Alternative to a mouse

[badgern]

Anyone got any ideas, my problem is that I do a lot of CAD work drawing plans of road accident scenes. I obviously use a mouse to draw up these plans but I'm finding that it's not sensitive enough. When I try and place something almost pixel perfect the item jumps around too much.
Is there an alternative to a mouse which would offer more precision when dragging items on the screen?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.. Thanx

[leprechaun_40]

I use a trackball, but you have to have a good one, one that's ergonomic (logitech makes some really good ones) and then you need to become accustomed to it.

For your application I'd think one of those CAD pad things would work best, where you use a stylus on a pad.

[Midknyte]

Sounds like to you need a tablet. Wacom is pretty much the standard.

http://www.wacom.com/index2.cfm

[leprechaun_40]

TABLET!!

That's the word I couldn't think of,, thanks Midknyte!!

[Midknyte]

No big. I have "senior moments" all the time. Heck, I'm lucky I can remember my own name. LOL!

[leprechaun_40]

LOL,, thanks again

[badgern]

Thanks fella's a tablet it will have to be, appreciate your input

[ukulele]

The drawing tablets do work great for this type of work. The good ones are expensive though. I lucked out and found an obsolete tablet called a Handwriter FX made by CIC. The software that came with it was designed for Win95 computers for converting handwriting to ASCI text. It never worked right and the product line was eventually dropped along with all support from CIC. What I discovered with a little research was that it actually was a CalComp tablet in disquise. I downloaded the drivers for the Drawing Slate ll for Win98 and it works great. I got it for $20.00 on Ebay in like new condition. I use it all the time, even for taking notes I don't want to lose. Sometimes it pays to do your homework.

[BJUK]

Dont know what kind of mouse you use but optical mice are more accurate. and dont need cleaning like rolerball types.

[badgern]

Yes, I have an optical mouse BJUK, it's smooth but doesn't seem to be able to move stuff on the screen the small amount I need to be able to do. It drives me up the wall sometimes, even trying to use it with both hands to steady it!! I'm going to invest in the tablet as suggested..

[tking]

ever seen one of these?



from: http://www.essentialreality.com/specifications.asp

Yep, the future is here, you can get your mits into a vr glove now. It looks pretty full featured, very accurate and just oh so cool.

At $150 you're looking at a really expensive mouse, but it's cheaper than a big tablet.