How To Fix the FireAlpaca Pen Delay

Sometimes, you may notice a considerable pen delay when working on a project in FireAlpaca. There are many reasons this can happen, but most importantly, a pen delay can seriously mess with your workflow. This article will help you figure out why pen delays happen in FireAlpaca and what you can do about it. Let’s begin!

Table of Contents

Check the Stabilizer

If you experience pen delay when using FireAlpaca to draw on a pen tablet, the first thing to do is check the stabilizer value.

The stabilizer value usually appears on the eraser or pen toolbar when you use the eraser or pen tool. The Stabilizer helps FireAlpaca users create naturally smooth lines. However, this requires the computer to constantly calculate while the lines are being made, which could drain the computer’s resources.

If the stabilizer value is high, the calculations will consume more resources. The highest stabilizer value is 40, but most use cases only require 25. If the value is set higher than 25, it might cause your computer to slow down and result in pen delay. This is especially true if you are working on an older computer.

You can also check the Antialiasing setting. Antialiasing is responsible for making the pen either pixelated or smooth. While this might not be a primary factor in causing pen delay, checking doesn’t hurt.

Check Background Applications

Sometimes pen delay and any other lag issues in FireAlpaca result from other opened applications in the computer.

Applications running in the background can deplete the resources needed by FireAlpaca to function smoothly. If this is the case, you may have to close other applications, such as video or audio players. You should also close any major resource-hungry programs that aren’t being used at the moment.

Additionally, you can also check your FireAlpaca program. If you have too many works or canvases open simultaneously, it could cause your project to lag. This can increase pen delay. It is usually a good idea to close any canvases that you are not currently working on.

Check Your Settings

One of the most common yet simple fixes for pen delay that many people might not know is simply changing their settings.

To do this:

Click the File menu
Select Brush Environmental Settings
Click the Brush Coordinate option
If the active option is Tablet Coordinate, you should change it to Mouse Coordinate. This might help fix any pen delay issues.

Restart Your Tablet or Computer

If the previous fixes didn’t correct the pen delay issue, you should consider restarting your computer or tablet.

If you are using a tablet, turn it off and wait a couple of minutes before turning it back on. If you are using a laptop or computer, simply shut it down for a few minutes and restart the system. This should refresh the device and fix any issues of pen delay.

Remember to save your work before shutting down or turning off your tablet or computer.

Reinstall the Driver

Sometimes, the problem is more of a software issue rather than a hardware issue. This step involves you uninstalling the driver for your tablet or computer and reinstalling it again.

You will likely lose your custom settings if you reinstall your driver, and setting up again can be time-consuming. It is usually a good idea to save your preferences before uninstalling and reinstalling the driver. This will save you time so you can get back into the swing of things once you are up and running.

Check the Pen Settings (If Using a Tablet or Pen)

If you use a tablet or a pen, you could check the software to see if you can turn off TabletPC or Windows Ink. You should also turn the Pen Flicks feature off. This is usually found in the control panel section of the Pen and Touch applet. Long-press or right-click the icon to turn off the Pen Flicks feature.

Check Your Hard Disk

If you notice some pen delay when working on FireAlpaca, it makes sense to check your hard drive to make sure it isn’t too full. It is recommended that you have at least 20% free space on your hard drive when running any photo editing or illustration software.

Recharge Your Pen

If you are experiencing stylus pen delay on your drawing tablet, it might not be anything serious other than the battery in your pen running out. This can be quickly fixed by charging it. If the battery is not the problem, it might be necessary to replace the pen before taking on other drastic steps in this article.

Miscellaneous Software Problems

Pen delay and other lagging issues could be caused by either old drivers or conflict from a previous installation. The most effective way to solve this is to uninstall any previous software then reinstall it. If you use a pen, you might want to head to the tablet manufacturer’s website to find the latest version of the driver.

Other Issues that can Cause Pen Delay

One other possible cause of pen delay could be a high DPI setting on Windows. This can cause the application to become blurry, as FireAlpaca tries to scale its interface to match the appropriate DPI.

Go to the DPI settings and select the Disable Display Scaling on High DPI to correct this problem. This should get rid of any blurriness and also get rid of the pen delay it causes.

Checking Your Wacom Tablet Properties

Sometimes, the pen delay issue could be from your drawing tablet. To ensure that your tablet doesn’t ruin your workflow by causing pen delay, you should do the following:

Disable swiping gestures and flicks
Disable the capability to right-click by pressing and holding
Set your Wacom tablet driver up to counter any FireAlpaca brush lag
Reduce the amount of input lag on your tablet by sorting out any latency issues

Conclusion

Fixing pen delay in FireAlpaca is pretty easy. Simply troubleshoot through the suggestions in this article, starting with the least drastic options.