Surface Pro 3 Pen Button Customization

Anonymous
2014-06-21T18:20:54+00:00

I am a previous owner of a Surface Pro 2, and loved the capability it provided of customizing the button commands per program through the Wacom drivers. As a new owner of the surface Pro 3, I a very disappointed to discover that the same functionality is not available in the N-trig driver options. As an artist, the primary use of my surface is for drawing inside of programs like Adobe Photoshop. Not being able to customize the button functions on the new pen is detrimental to my efficiency as a digital artist. Without the ease of having quick access to specific commands through the pen buttons, I am forced to either dig through the menus and submenus of the program to execute a simple command, or connect a keyboard to use hotkeys. One of the greatest features of the surface is the ability to draw inside of photoshop as if it were a paper notebook, freeing me from my desktop work space and removing the requirement of the mouse and keyboard. Without the customization of these pen buttons, I lose that freedom.

I spoke to a Microsoft support tech this morning who informed me that "hopefully" in the next month or two, this feature will be added to the pen drivers. While this is a new product, and I understand that some features are still in development, this feature is crucial in the workflow of any artist using this device. I already own a desktop computer and a laptop; so again, the primary function of the Surface Pro 3 for me is drawing inside of programs like Photoshop without the need for a mouse and keyboard. 

I don't know if any Microsoft representatives read these discussions, but if there is a way I could be included in any sort of pre-release developmental versions of drivers that introduce this capability, I would love to be a part of it and am happy to provide feedback from an artist's perspective. 

Thanks for reading.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-01T03:35:19+00:00

    For now I got something that... works for me (sort of) by binding the volume buttons while certain programs are active using AutoHotkey.

    I still think it is ridiculous there isn't a simple built into windows way to bind the pen buttons (much less any way at all).

    Are you saying that you're using the volume buttons as controls instead of the pen buttons or are you saying you've somehow found a way to use the side buttons by first binding the volume buttons? I'm familiar with autohotkey and would like to see your explaination/code for this if you don't mind.

    -Mike

    Sorry that was confusing, you can use autohotkey to bind the volume buttons. (they are named SC130 and SC12E).

    This is helpful for me and maybe for others but no, I have not found any way to bind the buttons on the pen.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-11-30T17:59:16+00:00

    For now I got something that... works for me (sort of) by binding the volume buttons while certain programs are active using AutoHotkey.

    I still think it is ridiculous there isn't a simple built into windows way to bind the pen buttons (much less any way at all).

    Are you saying that you're using the volume buttons as controls instead of the pen buttons or are you saying you've somehow found a way to use the side buttons by first binding the volume buttons? I'm familiar with autohotkey and would like to see your explaination/code for this if you don't mind.

    -Mike

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-11-29T06:05:58+00:00

    I like to have the side buttons as ALT and SHIFT for photoshop (wouldn't mind to have the top button mapped as right click!) and mid button and pan for 3D software. The surface pro 3 is advertised to suit artist, it certainly is, however it would be better to have the button customization! I use a Wacom 13HD on desktop, it is just too much to revert back and forth with the short cuts...totally mass up my work flow...

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-11-28T15:02:25+00:00

    Please, Define work properly. To me my pen work properly.

    Come on, you know what he wanted to say!

    Work properly = Be able to customize the two buttons on the side

    Well, I have not seen that in any machine using Ntrig yet. The max I have seen is disable the eraser button using for that the Ntrig Control Panel applet.

    And don't get me wrong, I think that would be a nice thing to have.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-11-28T07:36:32+00:00

    Please, Define work properly. To me my pen work properly.

    Come on, you know what he wanted to say!

    Work properly = Be able to customize the two buttons on the side

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