Surface Pro is the number one Windows tablet for artists, but the user interfaces on most 3d graphics applications don't pass the touch (or pen) test.

In our popular "what runs, what doesn't" posts, you'll find a lot of applications like Adobe Photoshop CC that run well, but don't exactly shine on the Surface Pro.

The issue has nothing to do with either the Surface Pro 1 or 2's CPU, graphics or its small 10.6 inch display. Instead, the issue has everything to do with cluttered, crowded user interfaces with limited options to close unwanted tool and menu bars, move or resize icons and re-scale fonts.

As I've often noted, Celsys' Manga Studio / Clip Studio Paint is a model for tablet awareness that other developers should be scrambling to emulate. No one could accuse either program's interface of being simple or streamlined, but the UI tweaks introduced this year demonstrate that it's possible to offer alternative input methods, larger touch targets and bigger icons that make it very productive on even the smallest of screens.

There are no worse offenders in the crowded UI squad than 3d applications like 3DS Max, Maya and ZBrush.

It's easy for me to say that an application's UI is too small to be run effectively on the Surface Pro display, but it's much more difficult to demonstrate it here on the blog.

I can do 1920x1080 screen grabs of cluttered apps all day and night, but if you're opening them up on a 27-inch display, they'll look positively spacious.

Enter the foam finger

Because it's nearing the end of the college football season here in the U.S., I decided to employ the assistance of one of our favorite sports fan accessories: the foam finger.

Scaling the finger down to the approximate size of my own index finger and overlaying it over the screen grabs, you'll see how touch-hostile most of these interfaces can be.

Pen tapping will obviously be more accurate than a finger tap, but the type and icons on some interfaces even make that impossible.

Theoretically, most Windows developers are busy developing Windows Store versions of their applications for some near-future release. But between now and then, I hope this review will help you determine which graphics tools will require the least hand-eye coordination and cause the least eyestrain.

3D-Coat

Like many 3d applications, Pilgway's popular sculpting program 3D-Coat clumps a menu bar, settings bar, tabs and toolbox into a very tight vertical area at the top of the screen.

3DS Max

The default screen for 3DS Max look deceptively touch friendly, but the bottom right of the screen, where important navigation tools are located, features some of the program's most difficult to target icons

Blender

I'm no fan of Blender's interface in general, although recent releases have taken great strides to improve usability. Unfortunately, the font used in the latest UI is especially difficult to read on the Surface Pro.

Cinema 4D

Of the major 3d applications, Maxon's Cinema 4D is probably the touch-friendliest. Icons are large and colorful and text is clean and readable.

Carrara

DAZ's low cost Carrara is probably one of the more obscure apps on this list, but it's surprisingly powerful and has icons that are relatively touch friendly.

DAZ Studio Pro

There's a lot to like about DAZ Studio Pro, especially that it's free. The program comes with a variety of interfaces but none is especially touch friendly. The most problematic is the peculiar way it displays its byzantine content folders.

Lightwave Layout

Newtek's venerable Lightwave is the only program that still insists on separating its rendering and modeling into two modules. The relatively clean UI would be vastly improved by font scaling.

Lightwave Modeler

Font scaling of its various text items would make Lightwave Modeler vastly more usable on the Surface Pro.

Maya

Seriously, how did Maya become the de facto 3d standard? Why isn't it the poster child for everything that's wrong in computer interfaces? The thing has SIX rows of menus and icons above the canvas. (Not to mention all the inscrutable icons littered on the left and right toolbars).

Modo

Luxology's Modo is one of the newer 3d programs on this list and it shows. There's a lot of information on the screen, but it's all logically laid out and readable.

Motionbuilder

Autodesk's animation application Motionbuilder has tiny icons and no font scaling, but they're not too crowded except for the playback area.

Mudbox

Mudbox is a sculpting app that has a very clean, easy to understand interface. Latest versions also understand font scaling (see the menu items?). Hopefully crash bugs in 2014.5 will be resolved to allow moving it into the "runs" category.

Poser Pro

Poser's eccentric interface is readable and usable on the Surface Pro, but the rotate wheel is too sensitive to use reliably.

Sculptris

The free Sculptris takes the prize as the most small tablet friendly sculpting app. In a pinch, you actually could use this program with your finger.

Sketch-Up

Sketch-Up's interface is the definition of minimalism. But after growing up with traditional 3d applications, it's hard for me to get my head around.

Softimage

Softimage is hands down my favorite 3d application, but it will actually complain that it must run in small fonts mode during startup. The resulting menu items are barely legible on the Surface Pro screen.

ZBrush

ZBrush interface makes Maya's appear organized. Fortunately many of the default items can be hidden, so if you know the appropriate keyboard shortcuts, ZBrush can actually be productive on the Surface Pro.