Surface Pro Pen Support

[CliffChapman]

It would be nice to design characters within Moho using the Surface Pro and the Surface Pen, but it isn't possible to map individual key hacks to the pen any more, sadly. Just a simple undo command within moho that doesn't need to go through a drop down menu, or keyboard, would seem like a very obvious thing to add.

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, it's a shortcoming of the Surface Pen's design.

I use a Surface Laptop Studio with a Surface Slim Pen 2. It works great for drawing, but I had to retrain myself on how I draw with a tablet to make it work. For example: with a mouse, I right-click to navigate in the Workspace; but with the Surface Pen, I need to hover-press-and-hold the finger button, and then touch the screen with the pen to do the same thing. Everything otherwise works the same, but it's a little more complicated with the Surface pen than it should be. By contrast, navigating in Moho with a Wacom pen is much easier because it basically works the same as a mouse.

I eventually adapted to the Surface pen's odd behavior, and made it work for me, and I do a lot of my Moho work on the Surface, but I prefer using the Wacom on my desktop.

BTW, this isnt specifically a Moho issue because the Surface Pen is a flawed design on MS's part. The single finger button makes it awkward to use for every art and animation program, and especially 3D programs where I need MMB control. With a Wacom pen, I just assign the MMB to the second finger button and I'm good to go, but this isn't possible with a Surface pen. Instead, I need to simulate the MMB using the Ctrl key on a keyboard, or when the Surface is in tablet mode, I have to use a remote device with a MMB mapped button. Or, when I'm using Blender on the Surface, I just give up and use the on-screen widgets. It gets the job done, but it's not ideal.

If MS is serious about appealing to the artist community, they really need to re-think this thing.

Apart from that, I do love this tablet for almost anything else and I get a ton of work done with it. And I use the Surface pen whenever I'm away from home...but given the choice, I go straight to the Wacom and my desktop.

Ok, back to 'cheerful and optimistic' me.

[DigitalDesignDude]

If you wish, you can use Tablet Pro Studio from the Windows Store to remap the Surface Pen button. It even works without needing to press the pen tip against the screen.

Though it is a paid app, and it doesn't support holding shortcuts.

This means you won't be able to hold the pen button to erase something, then release it to automatically switch back to the brush tool in Moho or other apps that support the hold-toggle feature.

It's just worth mentioning in case anyone else enjoys that feature as much as I do when using Wacom pens. It definitely speeds up my workflow.

In the past, I also looked into using AutoHotKey to remap the pen button. But unfortunately, AutoHotKey can’t detect when the pen is hovering near the screen like Tablet Pro can. So you would still have to physically tap the screen while holding the button to trigger a hotkey. And if you remap right-click to something else, it remaps your mouse’s right-click button as well, which is not ideal.