Writing or drawing digital ink

The easiest way to write or draw digital ink is to use your interactive display’s pen or pens.

You can also create freehand objects using the Pens tool. The Pens tool enables you to write or draw digital ink using the following pen types:

Pen type	Purpose and example	Notes
Standard	Write or draw digital ink in a variety of colors and line styles.	Using the Standard pen type, you can write or draw digital ink that fades after a few seconds (see Using the Standard pen type to create fading objects).
Calligraphic	Write or draw digital ink, like you do with the Standard pen type, but with lines of varying thickness.	The Calligraphic pen type is useful for teaching students handwriting.
Crayon	Write or draw crayon-like digital ink.	The Crayon pen type is intended for artistic work, such as painting and coloring pictures, rather than writing.
Highlighter	Highlight text and other objects.
Text	Write notes that automatically convert to editable text.	You can edit your text as you work without touching a keyboard (see Using the Text Pen).
Creative	Add colorful elements to your presentations.	You can create custom Creative pen styles (see Creating custom Creative pen styles).
Paint Brush	Write or draw paint-like digital ink.	The Paint Brush pen type is intended for artistic work, such as painting and coloring pictures, rather than writing.
Magic	Write or draw digital ink that fades after a few seconds.	You can also use the Magic Pen to open a magnification window or a spotlight window (see Using the Magic Pen).
Shape Recognition	Draw a variety of shapes with digital ink.	You can draw circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, triangles and arcs (see Creating shapes with the Shape Recognition Pen tool).

To write or draw digital ink

1. Press Pens.

   The Pens tool buttons appear.

   

2. Press Pen Types, and then select a pen type.

3. Select a line type.

4. Optionally, customize the line type using the property selectors.

   Note 

   You can also customize the line type using the Properties tab (see Changing objects’ properties).

5. Write or draw digital ink on the page.

   Tips 

   • Don’t rest your elbow or the palm of your hand on your interactive product’s surface while you write or draw.

   • If you write or draw multiple lines, SMART Notebook software automatically combines the lines into a single object. For example, if you write the letters of a word, SMART Notebook software combines the individual letters, enabling you to interact with the whole word. If you want to write words on the same line but don’t want them combined, leave a large gap between them, use different pens, or briefly put the pen in the pen tray before writing another word (interactive whiteboards only).

   • If you want to write diagonally, write in a straight line, and then rotate it (see Rotating objects).

   • If you want to write in small letters, write large letters, and then reduce their size (see Resizing objects).

   • You can fill areas that you’ve enclosed with digital ink (see Filling digital ink drawings).