Sketching with digital pen and paper

Abstract: Architectural sketching with the computer has been possible for some time now. Using manual and optical digitizers architects have been able to create images similar in structure and appearance to conventional sketches on paper. Digitized sketches are traditionally associated with early design but are also increasingly linked to interactive interfaces and information management. The paper reports on the application of a new technology (Anoto) that uses a digital pen on specially prepared paper. The focus of the application was feedback from analogue documents to the computer programs used for preparing these documents and on the roles of freehand sketching in later design phases. Sketching with digital pen and paper was found to be useful for the management of annotations made on analogue versions of digital information, especially in multi-actor synchronous and asynchronous situations. 1 SKETCHING AND THE COMPUTER Architects have been making and processing sketches with computers for some time now, even though in many respects sketching looks like an afterthought in design automation. Freehand sketching with the computer has developed in the margins o