Graphics tablet usefulness for Electronics?

[Balaur]

Hey all,

I'm eyeing a graphics tablet (let's say a Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch) for some time.

I'm writing a lot of stuff (specifications, project deliverables, reports, presentations, papers) and I'm spending quite a bit of time on graphics.
The tools I'm using the most are Word, PowerPoint, gnuplot and Latex (with Tikz/Circuitikz), with some Inkscape/Xcircuit/PaintShopPro here and there.
(No graphic EDA, as most of the actual work in done in textual HDL, console tools and scripts).

In my idealized view, I would use the tablet as a better mouse (from a precision and usability perspective). Particularly, I imagine the pen to be very natural to use. A SurfacePro could fit this kind of usage and I've tried a bit, but I don't want replace my rather capable laptop.

Any graphics tablet users in our fields (electronics/semiconductors design and verification)? Your feedback and advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Best regards,
Dan

[rs20]

A graphics tablet is a mouse that a) feels like a pen, and b) registers the amount of pressure you're pushing down with. These are both useful for freehand drawing by people who are good at drawing on paper; but I can't see how any of this would help with drawing rectangles and arrows for electronics diagrams. Using the right software for the job in combination with a traditional mouse will give you far greater gains, I suspect.

[eas]

A graphics tablet is a mouse that a) feels like a pen, and b) registers the amount of pressure you're pushing down with. These are both useful for freehand drawing by people who are good at drawing on paper; but I can't see how any of this would help with drawing rectangles and arrows for electronics diagrams. Using the right software for the job in combination with a traditional mouse will give you far greater gains, I suspect.

A graphics tablet is a mouse that a) feels like a pen, and b) registers the amount of pressure you're pushing down with. These are both useful for freehand drawing by people who are good at drawing on paper; but I can't see how any of this would help with drawing rectangles and arrows for electronics diagrams. Using the right software for the job in combination with a traditional mouse will give you far greater gains, I suspect.

The heaviest graphics tablet users I know are designers/illustrators. They don't just use them to do freehand drawing. They use them for vector drawing (including lots of diagrams), and general GUI interaction.

That obviously doesn't mean that everyone should use them as general purpose input devices, but the mouse isn't the ultimate X-Y input device to the exclusion of all others. At the very least, its good to have some options and variety to mitigate RSI.

At the end of the day though, there is a big difference between talking/thinking about using a graphics tablet as your primary input device in the absence of any experience with them, and, well, actually using one. I have used one, and in my experience, the advantages for freehand drawing are readily apparent. For things you can already do proficiently with a mouse, it takes some getting used to, more than I was willing to do at the time, but I'd guess that using it for ~1/2 the day for a week or two should be enough time.

I see that the Intuos Pen & Touch can also be used as a large multi-touch trackpad. If the software is decent, then that could expand the utility even further.

OP, what are the types of tasks where you think you'll most benefit from the (perceived) improvements in precision and usability of a tablet?

[Someone]

I have used modern (touch sensitive Wacom) in screen digitisers, and they are wonderful for freehand work especially with inkscape. But I never really enjoyed it for technical line work or other tasks.

[fivefish]

Is that what they're called now? We used to call them "digitizers".

I used one for years back in the mid-90s. We used it with AutoCAD primarily as a big menu system for selecting an electrical part library/symbol to use, or command macros to execute. It can also be used as a mouse inside Windows 3.1/NT 3.51. 

We created a menu template of the different symbols/commands for each grid.  After lots of use, you develop "muscle memory", such that  you know how far to reach out with your arms and when to click the PUCK (the actual handheld device) without even looking at the overlay template.



Occasionally, we'd use it to "digitize" a blueprint, floor plan or drawing for transfer/tracing to the computer. We use the transparent crosshair to align wit the lines/points in the printed document.

I don't see it's usefulness nowadays, unless you're doing lots of CAD work, and want to use it as a "quick menu/navigation" tool. 

[dexters_lab]

Hey all,

I'm eyeing a graphics tablet (let's say a Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch) for some time.

I'm writing a lot of stuff (specifications, project deliverables, reports, presentations, papers) and I'm spending quite a bit of time on graphics.
The tools I'm using the most are Word, PowerPoint, gnuplot and Latex (with Tikz/Circuitikz), with some Inkscape/Xcircuit/PaintShopPro here and there.
(No graphic EDA, as most of the actual work in done in textual HDL, console tools and scripts).

In my idealized view, I would use the tablet as a better mouse (from a precision and usability perspective). Particularly, I imagine the pen to be very natural to use. A SurfacePro could fit this kind of usage and I've tried a bit, but I don't want replace my rather capable laptop.

Any graphics tablet users in our fields (electronics/semiconductors design and verification)? Your feedback and advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Best regards,
Dan

i have an A5 sized wacom which i have used/owned for getting on 10 years, i have also used the larger ones too

they are very intuitive and great for design work, photoshopping etc, but it does depend on what your doing. For example in photoshop you might pick a tool and use it for some time in one area but if your having to move around in the UI a lot to change tools or interact with other things on the screen you will find you have to move your hand and arm more than you would with a mouse so it can get tiresome and you end up switching mouse to pen to mouse etc

This is especially true for the A4 and A3 sized tablets

if your buying second hand you may see cheap wacom tablets missing the pen or other tools, you maybe tempted but remember this... the wacom tablets come in generations and the tools from one generation dont work on each other so you have to find matching tools!

another little thing to remember if your doing electronics is the massive RF field they make around them to power the tools, dont expect to be able to use your scope near it!