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
    2014-11-27T15:53:51+00:00

    To do something like this Microsoft depends on the OEM drivers. So it's up to Ntrig to release drivers supporting these features.

    Do you have a source for this information? I ask because Motion Computing tablets run Windows 8, with N-trig pens and they can remap the pen buttons.

    http://support.motioncomputing.com/kb/KnowledgebaseArticle10644.aspx

    It seems likely to me that N-trig Windows 8 drivers already support button remapping, Microsoft just hasn't provided this functionality in an application for SP3 yet. Perhaps the SP3 pen is different and there's more too it.

    I did a little research and the utility to do that in the motion tablets comes from Ntrig, it does not come from Motion.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-11-27T14:49:03+00:00

    To do something like this Microsoft depends on the OEM drivers. So it's up to Ntrig to release drivers supporting these features.

    Do you have a source for this information? I ask because Motion Computing tablets run Windows 8, with N-trig pens and they can remap the pen buttons.

    http://support.motioncomputing.com/kb/KnowledgebaseArticle10644.aspx

    It seems likely to me that N-trig Windows 8 drivers already support button remapping, Microsoft just hasn't provided this functionality in an application for SP3 yet. Perhaps the SP3 pen is different and there's more too it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-11-27T14:14:31+00:00

    Whoever's manning the twitter account is quite responsive. I tweeted @surface regarding remapping the buttons and they replied recommending a YouTube video about remapping the top button. I replied stating that right-click and middle click on the side buttons is what's really needed, and @surface didn't respond.

    It's like they refuse to acknowledge this is an issue. I don't see any Microsoft tags in this thread for sure.

    Anyway, I'm holding off on buying one until they include this feature. I'd love to use a SP3 for Photoshop and Mudbox, but with only 1 mouse button on the stylus it's currently of no use.

    To do something like this Microsoft depends on the OEM drivers. So it's up to Ntrig to release drivers supporting these features.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-11-27T06:51:37+00:00

    Whoever's manning the twitter account is quite responsive. I tweeted @surface regarding remapping the buttons and they replied recommending a YouTube video about remapping the top button. I replied stating that right-click and middle click on the side buttons is what's really needed, and @surface didn't respond.

    It's like they refuse to acknowledge this is an issue. I don't see any Microsoft tags in this thread for sure.

    Anyway, I'm holding off on buying one until they include this feature. I'd love to use a SP3 for Photoshop and Mudbox, but with only 1 mouse button on the stylus it's currently of no use.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-11-26T16:43:10+00:00

    Bump.

    I signed up just so I could voice how silly this is. I know you're busy microsoft, but altering the code to include button customization is not THAT big of a project. PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE!

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