Surface Pro 3 Pen Button Customization

Agree 100% The N-Trig pen is the one weak point on this system.

Lack of button customization, requires a battery to function, and most frustrating to the artist, the nib wears out fast, NO purchasable replacement nibs either (They aren't sold through MS Store or N-Trig's site)

I've had my Surface Pro 3 for about 72 hours, in that time I've done maybe 15-16 hours worth of painting, and already I'm seeing some fraying on the nib, and I'm not using excessive pressure while drawing with it. Prior to the Surface I worked with a Wacom intous tablet for 6 years and in that time I only had to replace a nib once.

I know you can call customer service and they'll send you a new nib, but still, why should we have to call customer service, send them a photo of the nib, and then have them dispatch a replacement when it could just as easily have shipped with a few replacements, or the ability to buy a pack of replacements from the MS store.

I'm sure this pen is great if all you do is jot down a few notes during a meeting, but for a dedicated artist it blows. Add to that a lack of alternate pens that will work, and it really brings the Surface Pro 3 down to a 'second best' in terms of graphics tablets. I would rather the Surface was thicker and a bit heavier but used the Wacom digitizer over thinner with a substandard pen/digitizer.

Seriously, you can't just buy a pack of nibs..? That is stupid as well. It's inevitable that it will be worn down.

I do however think that the Surface Pro 3 could be saved by either official or third party software but this would need to happen very soon for me to keep it. I don't think the Wacom companion is without it's own set of problems either, so changing from one less then perfect device to another for even more money doesn't make all that much sense for me currently.

Replacement nibs is a must though, fix it Microsoft.

You guys will probably be disappointed if you are looking for a software upgrade for the pen in compatibility.  The digitizer is built into the pen and the touchscreen controller is also the controller for the pen.  So, there will be no work-a-round for that.

As for tips for the pen?  Contact Customer Service for those.

The pen is more of an electronic stylus with these tablets and won't be much more.  Probably not desired but you can attach a Wacom digitizer tablet to the Pro 3 and use that instead.  It would not be portable except for the smaller Wacom models.

I have to think that making the pen programmable would hook so many more people into buying this device. I have called on several occasions and requested to speak with the dev team about this critical omission, only to be told that they are aware and working on a solution. I have emailed ntrig and they replied that they are looking into this matter as well. I'd like to remain optimistic and think that there will be a solution in the near future.

Let's hope!

 Steve

So, are you saying you can't possibly re-map the buttons? That should be as simple as re-mapping a keyboard button with something like AutoHotkey? Push that, do this. As for compatibility, that's sad. But the Wintab driver seems to add more and more compatible software? Also a lot off odd software like Krita and Sai supports it but Sketchbook Pro doesn't...

I actually read Microsofts surface blog that they will release a editable curve for pen pressure though, so that's nice.

No, it isn't. I already own two Wacom tablets from different generations and I purchased this product specifically to be a portable working computer. Sort of like a digital sketchbook that can actually do some heavier stuff if needed.