Surface Tweak Tool for Surface Pro 2 - Release!

[kozak79]

Thanks.
Yea, Wacom support is coming. Once I finish my last final exam, I'll start working on it.

Just FYI, Wacom is about to release a new driver 7.2.0-4, that adds some features and improves calibration slightly, still using 4 point calibration.
New Wacom Feel IT driver brings radial menu to Surface Pro, Tablet PC ? Surface Pro Artist

 

[GoodBytes]

Based on my testing, with the latest Wacom drivers, I can't set custom point for the pen calibration.
The provided post by kozak79 is not right. After digging I figured it how to make the pen calibration work, but it keeps running Wacom's 4 point calibration and not my own, or be able to modify Wacom's one, no mater what I do.

If anyone has any idea, feel free to shout it out.

 

[GoodBytes]

Hey guys,

I just wanted your opinion on this idea I come up with. Radial menu for desktop mode:

(icons on the radial are just placeholders, nothing is decided)


You can download prototype idea that just shows it when you right-click it, but proudly does nothing:
http://www.nvgpupro.com/radial_menu/radial_menu_idea.zip
(to close it, right-click somewhere, and then directly right-click on the radial menu program on the task bar that will appear, and select close, or use the Task Manager)

Is this something you would like to have/care?

 

[Tsurugaya]

Make it a double circle, user defined commands and launched by something other than a right click.

 

[Philtastic]

I get horrible calibration with this tool and wanted to ask if the following is normal: are the right-most points supposed to be right on the edge of the screen with no margin from the edge? This is contrary to the left side where there is at least 2 mm distance from the edge, making this an asymmetrical setup.

 

[GoodBytes]

I get horrible calibration with this tool and wanted to ask if the following is normal: are the right-most points supposed to be right on the edge of the screen with no margin from the edge? This is contrary to the left side where there is at least 2 mm distance from the edge, making this an asymmetrical setup.

The line placement is normal. It allows to achieve 2 things:
-> Pen works edge to edge
-> The pen tracking is greatly increased in that area, which is much needed for scroll bars, accessing the bottom right most "show desktop" button, and close, maximize/restore, and minimize buttons. While I do know that tracking in that area isn't great, that is because its the near end of the digitizer, and the pen is out of the area. Keep in mind that the entire pen if being tracked, so it's Wacom technology limitation of the pen. The calibration edge it's just to try and get the most of it.

The digitizer is actually larger than the screen. ~50% of the black border is the digitizer. You can test this by place thin pen on the black area and move it, you'll see that the cursor dot will move to teh edge of teh screen, and still be track, but stops as soon as you pass 50% of the black border.

For the best calibration, I recommend shifting the pen on every point so that the tip doesn't pass the center point of the crosshair "+".
In other words, the red mark of the picture bellow, shows where the tip of the pen is supposed to be hitting at

So, for the right most side of the screen, you'll hit a bit of the black area. That is normal and expected (by me), to be done.

Keep in mind to always hold the pen as you write on the screen.

I also recommend the 80 point calibration rather than the 273 or 308.
-> 273 point calibration is a modified version of the suggested (by people, not Wacom or Microsoft) generic for all tablets, which I modified to work edge to edge with the Surface Pro 2, as it didn't (as the calibration wasn't done for teh Surface Pro specifically, just generic for all tablets). The problem with 273 point calibration is that you don't allow much interpolation between point, so if you don't do a perfect calibration, when you write, you'll find that the pen will move up and down, and left to right too much, not allowing to write properly. Movement is fine, as this is a limitation of Wacom digitizer. You don't see it when you use Wacom's normal product as you don't write directly on the screen. In addition the digitizer of the Wacom tablets is superior. and also MUCH larger. notice the big fat plastic around the area of drawing, which is actually a continuation of the digitizer to track properly on the edges.

-> The 308 point calibration, is the 273 with more lines on the edges, to get more precision.

-> The 80 point calibration is one restarted from scratch by me, and a lot of time and patience, and calibration over and over and over again, so built this to get it specific for the Surface Pro 2, which allows a lot more interpolation, and easier to calibrate (less points, will make you less tired, to allow you to spend more time to hit the targets better). Is the 80 point calibration perfect? No. But it is so far the best I came up with, which on my side, offered far better results than 273 and 308 point calibration. However, I offer the others just in case someone would prefer the others.

Another thing to note, is that I assume right handed calibration. I have never tested my calibration for left handed, nor got any feedback from anyone using the device left handed with my software. I tried to do it, but I can get fine motor skill to do a good calibration, and really judge and measure how it is when you wright. Remember that having the cursor on the screen shift a bit to the top, or bottom, left or right as you move it on the screen is fine, as long as you can write fine and draw lines just fine.

 

[GoodBytes]

I get horrible calibration with this tool and wanted to ask if the following is normal: are the right-most points supposed to be right on the edge of the screen with no margin from the edge? This is contrary to the left side where there is at least 2 mm distance from the edge, making this an asymmetrical setup.

The line placement is normal. It allows to achieve 2 things:
-> Pen works edge to edge
-> The pen tracking is greatly increased in the edges, which is much needed for scroll bars navigation of maximized windows, accessing the bottom right most "show desktop" button, and close, maximize/restore, and minimize buttons. While I do know that tracking in that area isn't great, it is a technology limitation. I am just trying to get the most of it. The limitation is because it is the near end of the digitizer, and the pen is out of the area. Keep in mind that the entire pen if being tracked, so when the pen is partially out, it's not great.

The digitizer is actually larger than the screen. ~50-60% of the black border is the digitizer. You can test this by place tip of the pen on the black area and move it (hover it), you'll see that the cursor dot on the screen will move to the edge of the screen, and still be track, but stops as soon as you move the pen after ~50-50% of the black border. Basically, it stops where you have the webcam, in terms of distance applies all around the screen.

For the best calibration, I recommend shifting the pen on every point so that the tip doesn't pass the center point of the crosshair "+".
In other words, the red mark of the picture bellow, shows where the tip of the pen is supposed to be hitting at. If you hold the pen as you would write, and look above, the tip should be like on the red dot, and not at the center of the crosshair.

So, for the right most side of the screen, you'll hit a bit of the black area. That is normal and expected (by me), to be done.

Keep in mind to always hold the pen as you write on the screen.

I hope this helps.

 

[Philtastic]

I wonder how much variation there is from hardware to hardware. The biggest problem for me right now with your calibration tool is that, although I have my stylus over the 2nd right-most points, the cursor is detected to be right at the edge, thus the 2nd right-most and the most right-most points are detected to be basically at the same location. This results in there being a 2-3 mm space where, once calibration is done, the cursor instantly jumps between as if there is no screen space there. It's kind of annoying when trying to use scroll bars in that region since the cursor starts jumping left and right as I drag the bar.

 

[eee]

hmm... Chrome blocks the download, "malware"... How come?

 

[Deckyon]

hmm... Chrome blocks the download, "malware"... How come?

This has been discussed. False-positive. Use a different browser. FF actually looks and works better with the latest version (29) on the Surface Pro 2.

 

[GoodBytes]

Yup false-positive. Apparently it is a serious problem with Chrome with people doing small software.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/r-9JQIboUmc/discussion

Although, what I strange, is that I download Chrome, and it doesn't show any problem on my side. So maybe it is fixed with the latest version of Chrome, or you have an add-on in Chrome that marks the download as malware installed.

 

[beepFTW]

I want to start off by saying thank you for you dedicating some time to create such a wonderful application.

As far as I know, every feature works on my Surface Pro. Your method of calibration is working wonders for me. (Although I think I'll always have a problem with my calibrating my lower left and right corners. Even so, your 80pt calibration works the absolute best. So far I believe that you have not gotten calibration working with the newest Wacom drivers. There is a thread somewhere on the web that shows you how to do tabcal calibration even with wacom drivers. It worked for me, buy I personally feel that it is an unnecessary luxury. Even though that new radical menu is so appealing. I uninstalled it.

Now onto my question, how is development coming? (Sorry). I just wondering. Also if you ever need a person to beta test, let me know! I'd be happy to help.