Programming techniques for electrical stimulation

A system of providing therapy to a patient using at least some of a plurality of electrodes implanted within the patient, the system comprising:

• a programmer for an electrical stimulator, the programmer including:
• a user interface configured to receive user input that at least partially defines a neuromodulation field to provide the therapy;
• and
• at least one controller in communication with the user interface, the at least one controller configured to determine a subset of the plurality of electrodes and current distributions for the subset to generate the field based on the received user input;
• a comparator configured to compare an electrode limit to a number of electrodes in the determined subset and eliminate at least one of the number of electrodes in the determined subset based on the comparison to provide a reduced subset of the electrodes, and
• the at least one controller configured to redistribute current associated with the at least one eliminated electrode to at least one of the electrodes in the reduced subset of electrodes.