Wacom Pen in SketchUp?

sonder

This is an interesting thread! I have a Bambu that I use for Photoshop, but I've never thought to try it for Sketchup. Might not have the functionality to make it useful, but anyway, makes me think it's worth a try.

@Sonder - so with two hands for the 3d mouse, do you use the keyboard at all? I use keyboard shortcuts constantly, so seems it would be a pain to have to switch back and forth.

I don't use a 3d mouse. My keyboard sits right above my tablet, so switching is extremely easy - no more difficult than it would be with a mouse.

Krisidious

Ended up not liking the wacom with SketchUp... Resold it on ebay for the same price I bought it for.

hygicell

I spent 4 extremely painful days in which I absolutely could not use my right hand any more, even had to lift and carry it with my right hand. Painkillers didn't help. Bought a pen and tablet and a space navigator, am now learning to use them

pbacot

Have a pad and never used it. Lazy? Complacent? IDK. Always think I'll try.

Regarding mice, I wish to interject--people need to learn to use them, if they still do. Vary height position, type of mouse, pad. speed etc. I learned early to rest my hand in a natural position, turn the power way up, and move mostly with fingertips. Always working on it though--posture that is. Not only the wrist but shoulder and neck have to be watched.

kaas

@andybot said:

This is an interesting thread! I have a Bambu that I use for Photoshop, but I've never thought to try it for Sketchup. Might not have the functionality to make it useful, but anyway, makes me think it's worth a try.

I have a bamboo too but never used it in SketchUp more than 5 minutes. This thread gave me the idea to try it and I must say: it takes an hour to get used to but it works fine. The bamboo has 4 programmable buttons but the click sound annoyed me after a while so instead I use my keyboard shortcuts. The pen-button is configured to double click. I used the same pan and zoom shortcut in LayOut and that works fine as well.

Bamboo area is 15 x 9 cm. I wonder if having a double area is better or not.

Will try it for the next few days.

kaas

Question: is there a way to exit a keyboard activated pan/zoom/orbit operation without 'breaking' the use of a tool (for instance the line tool) other than right-clicking and choosing exit?

For instance: choose line - click a point - click a point -press keyboard for pan - ... - continue from last point of line?

dmatho

FYI, way back in the days of @Last SketchUp guru-extraordinaire Yasser used a Wacom+Pen. I was sold and amazed (this was v1.xxx); his hands moving around the UI were like a ballerina on a dance floor

. Diego .

Box

Kaas, if you set the pen button to middle mouse button you can orbit and pan without needing to change tools.

Dave R

Did you try hitting Esc? That works for me.

kaas

@Box and @Dave R -> you both are right! A bit <duh> moment for me... Thanks a lot!

Dave R

I don't like using SketchUp on my Cintiq but if I did, I would probably set one of the buttons on the side to Esc so I wouldn't have to reach for the keyboard for that one.

tt_su

@dave r said:

I don't like using SketchUp on my Cintiq but if I did, I would probably set one of the buttons on the side to Esc so I wouldn't have to reach for the keyboard for that one.

That's what I did for my Intuos 4 at my previous office. Ditto for modifiers such as Shift and Ctrl.

Dave R

I have the bottom four buttons on my Cintiq set to Ctrl, Shift, Alt and Undo since I use those modifiers with image editors and the like.

I bought an Intuous4 about a month before I bought the Cintiq. Just couldn't get on with it at all. It's sitting in its box. I ought to sell it or something.

Box

I have the wireless wacom with four buttons set to the relevant modifiers and touch disk thingy thing for zoom etc, two hands works perfectly with it sitting on your lap. An onscreen keyboard can be used quickly for anything else.

Mistro11

I just bought a Intuos CTH 680 yesterday. This is my first drawing tablet as I'm learning animation. But I wondered if it would be useful in Sketchup, googled the question and found this topic. I tried it out and so far I feel like I can get used to it with practice. It feels comfortable. I just wish my tablet had more buttons. I'm thinking about assigning the middle mouse button to the right-click on the pen for orbit and panning. I can't think of much use for right-clicking in Sketchup. But the only drawback is I'm constantly using keyboard shortcuts going from tape measure to line tool etc. For all who use the tablet, how do you manage switching all the tools?

Edit: I'm guessing to just tap the tools from the tool bar and menus with the pen....duh?...
I also just remembered the right-click brings up the all important context menu. I would like to know a good effective way to assign buttons.

kaas

@mistro11 said:

...I would like to know a good effective way to assign buttons.

I switched to a simple bamboo a while ago and it works perfect in SketchUp. My setup is:

richt-click on the pen is richt-click: the context menu's are too nice to give up.
left-click on the pen is middle-click. Hovering over the tablet while pressing left-lick = orbit & with shift = pan.
I don't use the buttons on the tablet it self.
for staring tools in Sketchup I use a combination of clicking the menus/icons or using the keyboard shortcuts.

The above works really fast and easy for me. Working for quite some hours at a time is far more easy on my wrist compared to using a mouse.

nickchun

I have had the same problem with 'mouse ache' in the shoulder and have tried a cheap pen and tablet in conjunction with a Razer Nostromo gaming pad for shortcuts on the left hand. The Razer speeds things up a lot but the problem is quick zoom and orbit when using the pen. Ended up re assigning the buttons on the razer for zoom and orbit and fitting a sturdy tray under the desk to get arms at right height.
Has anyone used the touch capability on the Wacom to rotate and zoom? Would it work on SU?
Also looked at vertical mouse but thought might not be as easy to make small movements for accuracy. Anyone tried that?

john2

I bought today a wacom one tablet. It's working fine in illustrator and photoshop. However, when i try to use it in sketchup pro 2014, it doesn't work. What should I do? Strangely, when I press the down button of pen and drag up and down on the tablet surface, I'm able to zoom in and zoom out realtime. But I can't draw anything in SketchUp. I've tried with all commands. Even I can't get the cursor to move.

Dave R

I'd start with Wacom's tech support. You should have some tech support from them available.

Very likely you need to make some adjustments to settings for the tablet and pen in the tablet's panel.

Mistro11

I ended up returning that CTH 680 for the Intuos Pro Medium. Cost more but it has more buttons for customization in programs a pen holder and wireless kit included. I"m getting used to using it in SU. The best thing I'm experiencing is I finally find the freehand drawing tool very useful. Making freehand contours and actually drawing on a surface is a breeze now.

John2- If your tablet can support it, check the properties to see if you can bring up Sketchup in a list to customize commands.