Pen lag/deadzone on Surface pro 2017 in Zbrush

Anonymous
2018-05-29T22:59:20+00:00

I bought the Surface Pro 2017 i7 8GB model a couple of days ago primarily for Zbrush (3D sculpting software) with the use of the surface Pen. 

Everything seems to work other that this problem: When i place the pen tip on the screen there seems to be a small zone of about 3mm around the tip where nothing gets registered. When i go out of this zone the stroke gets registered and everything seems fine and is responsive. This happens with every new stroke.

The issue is only with the pen, the trackpad works fine. I did not encounter this issue in other software than Zbrush so far; Photoshop is fine. 

I downloaded the Wintab drivers, turned off 'flicks' and 'press and hold'. Windows is updated (Windows 10, version 1803)

I really hope somebody can help me since I use Zbrush professionally and I bought the Surface Pro just for this software.

Other than this I really love the device and I would hate to return it just for this small software issue.

Kind Regards, Robin

Surface | Surface Pro | Display and screen

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-09-17T01:17:10+00:00

    It was very unresponsive and didn't register click and drags reliably. Was pretty much impossible to even draw a marquee box around files etc.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-09-20T21:52:04+00:00

    Any word from Microsoft on this?

    I am also having this issue with Zbrush and I would love to find a fix to this problem.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-09-20T22:15:29+00:00

    I've heard nothing from MS on this yet. I've had a couple of messages from Pixologic, and they seem to not have been aware of the issue. The last reply I got from them was yesterday suggesting the following -

    'Try the following:

    1. Download the N-Trig drivers. https://support.pixologic.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/79/69/support-for-n-trig-pen-devices
    2. Disable Flicks. https://support.pixologic.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/102/69/performance-issues-on-surface-pro-tablets

    If you do both of these you should be good to go. Let me know.'

    My Surface is packed up and on its way back to MS at the moment as the Bluetooth and cameras have stopped working, but I'm pretty sure I've done both those things at least twice and no cigar.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-09-20T23:25:24+00:00

    Two issues with that response from Pixologic...

    1. the surface pro 2017 is not the sp4 and so I don't know why installing drivers for an older tablet would help. - though wintab is not included in the list of drivers for the sp2017 for some reason.
    2. The link to the page describing how to disable flicks is dead and is no longer available. Also I can't even find the option to turn flicks on OR off under pen and touch setting anymore. SO i'm unsure how you can even turn flicks off.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-09-21T03:52:42+00:00

    I did just try the reg edit from this post here https://www.reddit.com/r/Windowsink/comments/8508fi/controlling\_pen\_behavior\_in\_windows\_10/

    and I might be going crazy but it does seems to have greatly reduced the dead zone.

    Has anyone else tried this?

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