powerpoint and the use of writing tablets

[science2003]

Hi there,
I am dealing with the following idea, and I would like to have a
feedback on whether it is feasible or not.
a. Use a writing tablet (e.g. wacom, etc) to draw and write directly to
the whole area-screen of ppt in preparing, but also during the
presentation.

b. Use slides that have some text/graphics written (for instance in a
single color like green) on it, but that during the presentation are
not displayed on the external monitor, but just on the laptop screen
(this to help the presenter to have the main plot already made - like
notes - and that he/she can rewrite on it with the pen of the tablet,
during the presentation for the benefit of the audience)

Questions:
1 To do handwritings in the whole area screen, do I need a writing
tablet of A4 size, or is it enough also a smaller tablet (yes probably
this is not a question for ppt newsgroup, but whatever..)

2 I know that with ppt2003 is possible to save the pen marks made
during the presentation, but ppt saves for instance a drawing line as
a picture and not as a editable line like when one uses the "scribble"
tool. Is it possible to turn the drawings made during the presentation
editable?

3 It will be of some use to update Office XP (and 2003) with the Tablet
Pack of Office, even if one uses the graphic tablet instead?

Thanks in advance

 

[Sonia]

Maybe what you really want is a Tablet PC, not a pen tablet. With a Tablet PC
that has Handwriting Recognition installed, you can write with the Tablet PC's
stylus in edit mode or presentation mode and then you can copy the ink object
to text and paste it.

A pen tablet is just basically a substitute mouse. It can use the drawing tools
of PowerPoint, but what is created is a graphics object that cannot be converted
to text. It can also be used in presentation mode, but just like a mouse, the
notations are saved as graphical images that cannot be converted to text.

The Microsoft Office XP Pack for Tablet PC (Tablet Pack) is for Tablet PC's and
not for pen tablets.
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[Tushar Mehta]

If you have one of those Wacom-type writing tablets, you might want to
check Evernote's RitePen (www.evernote.com)

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions

 

[science2003]

Thanks for your answers.
Yes tablet PC could be one of the solutions. But if you have already a
portable, I shall maintain that adding a writing tablet is surely a
cheaper solution.

So the more appropriate question for this newsgroup would be: what is
the actual size of a writing table that allows it to work confortably
on the whole screen of ppt slides?
Tnks

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

So the more appropriate question for this newsgroup would be: what is

the actual size of a writing table that allows it to work confortably
on the whole screen of ppt slides?

That would depend as much on the user's preferences as anything. At one point
I had a 12" Wacom tablet and found it much easier to use when I let the driver
map a much smaller area, maybe 4x6", to the full screen. Less wasted hand
motion that way. Most other tablet users I talked to at the time did the same
thing.

 

[Sonia]

The Wacom Graphire 4X5 works just fine.

However, you'll never get the smooth flowing writing that you get on a Tablet
PC. On a Tablet my handwriting matches what I create with pen and ink. With
the Wacom my handwriting looks very crude. The advantage is that no one would
ever recognize the scratchings as writing from me. <G> Oh, and this is not
because of lack of experience. I've been using Wacom products since 1998 and
currently have 4 Wacom pen tablets, which includes an Intuos.
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com