3 ms·

Wouldn't sketchpads (ones for artists) solve the ergonomics problem? Might not be as portable, but certainly more comfortable.

akiselev 4y ago
If you mean graphics tablets like the Wacom displays with the pens, no. It works fine with parametric graphics or CAD, for example, so long as I stick to simple dimensions so one hand is on the numpad while the other holds the pen but the second I need full words - like variable names in complex equations, renaming groups or layers, fuzzy searching for a brush or color by name, etc. - putting the pen back down (without losing it!) becomes too cumbersome. It either serves to interrupt the creative process or get in my way when I know what I want and just want to do it as quickly as possible. It gets worse since touch screens are actually pretty imprecise so I end up using a 3D mouse for viewport manipulation and a regular mouse for precise navigation (nested menus!) on top of the pen and keyboard. At least one of the input devices is considered lost at any given time.
abdullahkhalids 4y ago
I spent two years preparing notes and delivering lectures 4-6x a week using a sketchpad. 1. If I put the pad on the right of the keyboard, then I can type normally, but I am writing at an awkward angle. If I put the pad right in front of me, then the keyboard is too far from me, and can't type fluidly. There is this continuous tension about where to place them. 2. Pads use bluetooth or wire to connect. If I use bluetooth, then my headphones must be wired. So there is a tradeoff there. Headphone are necessary for meetings. 3. There are the non-screen sketchpads, and the screen ones. The non-screen ones require a lot of hand-eye coordination (because you have to look at your monitor while drawing on the pad). They are not as stress-free as paper. The screen ones would help a lot more, but now you have two screens showing the same thing. The pad screen to draw things and move them around with your hand/pen, and the monitor to show you what you type. Kinda stupid. Well, why not use just a ipad-like-tablet and both draw on it and type with a keyboard. Because drawing requires the surface to be flat, and keyboard require the screen to be verticalish so you can easily see what you are typing. 4. The software is still bad. There is still no native cross-platform sketchpad application with collaboration features built in, that will let me conduct a three hour online research meeting with dozens of pages of math. Browsers will inevitably crash, and are just slow.
- chme 4y ago
  > 4. The software is still bad. There is still no native cross-platform sketchpad application with collaboration features built in, that will let me conduct a three hour online research meeting with dozens of pages of math. Browsers will inevitably crash, and are just slow. Any experience with https://drawpile.net/ https://drawpile.net/?
  - abdullahkhalids 4y ago
    Good the online collaboration is a feature. But this need some notion of pages or slides, so we can progress through the calculations, and later export to pdf.
- chrisjc 4y ago
  > 2. Pads use bluetooth or wire to connect. If I use bluetooth, then my headphones must be wired. So there is a tradeoff there. Headphone are necessary for meetings. Recently entered the iOS/ipadOS world and still having a lot of trouble adapting, but are you suggesting that the ipad can only connect to one bluetooth accessory at a time? Or that the bluetooth connection become unstable when too many devices are connected?

akiselev 4y ago

If you mean graphics tablets like the Wacom displays with the pens, no. It works fine with parametric graphics or CAD, for example, so long as I stick to simple dimensions so one hand is on the numpad while the other holds the pen but the second I need full words - like variable names in complex equations, renaming groups or layers, fuzzy searching for a brush or color by name, etc. - putting the pen back down (without losing it!) becomes too cumbersome. It either serves to interrupt the creative process or get in my way when I know what I want and just want to do it as quickly as possible. It gets worse since touch screens are actually pretty imprecise so I end up using a 3D mouse for viewport manipulation and a regular mouse for precise navigation (nested menus!) on top of the pen and keyboard. At least one of the input devices is considered lost at any given time.

abdullahkhalids 4y ago

I spent two years preparing notes and delivering lectures 4-6x a week using a sketchpad. 1. If I put the pad on the right of the keyboard, then I can type normally, but I am writing at an awkward angle. If I put the pad right in front of me, then the keyboard is too far from me, and can't type fluidly. There is this continuous tension about where to place them. 2. Pads use bluetooth or wire to connect. If I use bluetooth, then my headphones must be wired. So there is a tradeoff there. Headphone are necessary for meetings. 3. There are the non-screen sketchpads, and the screen ones. The non-screen ones require a lot of hand-eye coordination (because you have to look at your monitor while drawing on the pad). They are not as stress-free as paper. The screen ones would help a lot more, but now you have two screens showing the same thing. The pad screen to draw things and move them around with your hand/pen, and the monitor to show you what you type. Kinda stupid. Well, why not use just a ipad-like-tablet and both draw on it and type with a keyboard. Because drawing requires the surface to be flat, and keyboard require the screen to be verticalish so you can easily see what you are typing. 4. The software is still bad. There is still no native cross-platform sketchpad application with collaboration features built in, that will let me conduct a three hour online research meeting with dozens of pages of math. Browsers will inevitably crash, and are just slow.

chme 4y ago
> 4. The software is still bad. There is still no native cross-platform sketchpad application with collaboration features built in, that will let me conduct a three hour online research meeting with dozens of pages of math. Browsers will inevitably crash, and are just slow. Any experience with https://drawpile.net/ https://drawpile.net/?
- abdullahkhalids 4y ago
  Good the online collaboration is a feature. But this need some notion of pages or slides, so we can progress through the calculations, and later export to pdf.
chrisjc 4y ago
> 2. Pads use bluetooth or wire to connect. If I use bluetooth, then my headphones must be wired. So there is a tradeoff there. Headphone are necessary for meetings. Recently entered the iOS/ipadOS world and still having a lot of trouble adapting, but are you suggesting that the ipad can only connect to one bluetooth accessory at a time? Or that the bluetooth connection become unstable when too many devices are connected?