Problem with tools not working

[JCook]

I haven't upgraded to 10 yet, I'm still using 9.5 on my Mac.

I have vector layers with drawn items that are filled, and I want to animate the points, but I cannot get the Select Points tool or the Translate Points tool to work. If no points are selected the Select Points tool will not select points by clicking on them and it won't select by lasso drag either. What happens is when I move the tool the window moves around instead. The same thing happens with the Translate Points tool if a point is selected - I can't move the point, only the whole window (the View). The only way I've found to get out of this is to quit the entire program and start it up again. I've got a short deadline this week on an animation, and I need to solve this problem. Anyone know why this is happening?

Oh, also, I'm on frame 0 when I'm trying to do these things.

thanks,
Jack

[JCook]

Does anyone have any ideas on this?

Jack

[synthsin75]

Sometimes the Alt modifier can seem to get "stuck" on Windows, but I'm not sure that would cause what you're seeing.

[slowtiger]

Are you sure to have the exact layer selected in the Layer palette? Other than that I can't think of any reason why these tools shouldn't workk.

[Kadoogan]

I know that I have had many issues with the Mac mouse in the past at work. So much so that I refuse to use one now.

Try plugging in a wired PC mouse - almost any wired Logitech or Microsoft mouse will do. Actually, any mouse with buttons should work.

Borrow one if you have to, then give it a try.

That is all I can think of. The Mac mouse is very different from PC items of the same variety. It may not be the only variable, but it is a start.

EDIT: Alternatively, or in addition, check your mouse settings in the control panel. That is just a shot in the dark.

EDIT 2: Also, if that does not work, restart your Mac completely and try again. Also consider doing any system updates.

[JCook]

Thanks for the replies.

synthesin75: It does seem like a modifier button doesn't let go. A lot of the time when this happens it's after I've used Control/shift buttons to zoom in on something. Don't know how to avoid that.

slowtiger: I do have the correct layer selected. In fact points are selected on the path I want to modify, but the Translate tool seems inactive, although it's chosen in the toolbar.

Kadoogan: My Mac mouse is wired in. I am also using a Wacom tablet with a pen, but I have this problem either way. I might try using the Wacom mouse that comes with the tablet and see if there's any difference. I've had this problem over several days, and I shut down my computer when I go home, so it's restarted every day. Restarting the program does seem to reset things and it then works, until it doesn't.

I am able to work, but I have to save and quit the program too often for a good workflow. I don't know if this is a bug in the program or a glitch in my computer settings. I might run Onyx on the computer (it's a computer cleaning program that helps get rid of bad files and reorganizes the bits and bytes) and see if that clears anything up.

thanks, all of you.

Jack

[heyvern]

In addition to information posted here I have noticed that the tool cursor sometimes does not update properly but will work correctly when clicked on the object.

For example with the bone tools, I will sometimes need to choose a bone from the bone selection drop down in order for the bone transformation tool to update the cursor or work correctly.