A rat...sorry, mouse... is a device that people who do programing and text editing came up with, so they could now and again click on something on the screen.
This is ok, because most of the time you are typing, and only sometimes your right (or left) hand wanders over to this innocent looking device.
But if you are in the CAD business, you end up holding your pointer 8 hours in a row. Ergo, carpal tunnel syndrome and worse.
But hey, there is a pointing device that has been around for quite some time: the pen.
This device has a long Darwinian history, so it most certainly fits the job. It is easy to hold, it allows your wrist to stay straight, even you back end up thanking you.
Having seen designers use this pen (designers are usually faster than architects on experimenting with new stuff) I gave it a try.
Sure enough, it gets some using to. About one or two sessions. But it is like learning to ride a bike. You fall off a lot, and suddenly you are riding it. Click. Off, on. And the you are flying.
As I said, I have been using it for some 4 years now, and am currently on my 4th model. Once, when a pen crashed, I had to work for 2 weeks with the mouse.
I found out you can still work perfectly well with a mouse after working with a pen. If you learn to drive a car, you don't forget how to drive a bike. But after 3 days of working with that d*** rat, I started to have back, shoulder and neck aches.
The rat doesn't only mess up your wrist. As your whole upper body has to rotate slightly, after 8 h in this position there is bound to be some damage!
I still work with a small rat on my laptop, but never for a long time, and it is not harder to do. But boy, I would never go back to that pesky animal, after learning to use the pen.
As for brands, my advice is, go for Wacom. It is the only one I know off (may be others of course) that doesn't use batteries, so the pen is lighter and it never ever crashes. Never!
Graphire 3 classic http://www.my-graphire.com/main.asp?lang=1 is quite enough for us (it doesn't have a tilt sensitivity, which we don't need). It is a small size tablet (A6), which is great for us. Designers need bigger tablets, as to be able to do hand drawings with arm movements, but ours is a precision work, so A6 works fine even with 2 monitors (currently with 2000 dpi sensitivity, opposed to 800 dpi from most rats).
Another important feature is it must have two buttons. One you program as a right rat button, the other as a left double click (double clicking with your wrist can be difficult).
And for those guys who cant live without a scroll weel (I personally hate it) you can always take you favorite rodent, extract the sphere, and use it in your left hand.
Or better still, buy a Sidewinder Strategic Commander, but thats a whole different forum
Have fun guys
Dwight wrote:Dwight
If the pen could be switched to operate like a mouse - that is, to respond to relative movements instead of absolute position, this would help considerably.
I just installed 18 Graphire 3 and the software allows you to switch to "mouse mode", ie, relative movements. I do not recommend this, because I think working on a small surface is better, but there it is
AS for carpal problems, I think this is more accute if your work is more of a design nature, if you have to do big arm movements (free drafting, for instance.
Working on AC and Art.lantis, I feel small wrist movements is better, more accurate, and my arm is always supported by the tabletop, only the fingers and hand move around. This way, I believe the wrist position is more natural than with a rat (you don't have to rotate your forearm counterclockwise, ergo your shoulder/back are more straight.
As for the Kensington pen, I'm just as curious. Waiting for someone to buy this expensive toy and tell me if it is worth it or just cool
Stephen wrote:Congrats Steve.
I just ordered the Nostromo Speedpad N52. I found it at buy.com for $24.98 and free shipping (if you're not in a hurry). For that price I thought I'd give it a try.
Steve
Please tell me how it goes, I would love some feedback to my demented ramblings
Krippahl,
I chose free shipping, so it might take a couple of weeks to get it. I will let you know how I like it, though.
Steve
P.S. Now, if I can find as good a deal on the Graphire 3.
I chose free shipping, so it might take a couple of weeks to get it. I will let you know how I like it, though.
Steve
P.S. Now, if I can find as good a deal on the Graphire 3.
Stephen wrote:Lucky you
Now for mapping out the programmable keys. I know it boils down to personal preference, but could I get some suggestions? Krippahl? Anyone?
Thanks,
Steve
here is what I cooked up:
Grouping functions by the 3, with similar objectives, each for one finger(the pinkie doesn't work):
Shift/ctrl/alt
Move/Rotate/Mirror
Adjust/Split/Intersect
Copy/Paste/Delete
Then some variations, for up and down stories, save, etc, but these are dependent on the device (mine moves around a bit like a mouse...)
Great Steve
Welcome to the weird-looking-CAD-users
Some advice:
If you can toggle between modes easily (with the Microsoft gizmo this is done with the thumb), you can do like me: I only have 3 buttons programmed, one for each finger, and in 3 different modes, so I access the modes with the thumb without moving my fingers. This is faster and less stressing to the hand.
Also, I have a button for CTRl, so Move/rotate/mirror can be transformed into copymove/copyrotate/copymirror just by pressing CTRL inside the operation (provided you have AC 8.1 or higher, I think).
You should also program undo/redo, cause they are very useful to select stuff.
One more advice, if it is allowed (who can stop me...):
This kind of interface takes a while to get used to. It took me about 2 weeks, on and off work, maybe 40 hours, to get as fats as keyboard, and still I hesitate now and then. The trick is, just use some commands in the beginning (Shift/ctrl/alt/Move/Rotate/Mirror/Adjust/Split/Intersect/Copy/Paste/Delete and some zoom are basic). Only after being good with these would I recommend to move further into less used commands. This way, you avoid being overloaded with new information, and getting stuck.
Anyway, have fun Steve and do tell me how you are getting along.
Krippahl
Welcome to the weird-looking-CAD-users
Some advice:
If you can toggle between modes easily (with the Microsoft gizmo this is done with the thumb), you can do like me: I only have 3 buttons programmed, one for each finger, and in 3 different modes, so I access the modes with the thumb without moving my fingers. This is faster and less stressing to the hand.
Also, I have a button for CTRl, so Move/rotate/mirror can be transformed into copymove/copyrotate/copymirror just by pressing CTRL inside the operation (provided you have AC 8.1 or higher, I think).
You should also program undo/redo, cause they are very useful to select stuff.
One more advice, if it is allowed (who can stop me...):
This kind of interface takes a while to get used to. It took me about 2 weeks, on and off work, maybe 40 hours, to get as fats as keyboard, and still I hesitate now and then. The trick is, just use some commands in the beginning (Shift/ctrl/alt/Move/Rotate/Mirror/Adjust/Split/Intersect/Copy/Paste/Delete and some zoom are basic). Only after being good with these would I recommend to move further into less used commands. This way, you avoid being overloaded with new information, and getting stuck.
Anyway, have fun Steve and do tell me how you are getting along.
Krippahl
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