VectorWorks can be used with drawing, or digitizing tablets, providing an additional way to create drawings. The program is compatible with Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) digitizing tablets as well as digitizing tablets that support the WinTab standard.
A common use for a tablet involves tracing an existing hard copy of a drawing. Place the drawing on the tablet and trace along the lines to digitize the drawing. Because tablets usually have finer resolution than a mouse, there is better control for creating objects. Further, if the tablet uses a stylus for input, use of the tablet might feel more natural, similar to holding a pen or pencil versus using a mouse.
Using a digitizing tablet with VectorWorks requires the driver software that comes with the tablet. Select Tools > Tablet; VectorWorks searches for this driver. Once found, VectorWorks determines the size and resolution of your tablet. (If VectorWorks cannot find the driver, a dialog box opens.)
Once the driver is found, a gray box displays around the drawing area. This box outlines the boundary of the drawing tablet; the movement of the tablet’s transducer is constrained to this boundary box. In order to access menus and palettes that are outside of this boundary, either toggle out of Tablet mode or keep the mouse connected and use it to select these items.
The tablet boundary depends on the size of the tablet as well as the current layer scale and zoom factor. A tablet with a 4" x 3" usable area with an imperial layer scale of 1" : 100' would be constrained to a drawing area 400' x 300' in VectorWorks. Naturally, adjusting the zoom factor will reduce the apparent physical size of the constrained area in relation to the screen, but the internally-represented dimensions remain constant.
The Tablet command synchronizes the tablet with the scale and units settings for the drawing. For example, if you have the
Scale set to 1:1 and the
Units set to Feet and Inches, then 1 inch on the tablet equals 1 inch in the drawing area on the screen. Further, if you have the
Units set to Meters and the
Scale set to 1:100, then 1 inch on the tablet equals 2 meters in the drawing area.
VectorWorks assigns certain functions to the buttons on the tablet cursor and supports cursors with up to four buttons. VectorWorks also provides the option of pressing the keyboard’s F2, F3, and F4 keys for buttons 2, 3, and 4, respectively. This is particularly useful for drawing tablets that have fewer than four buttons. VectorWorks has an automatic scrolling feature which, when activated in Tablet mode, scrolls the screen image when moving the cursor past the displayed edge of the drawing. These functions are described in the following table.