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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

56 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2019-01-26T19:30:57+00:00

    Hi guys, Just purchased SB2 and had the same issue, found a solution on the Blender Forums - https://blenderartists.org/t/surface-book-pen-problems-using-grease-pencil/1123178/7

    1.Open a Command Prompt window as an Administrator

    2.Run "reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pen /v LegacyPenInteractionModel /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f"

    The deadzone appears to be completely gone in both Blender and Zbrush, Photoshop is running fine too.

    Wow thanks, this is really handy! Running Zbrush on my Surface Book 2 this eliminates the issue of needing to drag the cursor a certain distance to make a stroke.

    However, now I'm noticing there's still a bit of lag between placing the pen down and when the stroke starts registering. For example, if I make a stroke too quickly it will not affect the mesh at all or only register the beginning of the stroke.

    This issue isn't present on the trackpad or in other programs like Clip Studio Paint. Also, I have unchecked "Enable press and hold for right-clicking" in the pen and touch control panel settings. Performance setting is on "best performance". Anybody have any tips for this?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2019-01-26T14:38:35+00:00

    Well I'll be damned. That registry change actually fixed it for me. I've been looking for this solution for over 2 years now. Thanks.

    To anyone out there wanting to try it - if you don't have the Pen key in the registry, just create it. As soon as you set the value to 1, it takes effect. No reboot needed for me. If you don't like it, change it back to 0 and it goes right back to how it was.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2019-01-09T23:53:56+00:00

    Hi guys, Just purchased SB2 and had the same issue, found a solution on the Blender Forums - https://blenderartists.org/t/surface-book-pen-problems-using-grease-pencil/1123178/7

    1.Open a Command Prompt window as an Administrator

    2.Run "reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pen /v LegacyPenInteractionModel /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f"

    The deadzone appears to be completely gone in both Blender and Zbrush, Photoshop is running fine too.

    It made no change on my surface pro 4. Tried looking for the location in the register and there's no \pen

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2019-01-09T04:17:11+00:00

    Hi guys, Just purchased SB2 and had the same issue, found a solution on the Blender Forums - https://blenderartists.org/t/surface-book-pen-problems-using-grease-pencil/1123178/7

    1.Open a Command Prompt window as an Administrator

    2.Run "reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pen /v LegacyPenInteractionModel /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f"

    The deadzone appears to be completely gone in both Blender and Zbrush, Photoshop is running fine too.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2018-12-12T17:57:49+00:00

    Finally got the 1809 update and the new pen options didn't help much. Disappointed again.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments