Stopping OpenTabletDriver from starting when your computer boots

• Press WINDOWS+R to bring up the Run window

• In Open, enter shell:startup

• Delete the OpenTabletDriver shortcut

Uninstalling OpenTabletDriver

• If OpenTabletDriver processes are running, then stop them.

• You can use Task manager for stop the processes, or you can stop the processes with these two Powershell commands

stop-process -name OpenTabletDriver.UX.Wpf
stop-process -name OpenTabletDriver.Daemon

• Delete the folder that contains OpenTabletDriver

Uninstalling VMulti

• Navigate to the folder that contains VMulti

• run uninstall_hiddriver.bat as admin

Overview

To fully use all the features of your drawing tablet, you must to install drivers in your computer.

The importance of installing tablet drivers

Without tablet drivers you won't be able to:

• Use tilt

• Use pressure

• Configure the buttons on the pen

• Configure buttons on the tablet

• Control which display the tablet is mapped to

• Ensure that you have matching aspect ratios between your tablet and display so that you are drawing without distortion

• Control the pressure curve of the pen - though you will still be able to control it in those applications that support it.

Driver downloads

• Wacom: https://www.wacom.com/en-us/support/product-support/drivers

• Huion: https://www.huion.com/download/

• XP-Pen: https://www.xp-pen.com/download

• Xencelabs: https://www.xencelabs.com/support/download-drivers/

Using a tablet without installing drivers

In some cases it is possible to use a tablet without drivers. More here: Using a tablet without installing drivers.

Driver compatibility with multiple tablets

A specific version of a tablet driver tends to be compatible with a range of tablets from a specific manufacturer.

For example Wacom's windows are compatible with wide range of their tablets.

Here is the compatibility list for version 6.4.4-3 of the Wacom drivers.

OpenTabletDriver

• An alternative to manufacturer-provided drivers is OpenTabletDriver (https://opentabletdriver.net/)

• If you want to try OpenTabletDriver on Windows for use with creative applications, I wrote an detailed OpenTabletDriver Installation guide for Windows.

Related documents

Use the OTD discord to get help

• If you need help, join the OpenTabletDriver Discord server:

• DO ask questions in the #support-windows channel

• DO NOT ask for support via DMs.

Do not ask your tablet manufacturer for help with OTD

Your tablet manufacturer WILL NOT help or support you in any way when you are using OpenTabletDriver instead of their own drivers.

Limitations of OpenTabletDriver

• OTD does NOT support touch input.

• OTD does NOT support tablet rotary dials.

• OTD does NOT support pen barrel rotation.

• OTD does NOT support wireless or bluetooth connections.

• OTD does NOT support per-application configuration. All OTD settings are system-wide.

Running OTD as admin

• DO NOT run OTD as administrator.

• OTD will not work correctly if you do.

Windows Ink & WinTab

• There are two Pen APIs in the Windows ecosystem: WinTab which is older, and Windows Ink which is newer.

• OTD only supports Windows Ink so any apps you want to use it with must also support Windows Ink.

• Most creative apps support Windows Ink - Clip Studio Paint, Krita, Photoshop.

• If you want pressure sensitivity, tilt, etc. - you must you MUST configure OTD to use Windows Ink and configure your apps to also use Windows Ink.

Pen hover height

By default, OTD has no restriction on the hover height of your pen. Most drivers impose an artificial limit of about 10mm for a pen. But you'll often find with OTD that the hover height is increased substantially.

The maximum hover height is dependent on the specific model of tablet involved. For example with a Wacom Intuos Pro (PTH-860) my hover height goes from 10mm with the Wacom Driver to 20mm with Open Tablet driver.

You can install a plug-in to control the hover height and have whatever limit you want.

Application data directory

• OTD stores information in its application data directory

• If you are doing more advanced things with OTD you should be familiar with this folder.

Overview

Slimy Scylla is created by tablet enthusiast Kuuube.

It is extremely powerful and configurable.

It features many amazing filters:

Installing Slimy Scylla

Launch the OpenTableDriver UI

Navigate to Plugins > Open Plugin Manager

The plugin manager will look like this

Click on Slimy Scylla in the list on the left.

Then click Install.

Close the plugin manager

In the OpenTabletDriver app, click on Filters

If Slimy Scylla is installed you will see many filters with names that start with "Slimy Scylla"

If you want to use a filter make sure to enable it and to press SAVE.

Position smoothing

There are several filters that involve smoothing the position of the pen.

• Position Smoothing Moving Average

• Position Smoothing Pulled String

• Position Smoothing Exponential Moving Average

The one I recommend using is Position Smoothing Exponental Moving Average

Configuring Position Smoothing Exponential Moving Average

This is what the configuration looks like:

If you want to enable the filter, click Enable Smily Scylla ... at the top and click Apply.

Amount = how much smoothing (range 0.0 to 1.0). Try 0.1 to start with

Always Apply to Hover = to leave this unchecked.

Introduction

OpenTabletDriver (OTD) is a third-party tablet driver. "Third-party" means it is made by someone else than the tablet manufacturer.

At the OTD site: https://opentabletdriver.net/ you can find:

• A list of compatibles drawing tablets

• Documentation

• A link to the GitHub repo

• A link to their Discord server: https://discord.gg/9bcMaPkVAR

Why use OpenTabletDriver?

Normally, you should use your manufacturer-provided driver for your tablet. However, there are some situations where OpenTabletDriver is extremely useful or required.

• Your manufacturer dropped support for your tablet model with their latest drivers. This may leave you stuck with a tablet you can't use.

• Your manufacturer's drivers may be malfunctioning in some way that is beyond your control to fix.

• You are trying to troubleshoot a problem and want to see if the problem is in the driver vs some other component.

Using OpenTabletDriver on Windows

To learn how to install and configur OTD on windowes, go here: Using OpenTabletDriver on Windows

Key points

• OTD is open source. You can see the code on their GitHub repo: https://github.com/OpenTabletDriver/OpenTabletDriver

• OTD supports 200+ tablets across many brands and many release years

• OTD is actively maintained

• OTD supports plug-ins that can modify its behavior

• OTD runs on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

• People use OTD as their normal tablet driver for playing osu! and even when they are doing creative tasks.

• OTD has a very active discord server: https://discord.gg/9bcMaPkVAR

Finding older drivers

Manufacturers usually keep all the old versions of their tablet drivers on their website. If you can't find the driver you need you can always contact customer support and they should be able to help you find it for you.

Challenges in using older drivers

You may run into problems using an older version of a tablet driver.

A common issue is that the operating system has changed since the driver was first created and applications have also changed in that time. So if you have an older driver you may have difficulty using some features. For example a very new version of Photoshop combined with an older version of the Wacom driver can create a situation where buttons on the pen do not work. The issues you will run into are highly dependent on the specific version of the operating system and the specific version of the application.

Alternatives to using older drivers

Consider OpenTabletDriver

Overview

Some brands (Huion and XP-Pen) and maybe let you export and import driver configurations. This has some great benefits:

• You can backup the settings that work well for you and restore them later

• You can configure a tablet on one computer and import that configuration on another computer.

Wacom Center

Click on the gear icon in the upper right. You will see a New Backup button for exporting, and a Import backup button.

Huion

In the Huion driver, click on the gear icon, then navigate to the Backup tab. You will see Export and Import buttons

XP-Pen

In the XP-pen driver, click on the gear icon. You will see Export config and Import config buttons.

Overview

OpenTabletDriver lets you configure the pressure curve via plug-ins.

Installing the Slimy Scylla plug-in

Instructions for installing Slimy Scylla are here: Slimy Scylla

Configuring the pressure curve

In the Filters tab, enable Slimy Scylla Pressure Curve

This is what the configuration looks like:

To enable the filter, click Enable Smily Scylla and click Apply.

The settings here will let you configure the pressure curve. Unfortunately, there is no interactive view of the pressure curve inside the OTD UX. However, you can use the demos tool to play with the settings interactively and see the pressure curve https://www.desmos.com/calculator/xo0y9dc9ye

Remember once you make changes to the settings, always click Apply in OTD

Slimy Scylla documentation

https://github.com/Kuuuube/Slimy_Scylla/tree/main/docs

https://github.com/Kuuuube/Slimy_Scylla/blob/main/docs/pressure_curve/pressure_curve.md

Introduction

No matter where OpenTabletDriver is installed, when it is running, it will put its data into a user-specific application data folder on Windows.

The location of the folder is here in Windows: %localappdata%\OpenTabletDriver

This expands to a path that should look like:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\OpenTabletDriver

This is what my folder looks like:

ProTip: Quickly get to the AppData folder by pressing WINDOWS+R and typing appdata.

It will open a window directly to that folder.

Overview

OpenTabletDriver lets you configure smoothing via plug-ins.

Installing the Slimy Scylla plug-in

Instructions for installing Slimy Scylla are here: Slimy Scylla

Position smoothing

There are several filters that involve smoothing the position of the pen.

• Position Smoothing Moving Average

• Position Smoothing Pulled String

• Position Smoothing Exponential Moving Average

The one I recommend using is Position Smoothing Exponental Moving Average

Configuring Position Smoothing Exponential Moving Average

This is what the configuration looks like:

If you want to enable the filter, click Enable Smily Scylla ... at the top and click Apply.

Amount = how much smoothing (range 0.0 to 1.0). Try 0.1 to start with

Always Apply to Hover = to leave this unchecked.

Slimy Scylla documentation

here: https://github.com/Kuuuube/Slimy_Scylla/tree/main/docs

Overview

In some cases, you can use a drawing tablet without installing a driver.

This is highly dependent on:

• The operating system - Some operating systems MAY come with built-in drivers for tablets (though these are limited in features)

• The specific tablet model - Some tablets REQUIRE a driver to be installed

Also, in this case it may be that not all tablet features are available.

Scenario

A common reason why people are interested in using a tablet without installing a driver is simply that they are not allowed to install a driver in their situation.

This is very common in educational environments. IT departments often "lock down" their computers. This prevents a normal users such as instructors and students from installing ANY software. Unfortunately, convincing IT to change their software installation policy is incredibly difficult. Also, often the IT department is even unwilling to pre-install the drivers on those machines.

Windows without installing a driver

If you have a Windows computer with no driver installed, and then you attach a tablet. One of two things will happen:

• The tablet will work. In Windows this is due to Windows PNP (Plug and Play) support for tablets. Keep in mind that Windows PNP support for tablets does NOT have all the features that a typical tablet driver would provide. See: .

• The tablet will not work at all. Some tablets are designed to deliberately NOT work without drivers installed. A great example is the Wacom Intuos Pro Large (PTH-860). Plugging it into a Windows computer achieves nothing. doesn't enable you to use

Windows using OpenTabletDriver

Is a special kind of driver. It's called a "user mode" driver. A normal tablet driver has to be installed. The driver components have to be placed in a specific location and affect how the operating system works. But OTD isn't "installed" at all. It's just a program you run. You can copy the OTD executable files to your machine and start it. While OTD is running, a connected tablet will work.

What OTD provides by default:

• Moving the pen moves the pointer

• Clicking and drawing

What OTD does NOT provide by default:

• pressure

• tilt

If you want those pressure and tilt, you have to install an additional component called VMulti that OTD can work with. Unfortunately, VMulti actually has to be installed in the traditional sense - it is not a "user mode" component. And your IT setup may prevent you from installing it.

More about pen buttons

You can bind the pen buttons to several kinds of actions:

• Mouse Button Binding is not supported

• Key Binding is supported

• Multi-Key Bindings is supported

• Windows Ink Bindings are supported

For Windows Ink here are the options:

If you specify Pen Button, the effective behavior you will get in an application is a mouse right-click.

MacOS without installing driver

I haven't tested a Mac for this yet.

Overview

On Windows, manufacturer tablet drivers sometimes uninstalling a manufacturer tablet isn't enough. Occasionally the drivers leave bits of themselves around. The TableDriverCleanup tool created by user can help remove these leftover bits.

If you want to see the source code to understand exactly what it does then go here:

Unfortunately I do not know of an equivalent tool for MacOS. But on the other hand, I don't see that it is needed on MacOS.

Step 1: Follow the normal uninstall procedures

• Navigate to Add/Remove programs and uninstall your existing tablet drivers.

• Note that you may be required to restart your computer.

Step 2: Restart if needed

If Step 1 did not require a restart of your computer, then restart your computer now.

Step 3: Run the TabletDriverCleanup tool

• Download

• Extract all contents of the zip file to any location

• Right-click on TabletDriverCleanup.exe and click Run as administrator

• The cleanup tool will open a terminal window and show the results of its cleaning. In the example below it did not find any leftover driver components to uninstall.

Overview

This document is for creative users are interested in using OpenTabletDriver on Windows and want to use pen features such as pressure sensitivity, tilt, etc. If you don't know much about OpenTabletDriver, read this introduction first: OpenTabletDriver. You should also familiarize yourself with these usage notes for OpenTabletDriver.

What follows are the detailed steps I use to install OTD on Windows. This document does not replace the official OTD documentation (https://opentabletdriver.net/Wiki).

Skills required

Using OTD for doing artwork is an advanced scenario. You should try only if you are confident in your technical skills or can get someone to help you.

Supported tablets

Although OTD supports many (200+) tablets but not all of them. Consult the complete list here: https://opentabletdriver.net/Tablets

In that list, your tablet may be marked as needing "Zadig WinUSB". If so, you will also have to install that component. I do not have any drawing tablets that require Zadig WinUSB so using Zadig WinUSB is NOT covered in this document.

Important notes

• The instructions cover this specific version of OTD: v0.6.3.0

• These instructions are for x64 operating systems only. OTD does not support 32-bit versions of Windows.

• I tested these instructions on Windows 11 64-bit (version 10.0.22621)

Prepare your computer

• Uninstall any existing tablet drivers (Wacom, XP-Pen, Huion, etc.).

• To be absolutely sure you have completely removed the drivers follow use the Tablet driver cleanup tool (this tool is for Windows only)

• Uninstalling may require a restart of your system. So get this out of the way before you proceed with the next steps.

• Create a folder somewhere on your computer called "OpenTabletDriver". I will use "C:\OpenTabletDriver" for the examples in this doc.

Install the VMulti driver

You MUST install VMulti driver if you want pressure sensitivity & tilt to work with your tablet on Windows.

• Download VMulti.Driver.zip from: https://github.com/X9VoiD/vmulti-bin/releases/download/v1.0/VMulti.Driver.zip

• Right click the zip and select Extract All.

• This will create folder called VMulti.Driver.

• Copy the VMulti.Driver folder to the C:\OpenTabletDriver.

• Right click on install_hiddriver.bat and select Run as Administrator

  • NOTE: This bat file may restart your computer without warning. So, close any applications and save any docs before you run it.

Install the .NET Runtime

• OTD requires a specific version of the .NET Runtime

• You can directly download and installed the version of .NET Runtime needed by downloading it from this link: https://opentabletdriver.net/framework

Download and extract OpenTabletDriver

• Download OpenTabletDriver.win-x64.zip and put it in your Documents folder

• Right-click on OpenTabletDriver.win-x64.zip, then select Extract All

• This will create a folder called OpenTabletDriver.win-x64

• Copy the OpenTabletDriver.win-x64 folder to c:\OpenTabletDriver

Launch the OpenTabletDriver app for the first time

• In the OpenTabletDriver.win-x64 folder, launch OpenTabletDriver.UX.Wpf.exe

• That launches the OTD app

• If you see a message that .NET 6 Desktop Runtime X64 is not installed, then follow its instructions to install that runtime. Then launch OpenTabletDriver.UX.Wpf.exe. This message does not always come up, so I recommend that you install the .NET Runtime before you use OTD.

• The OpenTabletDriver Guide may automatically start

  • Click the X in the upper right hand corner to close the guide.

  • You can get back to this guide at any time in OTD by navigating to Help > Show guide.

• When the OTD app is running, this icon will appear in your taskbar

Detect your tablet

• OTD will automatically try to detect your tablet

• The tablet will be shown in the Window title at the top

• To force detection click Tablets > Detect tablet

Install the Windows Ink plugin

• In the OTD app, navigate to Plugins > Open Plugin Manager

• Click on the Windows Ink plugin , then click Install

• The Windows Ink plugin will appear at the top of the plugin list

• Close the Plugin Manager window

Configure tablet to display mapping

• In the OTD App, go to Output > Tablet Section

• In Output > Display, right-click anywhere and pick Set to Display <displayname> where <displayname> is specific display you want to use with the tablet.

• In Output > Tablet, right click anywhere, and then select Lock Aspect Ratio.

• 

Configure Windows Ink

• In the OTD app, on the bottom change to mode dropdown from Absolute Mode to Windows Ink Absolute Mode

• NOTE: You will only see Windows Ink Absolute Mode listed if you previously enabled the Windows Ink plugin.

Configure the pen

Overview

• In the OTD app, navigate to the Pen Settings tab

• To summarize, you'll want your Pen Settings to look like this:

At the bottom of the OTD app, click Apply.

Tablet buttons

• In the Auxiliary Settings tab, each button shows up as an Auxiliary Binding.

• 

• In the screenshot above, one of the buttons has been set to match the "e" key.

Save OpenTabletDriver configuration

• Click Save at the bottom

• Click Apply at the bottom

Minimize the OpenTabletDriver app

• You don't have to keep the OTD app visible all the time, you can minimize the app at any time

• If you need to open OTD app again, you can find it in the taskbar

Configure your drawing application to use Windows Ink

• The specific instructions vary per app.

• Instructions for specific apps: Configure Windows Ink for apps

Automatically start OpenTabletDriver when Windows starts

• Right-click on OpenTabletDriver.UX.Wpf.exe

• Select Create Shortcut

• Right click on the shortcut, then select Properties

• Under Run, select Minimized

• Click OK

• Press WINDOWS+R to bring up the Run window

• In Open, type shell:startup

• This will open a new Explorer window pointing to a folder called Startup

• Move the shortcut to the Startup folder in that explorer window

Customizing your experience

Pressure curve

By default OTD does not use a pressure curve to modify how the pressure data is interpreted. However, you can edit the pressure curve by following these instructions: Pressure curve OpenTabletDriver

Smoothing

By default OTD performs no smoothing on the pen data. This is desirable because

• it gives you a VERY responsive drawing experience

• Gives you complete control about the smoothing

Application-level smoothing

To add smoothing back in to your drawing, your first and easiest option is to use the smoothing features in your drawing application.

Learn more here: Configure smoothing in applications

Driver-level smoothing

More here: Smoothing with OpenTabletDriver

Uninstalling OTD

See the instructions here: Uninstalling OpenTabletDriver on Windows

Resources

• r/huion - OpenTablet Driver guide for Huion Kamvas 24 4k on windows 10 (but maybe other tablets too) in particular for painting 2023/11/07