Installation & update
About program installation and update, hardware, operating systems, setup, etc.

digital pen and tablet

Anonymous
Not applicable
sorry if this topic has been brought up somewhere before but i did a search and nothing relevant (to what i'm searching) came up.

i was just wondering if it's possible to use digital pens (and tablet) with archicad. i used something similar ages ago with autocad. and i know people in the graphics business who use them but none in architecture. has anyone here ever used them with archicad? could they effectively eliminate the use of a mouse, which gives me wrist problems?
9 REPLIES 9
Erika Epstein
Booster
If you do a search for 'mice' you will find many posts that address your question. In the search set it to list by TOPIC rather than POST.
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Rod Jurich
Contributor
greenfin wrote:
/......i was just wondering if it's possible to use digital pens (and tablet) with archicad./.......
Yes the WACOM Intuos. Pen and mouse occasionally.
A5 size is all you need for ArchiCAD.
Rod Jurich
AC4.55 - AC14 INT (4204) |  | OBJECTiVE |
Rick Thompson
Expert
I have the above tablet, but I don't like it for AC. I had a large one once, and liked it better.. but didn't like it in the long run. The pen is awkward for me.. and the mouse gets painful when you get to the edge of the tablet (which it always does) and your pointer stops working. Maybe it sounds like small stuff, but I did try them for a while, and much prefer a wireless mouse. They are nice for some things.. photoshop. My 2¢.
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display
Erika Epstein
Booster
Rick wrote:
. They are nice for some things.. photoshop. My 2¢.
Shamelessly hikacking this topic. Rick I understand your previous avatar with you hair afire was NOT photoshop, but real life; In this vein of real-life avatars, just where is it you are toppling this column? The Grand Ol Opry? Is there a prize for whomever guesses the real location?
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Stephen Dolbee
Booster
I use a wacom graphire 3 tablet. It lets me switch to the pen when my hand starts cramping. Rick is right-it is a pain getting to the edge and have to reposition, but I got used to it. The only problem with the pen is no wheel to pan and zoom, so I use a nostromo speedpad n52 for the left hand. It has a wheel and also has keys to program shortcuts.
AC19(9001), 27" iMac i7, 12 gb ram, ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb, OS 10.12.6
Rod Jurich
Contributor
Available soon
Rod Jurich
AC4.55 - AC14 INT (4204) |  | OBJECTiVE |
Rick Thompson
Expert
Erika wrote:

Shamelessly hikacking this topic. Rick I understand your previous avatar with you hair afire was NOT photoshop, but real life; In this vein of real-life avatars, just where is it you are toppling this column? The Grand Ol Opry? Is there a prize for whomever guesses the real location?
You are good:) The Parthenon in Nashville TN ... you get the prize... a new Wacom tablet.. should arrive soon (stating on topic here). However, the other was Photoshoped, but true in that is was a dramatic reenactment of a real event. Beware having a lit candle behind you.
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display
Anonymous
Not applicable
I purchased a XP-Pen DECO 03 Drawing Tablet and i have to say it is amazing.
a bit of a learning curve but once you get the hang of it is stellar.
update on this, the XP-Pen DECO 03 Graphics tablet works way better on a mac, go figure. much more pleasant experience than with windows .
https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/314.html
furtonb
Advisor
Zooming is the biggest issue for me: in Cinema 4D (I've completely ditched 3ds max a long time ago, when switching to macOS), in Photoshop (Affinity Photo for me), etc., you can zoom very-very easily without lifting your hands or using way too much shortcuts, in ARCHICAD, you cannot really.

I've create a post about this ages ago:
https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=44240&p=222245#p222245

I have a Wacom Intuos5 Medium, you need to have some time to adjust to selecting, snapping, getting close to the edge, but if you do use your tablet on a daily basis, it won't bother you for long, but zooming, argh, it's painful.

Drafting: once you get precise enough, you will be fine. To avoid too much adjustments later, tend to click for the first operation, and finish numerically in the tracker, whenever possible.
odv.hu | actively using: AC25-27 INT | Rhino6-8 | macOS @ apple silicon / win10 x64