5
The Roll-Up III
What is the Roll-Up III?
The
Roll-Up III
belongs to a class of computer input devices called
graphic tablets
,
or
digitizers
. A digitizer is an electronic tablet work
surface. The position of a transducer, a handheld cursor or stylus, on the
work surface of the Roll-Up III is converted—
digitized—
into data for com-
puter processing. Data output from the Roll-Up III digitizer is in the form
of an X/Y coordinate pair that pinpoints the location of the transducer on
the tablet surface. The Roll-Up III is a specialized graphic digitizer that is
specifically designed to be portable, so it can be taken to the job site.
Overview
The Roll-Up III works with many graphic, CAD, and estimating applica-
tions. These applications use the digitized data from the Roll-Up III to:
Determine the dimensions of objects on drawings and blueprints
Move the pointer on the display screen
Create and manipulate objects in a graphic composition
Trace a drawing, or other source material, to create an image on the
display screen
Select commands or functions from an application menu placed on
the tablet surface
Select items from a pull-down menu on the display screen
In order to send data from your Roll-Up III to your digitizing application,
your Roll-Up III must be physically connected to your computer, and it
must be able to transmit that data in such a way that the digitizing appli-
cation recognizes and understands it. Before you set up your Roll-Up III,
you should determine:
The requirements of the digitizing software application you are using
Whether your digitizing application requires software drivers to com-
municate with the Roll-Up III
The hardware communications connection (Serial or USB) you will be
using between the Roll-Up III and the computer
The Roll-Up III uses an electrostatic technology for digitizing
with blueprints and nonconductive inks. If you are using black
line drawings with conductive ink, the Super L Series Digitizers
are more appropriate.
