Free Hand Drawing Tablet PC

This may not answer your question, but AutoCAD™ has a SKETCH command that accepts input from any pointing device, samples it at selected resolution, and turns the result into a polyline (PLINE), which can then be further edited.

I have a Wacom Bamboo pad that is used for freehand drawing....pretty cool

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bamboo+drawing+tablet&sprefix=Bamboo+drawing%2Caps%2C473

http://www.wacom.com/en/Products/Intuos.aspx

Would you be able to post some of the free hand drawings for a look-see?

Well I haven't really got into it yet, i'm still just foolin' around with it learning how everything works and getting used to the control methods...You can use your fingers as well for navigation on line, in other words it doubles as a giant mouse, and all the functions can be controlled with the fingers, this takes some practice, and can be quite frustrating as it's very sensitive....I leave it on all the time and sometimes use my rollerball and for some things the pen and some things just fingers...It's amazing what this thing can do...I imagine once you get used to this you can work at blazing speed, anybody watching would not be able to tell how you were doing what you're doing....

Are these all your drawings or did you drop anything intop the picture?

Can you drop jpegs and tif files into this thing????

Thank you for the picture............excellent work. You have a talent for the free hand.

I usually drag and drop or cut and paste from something similar to what I want, then modify to my specs...This is much faster than starting everything from scratch...for portraits, everything has to be done from scratch, sometimes you have something you want to do that's very specific, this is done from scratch....But for general theme stuff, speed is everything...There are many techniques, what you use for a brush or pallet is only limited by your imagination...

Going to the WACOM site, it shows that they incorporate AC Sketch with the Bamboo.

I think this is what I saw. I wonder where I can find one to actually test drive?

My AutoCAD is doing a good job, but being able to quickly jot down drawing and send it off in minutes would have advantages.

Thank you both.

My wife and I recently (last month) saw a TV Commercial for a new Cellular phone that featured much the same same, but I'll be damned if I could remember who makes or fiends the darn thing! We both agreed that it would be ideal for me to use in the field or at a client's place of business instead of lugging around the laptop.......especially ideal and advantageous in respect to me recently incorporating my new Consulting Engineering firm!

Does anyone have a clue who makes this cell phone? BTW, the apps could be manipulated with the touch of your finger.

My daughter says look at the samsung 'note'

cnc jim

I bought my wife a big Wacom drawing tablet for Christmas. It was here favorite toy for about a day until she figured out she cant have 20 screens open and a dozen Facebook site links going at the same time, for what ever reason, or her computer freezes up.

Her expensive new toy has been sitting in my office for over two months now untouched because "it takes too much computer memory and CPU power" and running its drawing program by itself with all the social media stuff turned off is not an option.

You don't have to use the high end graphics program, it works with anything....I imagine that's what is using all the memory....or when she's not using it for the moment the pen has to be like at least a foot away from the pad...When the pen comes within 1/2" of the pad it activates....

Her toy not mine. I dont touch it.

OK..... so I get one and whip up a qucik sketch during lunch showing some basic net and components. What type file does it send?

CAn I drop it into my AutoCAD and then PDF the file for easy reading by my customers, most of whom do not have CAD?

The file type is determined by the graphics program you are using, most will convert to any common file type...The tablet is just a tool that makes using the graphics programs easier...

Understood. Thank you for your input. I am going to look into this for sure.

All the replies dont describe what you ask about or describe. The drawing tablets need a pc and a monitor. Don't you describe a glass tablet/screen with the icons on it, so you are drawing on the screen, the pc being the hand-held tablet?

CNC jim

Jim,

What i saw was a large glass covered tablet. He was drawing auto parts on it. The unit was self contained.

I was hoping to find out if this type unit could be intergrated into (by USB or Flash drive) my PC with the AC program.

Even if it did not intergrate well, The ability to quickly draw up something is plus right now. I would still need a PC to send it to customers.........whcih is why i asked if it could be interegrated with PC and what type files it sent.

I may be missing the whole conversation.I would probably do better finding who sells these things and taking it for a test drive.

Thank you.

nm

What I am saying is that the tablets mentioned are all input devices that are linked to a pc, and have opaque coloured surfaces that you draw on, whilst looking at a monitor.

You describe a tablet pc, touch sensitive screen, where you look at the image and draw on it, and wacom do one

DTK2100 21-Inch Pen Display

Although any tablet might work with the right software.

cnc

I recently purchased a Genius graphics pen tablet- sort of the cheaper version of the Wacom. Decent. Software only for Windows, unfortunately, although I can use it with a variety of graphics programs on my Linux box. Unfortunately, my hand is not steady enough to do a lot of free-hand drawing. I purchased it primarily to digitize points from existing drawings. Works fine.

With the Windows software, one has access to a whole lot more versatility than using it with Linux.

Also, if you are looking for something to use with, say, Autocad (with defined areas of the tablet to access menu items, etc.), you are probably looking at a pretty significant investment.

Guys,

A very interesting thread.

I have always fancied CAD programs - I used to run an AutoCAD shop as part of my responsibilities. I cannot afford AutoCad as a retiree but can afford TurboCad ( unless continuing licences become a problem) and I have a licenced copy ready to go.

Can you folks let me know whether TurboCad can do a similar job to AutoCad (I am not looking for 3D - not today anyway!) and how the various tablets work with it.

I look forward to some educated views.

I currently run Win7 32 and 64 bit. Software sems to be able to load itself into the appropriate speed section of Programs. Clever.

Sleepy

Sleepy-

I can not speak for the Wacom devices, or the more expensive devices used with full-blown CAD systems, but my Genius pad integrates well with my older version of TurboCAD running on Windows XP. The computer sees it as just another "Human Input Device" like a mouse. Configuring it for a specific software package is a bit tedius, but I find the digitizer actually easier to use than the conventional mouse (I use a pen stylus, although it also came with a wireless mouse). I prefer the pen stylus.

cwarner

thanks for that input, I guess that that means that I will be heading in that direction after a little bit more research in the UK.

Thanks very much for that input.

Sounds good.

Sleepy

Sleepy,

As another alternative, Dassault, the maker of Solidworks 3d, is now giving away their 2d version called Draftsight for free. Reads and writes Autocad files and has very similar interface. I'm no AC wizard or heavy user but I've been using Draftwsight for 6 months and seems to work well. go here...

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/free-cad-software/

That's it!

Thank you so very much for taking the time to track it down.

nm

That's a GA from me, and er,.. welcome to the forum. You currently have the highest posts/good answers ratio of any member.

CNC Jim

Yes welcome wickedcool, nice ratio.

So, a little off topic, is the old debate between rastered and bit mapped over? Or just up to the software you use (would still think rastered is the choice?) and everything ends up bits after rendered and sent to the screen/printer.

Answering this will bring that ratio down i bet

sorry and thanks ahead of time