roel
7th Mar 2006, 10:55 am
Hi,
As most tablet-using Autocad users know, Autocad uses the Wintab interface to 'listen' to tablet movements and clicks. However some of the cheap tablets (like the Aiptek Hyperpen and Trust V400 - my Trust was around 100 euro (~=115 USD)) don't support Wintab (or actually they do, but not quite right, so Autocad crashes when you try to use them). I bought the forementioned Trust tablet and after a lot of fiddling with drivers and mailing Trust support I gave up on using the wintab interface. I wrote my own software that intercepts move movements (when the tablet is installed, it works like a normal mouse) and translates it to movements in the 'virtual desktop' area of the tablet (the big area in the middle for those that have used a tablet with the standard autocad overlay). When the pen is clicked in another place on the tablet (like on a command), it will send keystrokes to the autocad application window to simulate commands (like 'line', 'hatch' etc.). The application is fully configurable, if you want to use your own overlay you can, and it could in theory also be used to control other applications (like rts games where you have a lot of commands). After some configuration it works great for my needs and I can imagine that there are more autocad users out there who don't want to shell out the big bucks for a 'real' autocad tablet but still like the convenience of one; I spend the bigger part of my weekend on it so I figured I'd mention it here - if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll send it to you. I've only tested it with autocad 2006 on winxp so if you're on another configuration you may need some tweaking to get it to work.
cheers,
roel
As most tablet-using Autocad users know, Autocad uses the Wintab interface to 'listen' to tablet movements and clicks. However some of the cheap tablets (like the Aiptek Hyperpen and Trust V400 - my Trust was around 100 euro (~=115 USD)) don't support Wintab (or actually they do, but not quite right, so Autocad crashes when you try to use them). I bought the forementioned Trust tablet and after a lot of fiddling with drivers and mailing Trust support I gave up on using the wintab interface. I wrote my own software that intercepts move movements (when the tablet is installed, it works like a normal mouse) and translates it to movements in the 'virtual desktop' area of the tablet (the big area in the middle for those that have used a tablet with the standard autocad overlay). When the pen is clicked in another place on the tablet (like on a command), it will send keystrokes to the autocad application window to simulate commands (like 'line', 'hatch' etc.). The application is fully configurable, if you want to use your own overlay you can, and it could in theory also be used to control other applications (like rts games where you have a lot of commands). After some configuration it works great for my needs and I can imagine that there are more autocad users out there who don't want to shell out the big bucks for a 'real' autocad tablet but still like the convenience of one; I spend the bigger part of my weekend on it so I figured I'd mention it here - if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll send it to you. I've only tested it with autocad 2006 on winxp so if you're on another configuration you may need some tweaking to get it to work.
cheers,
roel