7P Drawing tablets
  • Welcome
  • About TheSevenPens
    • My tablet setups
    • Drawing Tablet discord server
    • My drawing tablet collection
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Basics
    • Beginner's guide to drawing tablets
    • Types of drawing tablets
    • Learning digital art
    • Learning to use a drawing tablet
    • Get started with a drawing tablet
    • Use cases
      • Gaming with a drawing tablet
      • Making educational videos with a drawing tablet
      • Taking notes with drawing tablets
      • Using a drawing tablet as a mouse replacement
    • Contacting support
    • Drawing tablets vs mice
    • The drawing experience
    • App compatibility with drawing tablets
    • Uninstalling tablet drivers
  • Buying a drawing tablet
    • Buying used drawing tablets
    • Inspecting a drawing tablet
    • Pen tablets vs pen displays
    • The case against pen computers
    • Buying a drawing tablet for osu!
    • Buying tips
    • How many pressure levels do you really need?
    • Choosing the right size for a drawing tablet
    • Switching from a pen tablet to a pen display
    • Buying a drawing tablet as a gift
  • Recommendations
    • Recommended drawing tablets for beginners
    • Dedicated note taking devices
    • Pen tablet recommendations
      • Small pen tablet recommendations
      • Medium pen tablet recommendations
      • Large pen tablet recommendations
    • Pen display recommendations
      • Small pen display recommendations
      • Medium pen display recommendations
      • Large pen display recommendations
    • Standalone drawing tablet recommendations
      • Pen computer recommendations
      • Pen-enabled mobile computers
      • Pen-enabled laptop recommendations
    • Comparisons
      • 7P: Drawing tablet tier list (December 2024)
      • 7P: Large pen tablets compared
      • 7P: 13" pen displays compared (2023)
      • 7P: 22" pen displays compared (2024)
  • Brands
    • Huion and XP-Pen
    • Wacom
    • Xencelabs
    • Drawing tablet brands vs digitizers
    • Choosing a drawing tablet brand
  • Core features
    • Active area
    • Active area size
    • Active area aspect ratio
    • Active area mapping
    • Erasing
    • Bezel
    • Pen tilt
    • Disable pen tilt
    • Tilt impact on pressure readings
    • Pen pressure
    • Pen pressure range comparison
    • Pen pressure dead zone
    • Pen pressure instability at low pressure
    • Pen pressure response
    • Pen pressure curve
      • Misc pressure curve notes
      • Pressure curves that constrain output
      • Null pressure curve
      • Implementing pressure curves
      • Pressure curves that ignore input
      • Pressure curve shape support in applications
      • Adjusting pressure curve in tablet driver
    • Disable pen pressure
    • Pen hover
    • Hover jitter
    • Pen tracking
    • Pen tilt compensation
    • Pen barrel rotation
    • Pen nib travel
    • Pen nib material
    • Lag
    • Pointer lag
    • Brush lag
    • Diagonal wobble
    • Surface texture
    • Auxiliary inputs
    • Popular bindings for auxiliary inputs
    • Absolute versus relative positioning
    • Mouse mode
    • Powering a pen
    • Powering a drawing tablet
  • Guides
    • Caring for your drawing tablet
      • Dealing with water damage
      • Cleaning a drawing tablet
      • Removing a nib
      • Removing a broken nib
      • Storing your pen
      • Surface wear on pen tablets
      • Scratches on pen tablets
      • Texture erosion on pen tablets
      • Surface wear on pen displays
      • False scratches
      • Removing and replacing the surface film on a pen display
      • Nib wear
      • Replacing a pen
    • Customizing your experience
      • Match aspect ratios with Force Proportions
      • Shrinking the active area
      • Using large pen tablets
      • Using extra-large pen tablets
      • Matching pen tablet size to monitor size
      • Active Area Mapping for pen tablets and widescreen monitors
      • Mirroring or extending your desktop to a pen display
      • Using a pen display as a pen tablet
      • Using metal nibs
      • Clamping wide-gamut displays to sRGB
      • Calibrate pen position on a pen display
      • Using a pen display as a monitor
      • Controlling the pen tip behavior
    • Connections and cabling
      • Connecting a pen display with a 3-in-1 cable
      • Connecting a pen tablet to a computer
      • Wireless connection
      • Motherboard HDMI vs GPU HDMI ports
      • Connecting a pen display to a computer
      • Connecting a pen display to a mobile device
      • Connecting a pen display with a single USB-C cable
      • Using 3rd-party cables with your drawing tablet
        • Cables I use to connect pen tablets
      • Connecting a pen to a drawing tablet
      • Recessed USB-C ports
      • Connecting a pen display to a USB-C port on a GPU
    • Drawing
      • Drawing smooth strokes
      • How a brush engine uses pen data
      • Configure smoothing in applications
      • Enable tilt for brushes
    • Pen displays
      • Etched glass vs film
      • Etched glass
      • Anti-glare film
      • Anti-glare sparkle
      • Lamination
      • Display resolution
      • Choosing the right display resolution for a pen display
      • Brightness
      • Parallax
      • Display connector types
      • Using HDMI splitters with pen displays
      • Using HDMI adapters with pen displays
        • VGA to HDMI adapters
        • DVI to HDMI adapters
        • USB-C to HDMI adapters
        • DisplayPort to HDMI adapters
      • Color tint on edges of display
      • Pen display refresh rate
      • USB-C DisplayPort alt mode
      • Dead pixels
      • Using an iPad with your computer as a pen display
    • Pens
      • Pen buttons
      • Pen compatibility with drawing tablets
      • Pen weight
      • Pen weight comparison
      • Pen teardowns
    • Drivers
      • OpenTabletDriver
        • Install OpenTabletDriver on Windows
        • Install OpenTabletDriver on MacOS
        • OpenTabletDriver application data directory
        • Uninstalling OpenTabletDriver on Windows
        • OpenTabletDriver usage notes
        • Smoothing with OpenTabletDriver
        • Pressure curves in OpenTabletDriver
        • Slimy Scylla
      • Using a drawing tablet without installing drivers
      • Tablet Driver Cleanup tool
      • Using older tablet drivers
      • Importing and Exporting tablet driver configurations
    • Advanced
      • Firmware
      • Tablet reports
      • PenTracker by Patrick Lauke
    • Ergonomics
      • Body posture when using drawing tablets
      • Handedness of drawing tablets
      • Using a drawing tablet in portrait mode
      • Rotating a drawing tablet
      • Using a drawing tablet on your lap
      • Noise
      • Using a drawing tablet in bed
      • Heat
    • Touch support
      • Tablets that support touch
    • General
      • Total cost of ownership (TCO)
      • Model names vs model numbers
      • Finding the model number of a drawing tablet
      • Using older drawing tablets
      • Electromagnetic Interference
      • Connecting a drawing tablet to an iPad or iPhone
      • Connecting a drawing tablet to an Android device
      • Testing Drawing Tablet Compatibility with Android devices
      • Connecting a drawing tablet to a Chromebook
      • Chromebook testing results
      • Connecting multiple drawing tablets at the same time
    • Linux
    • Windows
      • Using a drawing tablet on Windows
      • Windows on ARM
      • Windows PNP support for drawing tablets
      • Windows PNP driver compatibility testing
      • Disable ripple effect rings in Windows
      • Disable the press-and-hold ring in Windows
      • Windows 7 Tablet PC features
        • Disable Tablet PC features on Windows 7
        • Disable Tablet PC features on Windows 7 using the FixMyPen tool
      • Windows Ink
        • The history of Windows Ink
        • Configure Windows Ink for apps
        • Configuring Photoshop to NOT use Windows Ink
        • Configure Windows Ink in the tablet driver
      • Stop using a display on Windows
    • Mini-PCs for digital art
      • 7P: Minisforum Neptune HX99G
    • Laptops for digital art
  • Applications
    • Apps for beginners
    • Apps for Android
    • Apps for iPad
    • List of apps
    • App tips
      • Show document canvas on another display
    • Recommended apps
  • Developers
    • Pen APIs
    • WinTab versus Windows Ink
    • 7P Tablet Tester
    • WinTab API
    • Force proportions simulator
  • Troubleshooting
    • Common problems with drawing tablets
    • Common drawing troubleshooting steps
    • Testing pressure in the tablet driver
    • Check if pen display shows HDMI video signal from other devices
    • Check tablet driver diagnostics
    • Reset a drawing tablet
    • TSG: Low pressure drawing problems
    • TSG: Difficult to reach maximum pressure
    • Testing with Windows PNP drawing tablet drivers
    • TSG: pointer stuck in corner of screen
    • TSG: Drawing problems
    • TSG: Pen display shows NO SIGNAL message
    • TSG: Pen moving pointer on the wrong display
    • TSG: Pixel noise on display
    • TSG: No pressure while drawing
    • TSG: Random gaps in strokes
    • TSG: Dots at end of strokes
    • TSG: Dots at start of strokes
    • TSG: Pen draws while hovering
    • TSG: Hooks at start of strokes
    • TSG: shoelaces at end of strokes
    • TSG: Straight lines at start of stokes
    • TSG: Pen not drawing in vertical or horizontal bands
    • TSG: WiFi and Internet problems with drawing tablets
    • TSG: Tablet driver does not detect tablet
    • TSG: computer does not detect display
    • TSG: driver no longer supports a drawing tablet
    • TSG: no sound after plugging in drawing tablet
    • TSG: Pen display doesn't show anything
    • TSG: Not enough HDMI ports
    • TSG: Insects in a pen display
    • TSG: Pen acting like a mouse
    • TSG: Pen display turns on and off constantly
    • TSG: computer detects drawing tablet as a keyboard
  • Product links
    • Apple
      • Apple iPad
      • Apple Pencil
      • Connecting an iPad to a computer as a drawing tablet
      • Apple iPad
      • Apple iPad versus drawing tablets
      • Apple iPad versus Samsung Galaxy Tab S
      • How I use iPads
      • M3 MacBook Pro
    • Artisul
    • ASUS
      • ASUS Pro Art Pen Display
    • CalDigit
      • CalDigit USB-C to HDMI 2.1 adapter
      • CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt Dock
    • Dell
      • Dell Canvas 27
    • Gaomon
      • Gaomon Pen Tablet
      • Gaomon Pro Pen Tablet
      • Gaomon Pen Display
      • Gaomon Pro Pen Display
    • Huion
      • Huion Kamvas Pro
        • Huion Kamvas Pro 19 (GT1902)
        • Huion Kamvas Pro 16 Plus 4K (GT1562)
        • Huion Kamvas Pro 24 4K (GT2401)
      • Huion Kamvas Studio
      • Huion Kamvas Slate
      • Huion Kamvas
        • Huion Kamvas 13 GEN3 (GS1333)
        • Huion Kamvas 16 2021 (GS1562)
        • Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331)
        • Huion Kamvas 22 Plus (GS2202)
        • Huion Kamvas 16 GEN3 (GS1563)
      • Huion Inspiroy R-series
        • 7P: Huion Inspiroy RTP-700
      • Inspiroy Dial
        • Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 (Q630M)
      • Huion Inspiroy Frego
        • Huion Inspiroy Frego M (L610)
      • Huion Inspiroy
        • Huion Inspiroy Giano (G930L)
        • Huion Inspiroy HS611
        • Huion Inspiroy WH1409V2
      • Huion KeyDial
      • Huion pens
        • Huion PenTech
        • Huion PW500 pen
        • Huion PW517 pen
        • Huion PW550 series pens
        • Huion PW600 series pens
        • Huion PW507 pen
      • Huion Inspiroy 2
        • Huion Inspiroy 2 L (H1061P)
    • Microsoft
      • Microsoft Surface Pro
        • Microsoft Surface Pro 8
    • OnePlus
      • OnePlus Pad
    • Samsung
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S series
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S series
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 lite (2022 edition)
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab A
      • Samsung Galaxy Book 360
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S7
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
      • Samsung S Pen
        • Samsung S Pen notes
    • Wacom
      • Comparison of Wacom pen tablets
      • Wacom model number format
      • Wacom One vs One by Wacom
      • Wacom tablet list
      • One by Wacom
        • One by Wacom (CTL-x72)
      • Wacom Intuos Pro 2025
        • Wacom Intuos Pro 2025 (PTK-x70)
      • Wacom Intuos Pro 2017
        • Wacom Intuos Pro Medium (2017) (PTH-660)
        • Wacom Intuos Pro 2017 (PTH-x60)
      • Wacom Intuos Pro 2013
      • Wacom Intuos5
      • Wacom Intuos4
        • Wacom Intuos 4 XL (PTK-1240)
      • Wacom Intuos3
      • Wacom Intuos2
      • Wacom Intuos1
      • Wacom Intuos
      • Wacom UD tablets
      • Wacom SD tablets
      • Wacom Cintiq
        • Wacom Cintiq 22 (DTK-2260)
        • Wacom Cintiq 2025 series
      • Wacom Cintiq Pro
        • Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 (DTH-167)
        • Cintiq Pro 24 (DTx-2420)
        • Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 (DTH-271)
        • Wacom Cintiq Pro 22 (DTH-227)
      • Wacom Movink
        • 7P: Wacom Movink 13 (DTH-135)
      • Wacom One 2019 GEN1
        • 7P: Wacom One 2019 GEN1 (DTC-133)
      • Wacom One 2023 GEN2
        • Wacom One 2023 GEN2 pen displays
        • Wacom One 2023 pen tablets
      • Wacom accessories
        • Wacom Converter (ACK45219Z)
        • Wacom texture sheets
        • Wacom pens
          • Wacom Pro Pen 3 (ACP-500)
          • Wacom Pro Pen 2 (KP-504E)
          • Wacom 2K Pen (LP-190K)
          • Wacom One 2019 GEN1 Pen (CP-913)
          • Wacom One 2023 Pen (CP-923)
          • Wacom Intuos2 Grip Pen (XP-501E)
          • Wacom Intuos 2 Airbrush pen (XP-400E)
          • Wacom 4K Pen for Intuos (LP-1100K)
        • Wacom pen compatibility
    • Xencelabs
      • Xencelabs Quick Keys
      • Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium (BPH1212W-A)
      • Xencelabs Pen Display 16 (LPH1612U-A)
      • Xencelabs V2 pens
      • Xencelabs Mobile Easel
      • Xencelabs Pen Display 24 (LPH2412U-A)
    • XP-Pen
      • XP-Pen Magic Note Pad (MNP1095)
      • XP-Pen Magic Drawing Pad
      • XP-Pen Artist
        • XP-Pen Artist 22 Plus (MD220FH)
      • XP-Pen Artist GEN2
        • XP-Pen Artist 12 Gen2 (CD120FH)
        • XP-Pen Artist 13 GEN2 (CD130FH)
        • XP-Pen Artist 16 GEN2 (CD160FH)
      • XP-Pen Artist Pro
      • XP-Pen Artist Pro GEN2
        • XP-Pen Artist Pro 22 GEN2 (MD220QH)
        • XP-Pen Artist Pro 19 GEN2 (MD180UH)
        • XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 GEN2 (MD160QH)
      • XP-Pen Shortcut Remote
      • XP-Pen Deco
        • XP-Pen Deco LW (IT1060B)
      • XP-Pen Deco Pro GEN2
        • XP-Pen Deco Pro XLW GEN2 (MT1592B)
      • XP-Pen Innovator
      • XP-Pen protective sheets
      • XP-Pen pens
        • XP-Pen X3 Pro pens
        • XP-Pen X3 Elite pen
      • XP-Pen ACS15 Ergo Stand
    • Ugee
  • Application links
    • MyPaint
    • Adobe Photoshop
      • 7P: Adobe Photoshop
    • ArtRage
    • Affinity Photo
      • Affinity Photo notes
    • Autodesk Maya
    • Blender
    • Clip Studio Paint
      • Clip Studio Paint notes
    • Concepts app
    • FireAlpaca
    • Freeform
    • Fresco
    • HEAVYPAINT
    • HiPaint
    • Ibis Paint
    • Infinite Painter
    • Inkscape
    • Kleki
    • Krita
      • Krita notes
    • Medibang Paint
    • Medibang Pro
    • Microsoft Whiteboard
    • Microsoft PowerPoint
    • Microsoft OneNote
    • Microsoft Paint
    • Painter
    • Paintstorm Studio
    • PaintTool Sai
    • Photoshop
    • Procreate
      • Procreate notes
    • Rebelle
    • Samsung Notes
    • ZoomIt
    • Feather 3D
  • Accessories
    • Screen cleaning sprays
    • Cables
      • CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable
    • Cable adapters
    • Drawing gloves
    • Extension cables
    • Keyboards
    • Auxiliary input devices
      • TourBox
        • 7P: TourBox
      • 8bitdo controller
      • Clip Studio Tabmate
    • Pen grips
    • Protective cases
    • Surface protectors
      • Foxbox covers
      • Photodon screen protectors
      • ePlastic polycarbonate sheets (velvet lexan)
      • Paperlike for iPad
    • Monitor arms
      • Ergotron monitor arms
    • Stands
      • VIVO Pneumatic Arm Monitor Desk Stand (STAND-V100R)
      • Parblo PR-100 stand
        • 7P: Parblo PR-100 Stand
      • XP-Pen AC41/AC42 stands
      • XOOT Stand
      • iPad stands
  • Resources
    • Drawing tablet community
    • Kuuube
      • Kuuube's Wacom tablet mastersheet
      • Kuuube's tablet buying guide
      • Kuuube's Wacom pen compatibility mastersheet
    • YouTube channels
    • Subreddits for drawing tablets
    • Koneko_w
    • Project Patchouli
  • Process
    • Pressure range data
    • Measuring hover
    • Measuring pressure
    • Measuring display sharpness
    • Measuring report rate
    • Measuring diagonal wobble
    • Diagonal wobble samples
    • Perfect pressure sensitive lines
    • Tablet evaluation
    • Microscope
  • Reference
    • Resolution info
    • Aspect ratio math
    • Standard paper sizes
  • Technology
    • Display panel technology
    • VESA
    • Wacom patents
    • AES
    • Apple Pencil tech
    • EMR
      • EMR technical resources
      • EMR position detection
      • EMR pressure detection
      • Active EMR vs Passive EMR
      • EMR tilt detection
      • The realities of building your own EMR pen
    • MPP
    • Digital pen tech
    • Wacom UD EMR
      • Pens that support UD EMR 2nd gen
      • Tablets that support UD EMR 2nd gen
    • USI
  • Misc
    • Circuit simulations
    • History of drawing tablets
      • Preface
      • Chapter 1: Antiquity
      • Chapter 2: Terms
      • Appendix: Timeline
      • Appendix: Other histories
      • Appendix: References
    • Mobile computer recommendations
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Background
  • Displays with etched glass surface
  • Displays with a film on top of glass
  • Wear on a etched glass surface
  • Glass Surface Wear from drawing
  • Preventing damage and wear to the glass surface
  • Small particle damage
  • Contact with objects on your hand
  • Scratches during transport
  • Removing wear damage on a glass surface
  • Preventing damage using protective sheets
  • Examples of damage
  • Example 1
Export as PDF
  1. Guides
  2. Caring for your drawing tablet

Surface wear on pen displays

Background

Pen displays (tablets with a screen) come in two varieties

  • those that have a glass surface, where your pen is making direct contact with the glass surface

  • And those that have a film on top of the glass surface, where your pen only touches the film and does not touch the glass

Displays with etched glass surface

the glass surface is usually an etched glass surface. The etching is a very subtle texture created on the glass usually through the means of some acid that has eaten away a little bit of the surface.

The texture gives two benefits. First, it helps the glass avoid feeling slippery as you draw. That slippery feeling is a very common complaint for some devices like an iPad. Second, that texture also disperses light that is coming from the room and this dispersion will reduce glare. So the etching is often referred to as an anti glare treatment.

One negative aspect of the etching is that it can create an effect called anti glare sparkle. Sometimes the anti glare sparkle is very subtle but sometimes it is extremely strong and people do not like it. More here: Anti-Glare Sparkle.

Displays with a film on top of glass

in this case the film provides an anti glare treatment typically and provide some texture. Though I typically find that the texture.

Wear on a etched glass surface

In a general sense the glass that is used for append display is highly durable. They are designed to be directly drawn upon with the pens / nibs that the manufacturer also supplies.

And while these glass surfaces are designed to be very durable, they are not infinitely resistant to damage from various sources.

Glass Surface Wear from drawing

Let's talk about the first kind of damage which is damage from just basic drawing. There are a wide variety of experiences people have with scratching up or damaging the glass of their pen display.

Some people like me have drawn on pen displays for many years and have never seen any kind of scratching or damage that came from drawing.

But you can easily find people posting on online forums who show you photos of how the surface of their pen display has become worn. You can see for example regions of their pen displays that seem more scratched up and where the etched texture has clearly changed.

Preventing damage and wear to the glass surface

Small particle damage

Some people suggest that small particles of various materials can be on your land on the glass or attach themselves to the nib of the pen. And they suggests that as you draw on the glass with your pen that you might see scratches that are caused not by the pen and nib itself, but by the motion of those small particles as your nib moves them across the surface of the glass.

I cannot say that I have personally experienced this myself. But I do think it is in your best interests to keep the surface of your pen display and your pens clean.

Contact with objects on your hand

Some artists are very careful to remove anything metallic from there hands or wrists when they draw. And I think this is also a very reasonable thing to do to avoid the potential damaging the glass.

Scratches during transport

If you were transporting your pen display you should make sure that the glass is covered by something to protect it during it's journey. I have seen people mentioned that they put their pen display in a backpack but that's some other object in the backpack made contact with and

Removing wear damage on a glass surface

The glass surface of a pen display is not designed to be removed. In the case of fully laminated pen displays, remember that the glass is bonded to the display panel with the layer of optically clear adhesive (OCA). So in summary the glass you have is going to be there forever.

And anywhere or damage you caused the glass will also be there forever.

I have never seen anyone find anyway to somehow remove any on the glass surface

Preventing damage using protective sheets

Protective sheets on top of the tablet glass naturally protect the glass from damage.

One benefit of protective sheets is if they do get damaged you can generally replace them.

Examples of damage

Example 1

Last updated 1 year ago

More here:

From this reddit post:

protective sheets
https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/zv593v/does_cintiq_13hd_have_screen_protection_see_coment/