Programming techniques for electrical stimulation

An example includes machine-implemented method of providing therapy to a patient using a plurality of electrodes implanted within the patient that includes receiving, via a programmer for an electrical stimulator, user input that at least partially defines a neuromodulation field to provide the therapy, based on the received user input, determining a subset of the plurality of electrodes and current distributions for the subset to generate the field, comparing an electrode limit to a number of electrodes in the determined subset and eliminating 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 redistributing current associated with the at least one eliminated electrode to at least one of the electrodes in the reduced subset of electrodes.