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Thoughts on the Surface Pro 2 and Surface Pro 3 for zBrush?

Interested to find out if anyone here uses one of the Surface Pro 2s with zBrush, and hear your thoughts on it. Also would love some opinions on the upcoming version 3 of the same.

Thanks for your time.

~Eric

I read that the surface 3 uses a pen based on something called N-Trig which apparently isn’t compatible with wintab drivers , so It won’t work with Zbrush. Atleast that’s what I found on some forums, cause I was considering it for zbrush too, till i read about that pen issue.

thats really a shame! i was thinkin about buyin sp3 but this will stop for for this single reason. is there any chance zbrush will be supported?

it took quite a while for zbrush to work on surface 1 too and there was only hope because of wintab drivers , not sure there is a fix now that doesn’t involve something from pixologic and if that’s the case , it’s doubtful they’d spend time developing for only 1 device from 1 company.

Not sure if it is true the the WinTab drivers are not compatible. N-Trig has a link to WinTab drivers on their page here: http://www.n-trig.com/Content.aspx?Page=Windows8

They say they are generic drivers but that they are working with Windows for pen and multi-touch functionality. Who knows. Guess I’ll wait and take a look at one in a store and see if I can get them to download the zBrush trial onto one.

Anyone use a Surface Pro 2 with zBrush? Love to hear some current user thoughts as well.

Thanks,
Eric

there is a zbrush trial?

Hi, I use Zbrush on my surface pro 2 from time to time. It holds up pretty well for the most part. Especially considering the size of the device. I did do some tinkering to speed up my workflow though. I created a custom menu in zbrush so I could access my most commonly used tools quickly and I mapped my most frequently used hot keys to a Nintendo wiimote, this way I did not have to rely heavily on a keyboard.

Horse Power wise I think it is excellent, But personally I would prefer the larger screen on the Surface 3. Unfortunately It does not have a Wacom digitizer as you know. The Wacom on the surface 2 works with zbrush I believe it has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity. While as far as I know the N Trig still does not work with Zbrush and it has 256 levels of pressure sensitivity.

I would wait until the surface pro 3 comes out to see if anyone has new found success with Zbrush with N trig. But if the N trig digitizer on the Pro 3 works the same way it always has on other devices, You are probably going to want the Pro 2 for zbrush compatibility.

You should check this blog and comments _http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/5/30/surface-pro-3-one-week-later. Zbrush works very well except the pressure as stated in this thread. Microsoft is planning on releasing a firmware update to address the hand rejection and random line streaks. Microsoft and N-Trig supposedly are collaborating on improving compatibility with other programs. At this point I’d sit tight and keep an eye on new SP3 reviews, once the product is widely available.


M

Hey guys,

I saw this thread and thought I would give my input. I have been speaking with some guys testing this and some other industry artists who are wanting to use this for work on the go (Me being one of those artists). The reason Zbrush will run, but not have pen pressure is down to the WinTab driver developed for N-Trig. It has been upgraded from a 32bit to a 64bit driver as the surface uses 64bit, so to get it to work on the SP3, they had to upgrade it. Due to this upgrade however, it means it no longer supports pen pressure in Zbrush as it is still a 32bit program.

That is my understanding of the issue so far. I’m hoping a solution comes through before release though!

Thanks everyone for the input. Definitely a wait-and-see item it seems.

~Eric

FYI… Ntrig Pen Driver updates are now available for download here:

http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2014/6/20/n-trigs-wintab-driver-update-now-available-for-download

BTW you will need 32 bit version for use with Zbrush

I got my Surface Pro 3 a week ago… I find its better to get a blue tooth keyboard instead of the surface cover keyboard. you will want to use the tablet in front of you and the keyboard detached on the side…I ended up getting the Microsoft Wedge mobile keyboard.

Also N-trig pen now has the drivers for pressure level support…

One more consideration is when the pen touches the surface it creates a shadow ripples from the pressure. I think you may want to try and see if you can live with this artifact before buying it.

-Behrooz

So now the Surface Pro 3 works flawlessly with ZBrush 4r6 with the new drivers? Can anyone confirm this 100% please? :idea:

After 15 minutes or more are you getting cpu throttling? Its a pretty big issue with the pro 3 models because the chassis seems too thin for proper cooling. Basically after a certain heat the cpu will downclock the speed to lower the temperatures so you do not get the full performance of the chip for extended periods of time. This could lower the frame rate of zbrush enough so that its difficult to work in theory. Also is this the i5 or i7 processor?

As long as you have a desktop for your heavy work, then this tablet will be a good option for your lighter mobile zbrush projects.

Another issue is I find myself accidentally hitting the window button , that takes me into windows tiles, but its easy to switch back

Pairing my keyboard to the tablet took a long process, I am assuming there is a bunch of similar glitches along the way as the updates should fix in the near future.

I got the Core i7 (Zbrush doesn’t care for GPU) but maybe next version will take advantage of this feature.
–>
The higher end Core i7 Surface Pro 3 does ship with Intel’s HD 5000 graphics instead of HD 4400 in the Core i5 review sample I tested. It’s entirely possible that we see better gaming performance or thermal management (more EUs at lower voltage) in that design.
<—

You may want to read Full Surface Pro 3 Review here
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8077/microsoft-surface-pro-3-review

I’m thinking more along the lines of 3 million polys per subtool which isn’t much. And a bonus would be able to record the steps for speedsculpting. What type of polycount are you able to handle with it and and how long do you tend to sculpt with it? Does it get really hot to touch?

Right now I am working with a sub tool with 8.49 Mil polypoints and surface is handling it. I am sculpting with clay tubes. no problem with heat or fan noise either…works great! using Corei7- 8Gig Ram

My main complain with the Surface Pro tablet is the distracting wave ripple field when pen touching the screen… I prefer working with Right click Navigation aka Paul Navigation… NTrig hover above surface doesn’t let me zoom and pan my models

With Wacom Pen tip of the pen is left click , bottom key is the right click
Right hovering = rotation
Alt and hovering = move;
CTL and hovering = scale

with Ntrig you can still use Ofer Navigation( pressing on the screen with the pen with Alt key and letting go of Alt key for move, scale, rotate.)

I guess artdock isnt’ ready yet for surface pro 3 so you need a keyboard? With the wedge keyboard you mention, http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-U6R-00001-Wedge-Mobile-Keyboard/dp/B008OEHPKM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407589345&sr=8-1&keywords=microsoft+wedge+keyboard I assume that one? Do you need to bring something extra with you to protect the screen though? The surface pro keyboard will specifically protect the screen, however I doubt you can draw on the screen and use the keyboard at the same time. I intend to travel a lot with the setup. Should beat having to use my old 2006 XPS 15" laptop with usb attached wacom bamboo, which was about 10 lbs total to carry, and took a long time to set up.

Yes! you got the right keyboard link.

Art Dock updates see the following links

http://konartist3d.deviantart.com/art/ArtDock-283342420

http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2013/12/13/introducing-surface-pro-artist-artdock-20

I bought the “Hex 13” Sleeve with pocket" for carrying it in my backpack …IMHO Save and dont get the Type Cover

bTW it fits into ScotteVest too , probably not the best way to carry your tablet :wink:

http://www.scottevest.com

Its going to be a big improvement over your existing 10lbs log-able (reminds me of our old comapq portable :smiley: