using onshape with i pad pro with pencile

james_amato

7/27/2021

On Shape

Good day folks

I recently purchased an I pad Pro 2021 12.9 rev 5. The following are the full specifications of my iPad.

I Pad Pro (12.9) 5 th. gen, Software ver. 14.6, Model MHNK3LLIA, cap 512 GB. I am also using a Stylus Pencil for Apple I Pad Pro 2021

I opened my downloaded App On Shape and proceeded to make a drawing. I have been using On shape on my desktop for some time now, so I am somewhat familiar with the commands’ I was able to use my fingers to make a sketch. However, my interest is to use my apple pencil for the line work and pointing. I was not able to use the pencil regardless on how I set it up in settings/Pencil. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. I look forward to your help.

Thank you

Sincerely

Jim Amato

steve_shubin

@james_amato

That’s kind of strange

I’ve got this cheap pen. Probably worth about a dollar. At the end where the button for the pen would be, there’s this flexible piece of rubber. And I could use it like a stylus on my iPhone 8 Plus, while using Onshape, and I could do everything that I could do with my single finger. Works really good

Funny thing is — I don’t even know if an iPhone 8 plus is even supposed to be able to work with a stylus at all. But it works with this cheap pen someone gave me

tim_hess427

@steve_shubin - those cheap pen type styli basically have a conductive rubber tip that mimics the capacitance of a finger on the screen, so from the phone's perspective, it just thinks you're using your finger. I actually made my own one time with a bunch of graphite mixed into some epoxy for the tip. It worked to create something less "squishy" than the rubber type tips, but still wasn't very precise.

Other styli, like the apple pencil use more complicated sensors that create provide more precision and can detect pressure and the angle of the stylus. So, they have special drivers to go along with sensors in the screen and the stylus itself. 

steve_shubin

@tim_hess427

good to know all that info

So it certainly sounds like it’s some type of a driver issue

Ok so Onshape is not a drawing app where you’re varying the line thickness and all that kind of artsy stuff

So maybe the stylus with the driver will help it to be more accurate. I don’t know. Is it still going to have that offset crosshair like you get when you use your finger. If so, that kind of takes away from the purpose of having a fine point being as you’re not gonna be putting that fine point exactly where you want to sketch.

Granted, somebody’s fat finger won’t be as much in the way so that is another argument for the stylus

One of the reasons I could see the need for the driver, is to mimic a two finger tap for context sensitive menus

Also you would want to have some type of shortcut built into that stylus for panning and zooming in and out

But if there is no setting up for a two finger tap, and if it does have the offset crosshairs, and if there’s no panning or zooming, then all you’re doing is using a fine stylus instead of a fatter finger

But I would be curious to know if there are any people out there using a stylus who find that it does have its advantages with a program like Onshape, and it has sped up operation for them

james_amato

Thanks for trying but you are not even close.