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
    2014-12-15T02:49:36+00:00

    Do any of these newfanglements allow the user to configure right-click (or middle-click, for that matter) so that it doesn't also require a left-click? I tried some third-party remapping programs, but none of them even detected a solo right-click.

    That, for me, was half the problem. Right-click should not require touching the tip of the pen to the screen (ie: left-clicking), but should work whenever the barrel button is pressed, as long as the pen is 'hovering' near the screen.

    It should probably be noted that the three-button mouse has allowed fully independent left/right/middle-clicking for as long as it's been in existence, and Wacom's digitisers have allowed 'hover clicking' for 20 years or so. It seems safe to assume, then, that for most users who have prior experience with a Wacom or similar digitiser, or for anyone who uses programs that require a two/three-button mouse, independent left/right/middle-clicking would be the preferred behaviour, if not an absolute necessity.

    Personally, because of the wacky button configuration, I found the SP3 completely unusable for serious or even casual graphics work. I considered keeping it just for programming, but I found (Microsoft's own) Visual Studio largely unusable on it as well, because it can't be configured to ignore the touchscreen.

    Another commenter mentioned Mudbox & Maya; I don't think those would be usable without having three whole buttons on the primary pointing device.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-12-15T02:01:26+00:00

    I just downloaded the radial menu app and confirm it works to remap the 2 side buttons to middle and right click.  I have it set up this way in Rhino on my SP3 & it works great.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-12-14T13:24:13+00:00

    RadialMenu 0.3.7.272 - released December 14, 2014

    • Changes under the hood that should improve performance.
    • Added: 'MouseWheel command' added for RadialMenu and the Toolbar. Moving up or right scrolls up, down or left scrolls down.

    - Added: Per-application stylus button remapping.

    • Added: Popup notification of profile switch events.
    • Fixed: 'Toggle keys' not working properly with mouse/pen since the touch specific code change.
    • Fixed: RadialMenu/Toolbar not switching profiles with some applications. (Foxit)

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-12-14T13:19:43+00:00

    There are now more options for remapping stylus buttons in RadialMenu.

    RadialMenu 0.3.7.272 - released December 14, 2014

    • Changes under the hood that should improve performance.
    • Added: 'MouseWheel command' added for RadialMenu and the Toolbar. Moving up or right scrolls up, down or left scrolls down.
    • Added: Per-application stylus button remapping.
    • Added: Popup notification of profile switch events.
    • Fixed: 'Toggle keys' not working properly with mouse/pen since the touch specific code change.
    • Fixed: RadialMenu/Toolbar not switching profiles with some applications. (Foxit)

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-12-06T04:32:04+00:00

    I plan on adding more options for the remapping in the future, as well as per application button mapping. The middle click /right click options are there as per user request. Some may want not want right click on the default button, who knows. Middle click is immensely useful for panning in art applications.

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