers command).

To assign a key that is not in the modifiers list, use the KeySym in /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h with the XK_ prefix removed or its actual value as is. For example, XK_BackSpace should be specified as “BackSpace”. “0xff80” can also be used to replace “BackSpace” since it’s the unique KeySym value of Backspace key.

Here is a combined example: “key +a shift b shift -a 0xff0d” converts the button into a series of keystrokes. In this example, “press a, press shift, press and release b, release shift, release a, then press and release enter”. “key +a +shift b -shift -a 0xff0d” does the same thing.

As I don’t have a tablet with buttons, I can’t make tests and the description is not really clear but I guess that you’d have to assign multiple keys in some way like this:

xsetwacom --set "Wacom Intuos S 2 Pad pad" Button 1 "key +ctrl z"
#3

Thank you for awnsering, but my problem isn’t really the command input but the result of it.
For example that to command will set Control + Z to the lower button on the left side and for example using the same command but with “Button 2” instead will not bind to anything neither will do Button 3-4.

So more or less i was wondering, what are the exact binds to the pad buttons and the pen buttons, because 1-4 and 1-2 doesn’t seem to work. I haven’t found a information about this yet.

#4

What do you get as output with the following command?

libwacom-list-local-devices

Also, have you checked this? http://bartssolutions.blogspot.fr/2015/02/how-to-configure-wacom-intuos-express.html

(The article is for a different tablet and is three years old but there are commands that might help to identify the buttons on yours.)

#5

I had a Wacom Intuos Pro (PTH-651) before and this tablet gives you a drawing experience on par or better than that.

Many art tablets include buttons, touch rings and radial dials that are pre-programmed to access certain functions and shortcuts.

Most provide the ability to change default options and assign others that may be more relevant to the way you like to work.

In other words, Photoshop can be highlighted while programming the tablet for Photoshop and Painter can be highlighted while programming the tablet for Painter.

The same menus and Express Keys can therefore perform differently depending on which program you are using; for instance, Command + T can be assigned to an Express Key with Photoshop highlighted, then again with Painter highlighted.

When in Photoshop the key will perform Edit / Transform. In Painter the Tracing Paper will be turned on and off.

Now I have a XP-Pen Deco 03 Wireless Graphics Tablet without Screen . This is my favourite screen-less tablet at the moment because it has the best pen pressure and drawing experience I've had so far. I don't find the advertised red dial very useful and the wireless is "eh", but if you ignore those side features, the comfort of the pen and the control you have over the pen pressure are absolutely fantastic.

#6

I have the same tablet. To assign Ctrl+Z to Button 1 I used:

xsetwacom set "Wacom Intuos S 2 Pad pad" Button 1 "key +ctrl z -ctrl"

Note: the -ctrl means "release ctrl key".

So, to set Ctrl to Button 2 I use:

xsetwacom set "Wacom Intuos S 2 Pad pad" Button 2 "key +ctrl"