The present invention details a system for tracking writing motions internally to the pen (or other instrument) and communicating such motions to a general or specific purposes computer systems. In a preferred embodiment the present invention uses multiple tubes with electrically active material with viscosity surfaces in order to generate the necessary signals to determine the motion of the device in a targeted number of degrees. The data on movement is either supplemented with or oriented with magnetically-active thin film material which generates signals when the device is rotated. The data is then filtered and optionally processed and stored. The data then can be downloaded to a computer or other processing device to determine the motion of the pen or other tracking device.