Using SketchUp with a (graphics) tablet Q&A

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I know I am in the minority using SketchUp on a Graphics Tablet (and I don’t use one all the time either) but I get asked questions all the time, I know I am not the only one and I met some fellow users at Basecamp. I figured I could start a thread and people could ask questions or other tablet users could share tips and advice. I am pretty sure at least one person on the SketchUp team uses one ‘sometimes’ but I can’t remember who.

Anyway, it all goes back to when I got an Intuos tablet for my 18th birthday, I was really bad with it to be honest but when I got my first job after University at WIRED magazine everybody in the office had one, no matter what job you were doing (using a pen helps reduce RSI most associated with using a mouse).

Rather than using a tablet a few times a week to draw I was using it everyday all day for all tasks from emails to In Design. Naturally at this time I started using it with SketchUp thinking nothing of it. Over the years tablets have advanced, they are now displays with multi gestures and with more advanced inputs.

About a year ago I upgraded to a Cintiq and haven’t looked back, more recently Wacom introduced the Wacom Pro Pen 3D aimed at CAD users, the addition of the third customisable button is a great improvement still.

Wacom were good enough to lend me a MobileStudioPro 16 so I thought since I have both an OSX and Windows powered input at home I would take some questions over the weekend. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

The devices and inputs I have are as follows:

Wacom Mobile Studio Pro 16
Display: 15.6 inch
Resolution: 3840*2160px
CPU: i7
SSD: 512GB
RAM: 16GB DDR3
GPU: 4GB M1000M
8192 pressure levels
OS: Windows 10
Connections: 3 USB C

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Cintiq Pro 13 ( I have the 16 in work, I prefer the smaller tablets over the larger +22 size. I would have bought the 16 for home but I could not afford it but if you have the cash would recommend it as the ideal size, it’s also 4k).
Display: 14.2 inch
Resolution: 1920*1080px
8192 pressure levels
Connections: 3 USB C but it comes with an adaptor for HDMI
OS: OSX (this is just a display powered by 2018 MacBook Pro).

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I have three pens, Wacom Pro Pen 2 (two versions, far left and middle, I don’t know what the difference is between them except the colour and material, the middle one feels better built?) and Wacom Pro Pen 3D (far left with extra button).

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So if you have any questions or want me to try something let me know, I will answer questions when I can. I am using a SketchUp 2019 trial on both machines, I have no plugins installed and probably wont unless you really want me to try something (and it’s free).

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I’m curious about the experience, used to use a Wacom pad years ago. What’s the procedure for orbiting while using a tool? The middle mouse button equivalent.

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The pen I use now has a middle mouse button, before that I would use the keyboard or a shortkey on whatever tablet I was using.

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I use the pen button as well and an application specific modifier:

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Then with my left hand on my MacBook Pro’s keyboard, I use the shift key with the pen’s button for pan, and two finger scrolling on the track pad does middle wheel scrolling. I use the control key with the pen for right clicking mostly as I find the high button harder to reach.

I’ve been using Wacom tablets since 1993. PowerCADD works great with one, but SU isn’t all that friendly. Numeric entry in the VCB as intended by the creators is nearly impossible with a pen, as you can’t keep it perfectly still. The saving grace in SU is that you can draw approximately and click, and then enter numbers after you clicked, and the drawing will update. This doesn’t work well with continuous chain of lines with the pencil tool. (You can turn off “continue line drawing”) The offset tools can be frustrating too, so sometimes I just use my trackpad.

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Do you use the pen in Photoshop when creating a clean tree/plant cut-out for face me components?
If so can you recommend a best value pen/tablet for such a task?

At work, I’ve spent 1-2 hours before cleaning a tree background in PS with a mouse.
Removing finer background details between branches takes alot of effort…

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Yes I do but I don’t create 2D components myself, I either use 3D or I will paint them in afterwards.

A standard Wacom Intous is pretty sturdy, i’ve still got mine running ok after 12 years, you don’t need a fancy touch tablet for that type of work.

However if you are going to try and work with SketchUp on a tablet I would suggest a newer model that supports the CAD pen with the third button. If not a larger model with shortcut keys.

https://www.wacom.com/en-in/products/pen-tablets/intuos

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I use a pressure senstivity stylus in work and at home with SketchUp on a XP-Pen Artist 12 Screen Art Tablet , I only got them last month but has been pretty easy to get the hang of.

The trick is using the pen on the tablet and then also using kb and touch bar with my right hand for tricky and complex situations. However the pen has two buttons built in and also 6 on screen buttons you can program per application. So it’s pretty easy to add in features such as delete, undo and other tools.

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SketchUp isn’t well-suited for use with a drawing tablet and stylus. It lacks some stylus-optimized shortcuts. I hope that someday there will be shortcuts (similar to those in Photoshop) for panning, orbiting, and zooming, such as ‘Spacebar + Click & Drag → Panning; Spacebar + Option + Click & Drag → Zooming; Spacebar + Shift + Click & Drag → Orbiting.’

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no need to dig out a thread from 5 years ago, you could have created a new one. in SketchUp > Feature Requests for example, asking for what you describe.

especially to make a double post with the same message.

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If you get a Stylus with 3 buttons it’s really no problem Wacom Pro Pen 3D | Wacom Southeast Asia

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OMG I never realised, all these years and thousands of models made using a stylus, I’ll have to throw it away now that I have been informed how useless it is!

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I too am fine using just a regular stylus, in fact I have many for different purposes, but having one with extra buttons is very helpful with certain software, especially if you dont want to use the keyboard in conjunction with the pen. These days I like to sketch on the sofa so it’s extra helpful.

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I didn’t ‘dig it out.’ I just shared my opinion on a topic I’m interested in, since I’m planning to buy the new Wacom Intuos Pro tablet soon. The thread isn’t locked, so everyone is free to reply to it, right?
Those two threads cover the same topic, so I shared my opinion in both.

The Wacom Pro Pen 3D is an old device (more than 8 years old) and will most likely not be compatible with the new Wacom Intuos Pro PTK-670 that I’m going to buy. Most styluses, by the way, have only two buttons. Personally, I don’t like having buttons on a stylus at all. They worsen the grip and make using the stylus less convenient.

@Box Don’t be a drama queen!

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It does work fine, I just bought the brand new Wacom Movlink which is newer than the Intuos Pro (in the image above), that said the new Wacom pen also has three buttons as standard too.

Well up to you, the issues you mentioned are easily offset by just having a stylus with 3 buttons (if you only want to use the Stylus to work and not have a keyboard). The buttons are very flush with the pen, I would give it a go before you discount it, I have maybe 7-8 different Stylus and I dont really notice the buttons on any of them.

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Its called the Wacom Pro Pen 3 if you want to find the same one, looks like there is an option to have a cover over the buttons to make it completley flush too.

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Hey, I can be a queen, drama or not, but I cannot accept, understand or condone the suggestion that Spacebar should be used in such a way.
Due to the forum policies I can’t say you are misguided in your ideas and I don’t believe I am able to even suggest you are an idiot. That would go against all sorts of things I’m sure. Adding this because the forum nanny tells me I have to.

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@liamk887 You’re mixing things up. The newest 2025 Wacom Intuos Pro was just released, while the Wacom Movink was released almost a year ago, so it’s older than the Intuos Pro.

Yes, I know. The 2025 Intuos Pro comes with the Pro Pen 3. I like its modularity and the fact that it can be a button-free pen.

@Box Is there a reason why all your comments are so toxic? Is it just a bad day, or is this part of your personality? Anyway, take care!

In Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, the Spacebar key functions exactly this way, offering users a superior navigation method with any pointing device. I hope you won’t call their developers and users ‘idiots’.

In SketchUp, the Spacebar key functions as a regular key and is mapped to the Select tool by default. It’s not as useful as it could be. The Select tool could be remapped to the V key (the same as Photoshop’s ‘Move/Select’ tool), while the Spacebar could serve as the primary navigation key in combination with modifier keys, such as these:

Navigation Control Shortcut
Orbiting Spacebar + Click&Drag
Panning Spacebar + Shift + Click&Drag
Zooming Spacebar + Command + Click&Drag

This way, SketchUp could benefit from several improvements:

  • It will have a great navigation system for panning, orbiting, and zooming that works with any pointing device, including any stylus, any mouse (with or without a middle button), a trackball, etc.
  • It will become more user-friendly for new users, especially who are accustomed to Photoshop.