Skip to main content
R
rv824
Participant
February 10, 2013
Answered

Photoshop CS6 Brush pressure sensitivity not working on the Microsoft Surface Pro.

  • February 10, 2013
  • 19 replies
  • 142676 views

I have just purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro in anticipation of running Photoshop on it.  I installed Photoshop and tried to do some sketches.  I created a new file and started sketching.  I Immediately felt like something was wrong.  I checked my brush settings and saw the pressure sensitivity was not available.  Everytine I tried to turn it on it was marked with an exclamation point. 

Does anybody know if Adobe is supporting the new pressure sensitive pen from microsoft, or if there is some sort of setting that I am missing?  I have tried sketchbook pro 2011, and that works amazingly well with the pen.  I hope someone can help me along here, because if this tablet can truely run photoshop, it would be a Game Changer.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Chris Cox

Microsoft is aware of the problem with their driver software.

Many other applications (not just Adobe's) are also affected.

19 replies

Show previous replies
A
AdamZ1977
Participating Frequently
May 13, 2013

It's working now!  And it's working beautifully I might add!

Here's a video: http://pocketnow.com/2013/05/13/surface-pro-digital-artists-dream

Here's the download for the new Wacom drivers: http://www.wacom.com/feeldriver

C
Charlie.D
Inspiring
February 12, 2013

This particular forum serves photoshop.com, and online portal site (not a forum for Photoshop CS).  I'll move this for you to help escalate visibility of the thread.

A
aurelm
Participant
February 11, 2013

This is absurd. In all those years Adobe has not been able to recognize Ms Ink , having the same trouble in Samsung Slate (on Windows 8, on windows 7 I eventualy got it to work with multiple wacom driver retries and tweaks). Sketchbook has no problems, ArtRage has no trouble and pressure works just fine, is just the damn Adobe products that have these issues. The future is now, mobile workflow with mobile devices is now and Adobe is behind. And then, like all companies like were at top of the world (like rim) will one day wonder what happened, when did the future pass them by and were left down there ?

Chris Cox
Chris CoxCorrect answer
Legend
February 12, 2013

Microsoft is aware of the problem with their driver software.

Many other applications (not just Adobe's) are also affected.

D
Digital_Yard_Sale
Participant
June 21, 2014

I'm having this issue on a MacBook Pro with an Intuos 3. This is annoying that there is no fix for something so simple. Why do we pay a fortune for these software packages only to have the simplest tools not work?

J
Jorjxmckie
Participant
February 11, 2013

This is getting completely ridiculous. I have the new Sony Duo 11 and I came very close to waiting for the release of the Surf Pro in order to get pressure sensitivity for PS/Illustrator/SAI/Painter. I would be soooo pissed right now. I hope that this new cohort of badly served customers gets somebody off of their arrogant butts to do something about it. I know they don't care about the small arts community that don't actually use Wacom tablets or Cintiqs, but at some point, the bad feelings generated starts affecting the 'brand' and opens doors for the competition. If Microsoft doesn't mobilize *somebody* at a reasonably high level of the companies involved, then they deserve a virtual and financial tar & feathering.

    marianwhitcomb
    marianwhitcomb
    Participant
    June 7, 2015

    Having same problem with Dell Inspiron 13 totally frustrated, their ads even show a highly technical drawing, spent 4 hours on customer support the other day to figure it out.  How can a major manufacturer of computers and the #1 garphics software company not talk to each other.  The stylus works fine on several other art/design programs.

    This is the last straw for Adobe for me after my last problem took them two MONTHS to resolve (the answer on that was "no you can't have CS6 on a Mac and a Windows machine, even though we tell you you can run it on two devices...that will be another 699.00 please).  I am phasing it out anyway because I can't afford to pay all my software companies by the month.  Adobe's prices are NOT in line with other software giants.  I am partially disabled and the internet/computing is virtually my only hope at working.  I opted to buy the Dell so I could use it in the field for plan revisions and quick sketches, instead of my Mac ($2,500).  Since I will lose so much selling the Mac 2nd hand, I will keep it use the Mac and an Intuos (another $300.00) in my studio on (ARTRAGE) which is 10 times easier to learn than Photoshop....check it out!  Adobe, I faithfully paid you for years (from the very first Photoshop on)...you have cost me a lot of money, and even more time.  Now I have to add the cost of retraining to this equation!  Your terrible customer service means I will tell this story to anyone who will listen.

    A
    adsrao
    Participant
    February 11, 2013

    pressure sensitivity is not working on CS6 ... it will help my design team ... hope there a fix for this soon

    R
    rv824Author
    Participant
    February 11, 2013

    My question is why does it work so well with Sketchbook Pro, but not at all with Photoshop.  Is the fix going to have to come from Microsoft, with a hardware patch, or Adobe with a software patch.  The stylus for my Samsung Note 2 works on the Surface Pro also, so there has to be shared technology with the pens.  I just hope a fix comes soon.

      J
      Jorjxmckie
      Participant
      February 11, 2013

      Sketchbook and ArtRage recognize the MS Ink API (or whatever it is called) and PS/Illustrator require the WinTab drivers that I believed Adobe collaborated with MS on. N-Trig users have been victimized by the split and circular firing squad blame game between various companies for years, and I'm really surprised that it wasn't resolved before the release of the Surface Pro. What the heck are these executives paid for, to play golf?

      M
      mohamedg29682758
      Participant
      February 10, 2013

      Had the same issue, pressure sensitivity not working in photoshop cs6, but is doing fine in sketchbook, fresh paint and onenote.

      Side note : had a little lag in cs6 with stylus, fixed it by disabling hardware acceleration in ps preferences.

      C
      chatid00
      Participant
      February 10, 2013

      Just curious.... has any of you tried the shape dynamics in photoshop and turning on pen pressure?

      and in illustrator to modify the size to pressure and variation to maximum? (and of course select that brush preset that you just modified and draw with it using SHIFT+B for blob brush or B for regular brush)

      I am also interested in purchasing a Surface pro so please report if this helps.

      what I recently discovered in other forums is that Sketchbook Pro works flawlessly in desktop mode. Sketchbook Express in the APP mode doesn't support pressure yet.

      there is no official confirmation that the surface pro uses a wacom digitizer, however a few artist friends of mine have gone to the microsoft store... brought their own wacom pens (cintiq 15x pen - older models that works with general tabletpcs) and the pro recognized it. which means that it is a wacom digitizer. it wouldn't make sense if a wacom pen works with a different digitizer board like N-trig.

      also read in another forum about adobe using wintab and windows 8 wintab drivers are not there yet.

      anyway... I'd be glad to know if this works or not

      thanks!

        S
        shmeil1
        Participant
        February 10, 2013

        Yeah, I tried that. I use a Wacom Bamboo with my desktop computer and do not have this problem, but with the Surface in Photoshop the Pen Pressure control has the exclamation point so it's not recognizing the pen, and in Illustrator, the Pressure option is grayed out. The only options I can select there are Fixed and Random, all others are grayed out.

          1
          1Mollybird
          Known Participant
          December 17, 2013

          same problem I'm having. 

          L
          lillieww
          Participant
          February 10, 2013

          I'm having the same problem too and would like to find a solution. Some people (using different tablets) were able to fix this by running the 32 bit version instead of the 64 bit version of Photoshop, but that doesn't seem to work for the Surface. Sorry I can't be of any help.

          S
          shmeil1
          Participant
          February 10, 2013

          I was also really hoping to use Photoshop on my Surface Pro, but I'm having the same problem. Illustrator doesn't recognize the pen pressure either. I really hope there is a way to make this work!

          Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
          Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices