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Orbit and set pivot point using only mouse button combinations

Orbit and set pivot point using only mouse button combinations

 

The ability to set pivot points and orbit a model directly from the use of mouse button combinations, without having to select the Orbit icon or use the View Cube (which itself is a nice feature) would be very useful. Complete model viewing manipulation (zoom, pan, rotate/orbit, set pivot point) using only combinations of mouse buttons, is very common in other CAD Systems and even some viewing applications (e.g. 3D PDF in Adobe Reader and Acrobat), although Fusion 360 already includes mouse button support for panning and zooming

 

Simultaneous 1st then 3rd, or 2nd then 3rd mouse button combinations appear to be available.

38 Comments
lure23
Collaborator

You are aware that with shift + middle mouse button one can:

 

- set a pivot point (only one though) by clicking

- rotate around that point by keeping the button pressed

 

This is mentioned somewhere in the basic videos (at least for Sim 360). It's a must have feature - no need to click that orbit tool, at all!

 

Tip: When clicking pivot points, select something on an actual object (corner, edge, anything). If clicked on the "empty" space Fusion 360 doesn't seem to select a very meaningful point.

JohnnyDR
Contributor

 

The Shift+ middle mouse button works OK,  I am just a little spoiled working on other CAD systems and 3D viewers over many years to be able to do all viewing manipulation using the mouse only and not having to touch the keyboard.  The lack of this feature would not stop me from buying or recommending Fusion 360, but a lot of us "old" CAD users are slow to change our ways.  For a long while you couldn't find a design engineer where I work willing to give up his Spaceball for viewing manipulation (I still have one at work and at home), but the mouse driven viewing capabilities have come a long way since the old Unix-based 3D CAD systems, where mouse drivers had much fewer capabilities.

 

Nevertheless, I would still like to see mouse driven orbit and pivot point setting with no keyboard action, e.g. we use mostly Catia V5 for designing aircraft where I work, and all viewing manipulation, including setting pivot points and orbit/rotate, can be done using the mouse without touching the keyboard.

Does this pivot point setting actually work on a MacBook touch pad ? I've tried every combination of keys and clicks I can think of and although I can get two-fingers + shift to rotate about the center, I can't find a way to actually set the pivot point.

tt.dechangy
Participant

 

This is absolutely true for any user I believe.

and the solution is ! :: :: give option to " INVERT pan & orbit shortcut ". In this mode, one center click will make the pivot point and long center click brings the so nice orbit tool with nooo! keyboard !!!

How could you apreciate better your work, or show it to others than with such simple ergonomic mouse gestures !?

If then you really need the Pan tool, which is globaly far less important (- in fact i even never use it, but that's more personal probably -) , then you will tap the shift key with center click and there it will be.

 

I really hope you will give a PUSH to this little but so basically important enhancement.

Please be kind and give us this. Heart

 

PS : This is valuable for all Autodesk software isnt'it ?

 

 

mccarthy.corey
Explorer

Please make a customizable mouse option. Please! Most of us have at least a five button mouse. left, right, middle, x1, x2 etc. Let us pick what each one does. All we want is to zoom, pan, orbit and set orbit point with one hand and one click each. No keyboard and no double mouse button clicks.

Thanks in advance.

mccarthy.corey
Explorer

Solution:

After getting no response from the above quote, Ive created a solution myself.  So rejoice, it is POSSIBLE to have your PAN, ZOOM, and ORBIT with one hand in F360 and probably any other CAD sofware. You will however need at the least a 5 button mouse. (One with a scroll whell that tilts left, right, and pushes down is a 5 button mouse) This post may be a little wordy, but Im trying to be as clear as possible.  This solution took me weeks to solve by piecing together little clues from around the internet from people who have 'supposedly' figured it out but have never left a full or remotely detailed method for how to do it.  Those of us not familiar with things such as macros or key reassignments need a little extra help. Please excuse any typos. This Lenovo keyboard isn't the best.

Lets get started:

The real question here is how can I make my mouse clicks actaully be a combination of a keystroke AND a mouse click. Thats the problem because these CAD programs includig  f360 require a keystroke and mouseclick combination to execute say for example Orbit, or whatever.  I havent found any mouse software yet that allows this. Some might with a 'modifier', but good luck finding that info on the box at Bestbuy.  Not even Synapse (to my knowledge) for use with the Razer gaming mice products, which touts itself as 'totally programable gives you the option, will allow this.  They all will only allow EITHER a mouse button to be reassigned as a different mouse button, or as akeystroke or a series of keystrokes. But never a combination of the two, which we need, which is the problem, which sucks.

I use a Logitech M325 (the little travel bluetooth one) with Logitech's Setpoint software to customize the mouse buttons.  Setpoint doesnt install automatically just by connecting the mouse (though it should), so if you use a logitech, you'll need to download Setpoint from their website.  Regardless of the mouse you use, be sure to have the proper mouse sofware such as Synapse for any of the Razer mouse products, etc. The standard windows or IOS mouse options wont cut it. You'll need to reassign your mouse buttons.

Note: My Logitech M325 has 5 mouse buttons. Left, Right, Center Wheel Down, Center Wheel Left, and Center Wheel Right.

Step 1

Get your mouse's proper software.

You'll need to reassign your mouse clicks, and your computer's standard software wont usally allow that.  Don't confuse your mouse's software with drivers.  Just because your drivers are up to date, means nothing about having the proper software for your mouse. 

Step 2:

Download Autohotkey.

It's free.  As of 3/3/2015 this is the ink to their website: http://www.autohotkey.com

Don't mess with any of the other mouse reassign software shareware junk on the internet.  Most have viruses and are confusing, of just dont work. Autohotkey among many other things will reassign your keyboard key to whatever you want.  For example, you can make = be 'showdesktop' or f be middle mouse click, etc. Or, you can make a single keyboard button be the combination of things such as $ can mean 'Shift plus Middle mosue button'........You see where we're going here?

So, to download Autohotkey, click the big link in the center of the page that says 'Download Autohotkey'. At some point in the download/installation process it gives you 3 options of what to install. (Again this is as of 3/3/2015.) The first one is the actual Autohotkey program, the second is a program that turns your Autohotkey files (.ahk) into executables (.exe) and the third one I cant remember but I didnt download it because it says it can cause crashes, no thanks.

Download the first one, and the second one if you want.  I don't use this .exe conversion myself, but you may want to later.  I dont use it because I dont know what it does really and its not necessary for this fix.

STEP 3:

Open Notepad.

For whatever reason, Autohotkey interfaces with Notepad on PC's.  Ya, the cheap little text program every computer comes with. You'll have to find out what is uses on Macs, because I dont know. 

Once you've got a blank Notepad file open you 'll have to do a little programing, but that OK. I'll make it real easy for you. Autohotkey has it's own library for what it calls different keys on the keyboard and what it calls different mouse clicks. The important ones for us are:

Middle Mouse button: MButton

Left mouse button: LButton

Control: ^

Shift: +

The reassigning command is a double colon, ::

You can find the rest of them online.

Step 4:

Write your Autohotkey reassignment code.

I've found that CTRL is way less 'sticky' than SHIFT in f360.  So i decided to change my pan, zoom, and orbit shotcuts to Solidworks instead of Fusion, under preferences in F360. Fusion uses 'Shift+Middle button' to do Orbit and simply 'Middle button' to do Pan. Solidworks sort of reverses that where Middle button is Orbit and CTRL+Middle button is Pan.

Either way,

If you stay with the Fusion defaults for orbit, pan and zoom copy and paste this into your notepad file.

=::+MButton

(This says, please make my

equals button actually mean press Shift and Middle mouse click together. )

 

If you change to Solidworks defaults  becuase you find the SHIFT key too sticky, copy and paste this into your Notepad file:

=::^MButton

(This says, please make my equals button actually mean press CTRL and Middle mouse click together.)

 

Note: I use the equals button, = ,  because I never use it while in CAD.  Pick whatever key you'd like. This key will be reassigned while Autohotkey is running, so you'll lose access to the actual key, but not the function. Choose wisely.

 

Now go to Save as....

The important thing here is to save it as a .ahk file.  To do that, when you type in the name of the file, which can be anything, just put .ahk at the end of it.

i.e. anythingyouwantocallit.ahk

It will still appear to be saving it as a .txt file at the bottom in the 'Save as type' section, but it knows what you're doing when you add the .ahk to the end of the filename. I always save these to the Desktop because that way it will be easy to find, when you want to turn the reassignments on.

Click OK and bam, it will appear as a .ahk file with cool capital red H as the icon.

Dont double click this file yet!!!!!!  If you do, you wont be able to reassign your mouse clicks yet, because when you go to press the = button it will get confused in a logic loop you cant escape.  Just close it by finding it in your taskbar, usually inside the little white up arrow that has all the stuff you never look at like bluetooth, printer, etc. Right click the green H icon and close it.

Step 5:

Reassign your mouse clicks.

Go into your mouse's software, again, not the mouse settings in your control panel.

Left and right click are locked in for Logitecs.  Cant change em.  However mouse click left, right and down can be.

Here is my setup, which after a million different combinations I like the most.

Using SolidWorks defaults:

Left click : Left Click

Right Click : Right Click

Scroll Wheel down : Enter (Using Keystroke Assignment) having enter is nice so you can close out menus one handed as well.

Scroll Wheel Left : Middel Button (Using Other, then selet function) -some software calls middle button scroll lock or something like that.

Scroll Wheel Right: =

What this gives me is:

Standard scroll wheel spin back and forth: Zoom

Scroll Wheel left : Orbit

Scroll wheel right : Pan


If you still want to use the Fusion defaults and your .ahk file reflects that, the identical setup above would have to be like this:

Using Fusion Defauts:

Left click : Left Click

Right Click : Right Click

Scroll Wheel down : Enter

Scroll Wheel Left : =

Scroll Wheel Right: Middle Button

What this gives you is:

Standard scroll wheel spin back and forth: Zoom

Scroll Wheel left : Orbit

Scroll wheel right : Pan

 

Save, and exit out.

 

Step 6:

Run your Autohotkey file.

Double click your newly created .ahk file to run the program. Thats it.  It will automatically run the Autohotkey program in the background, along with your reassignments.  You'll know its active by checking the taskbar.  Sometime's its right there on the taskbar as a little green icon with a white H in the middle, while other times it's inside the little white up arrow that has all the stuff you never look at like bluetooth, printer, etc. This probably depends on your computers setup.

 

Step 7:

Run Fusion360 and watch the magic.

 

Step 8 and extras:

Either run the program forever, or close it when you close F360. But anytime you want to run it again, simply just double click your .ahk file. Thats it.  Im sure there are ways to get the reassignments to run automatically and only on F360, but thats way over my head. Im sure there are other cool tricks such as setting a pivot point one handed, and on and on.  These things will require a deeper knowlege of Autohotkey and probably a mouse with more buttons. Either way, this works, its awesome and I love it.

 

'ShowdDesktop' Code:

Another usefull code you can paste into the same .ahk file on a separate line is below.  It will allow you to toggle between your active window and your desktop.  This is especially useful when you're in fullscreen mode, and want to access the internet real quick of whatever.

Its just reassgning the standard Windows 8 command into one button.

 

`::#d

 

You can choose whatever button you prefer, but I chose ` because I never use it, and its right under the ESC key.  An easy place to keystrike, and rememeber where you put it.   The # is Autohotkeys code for the windows start button and d, well is d, but together, they are windows 8's command for 'show desktop. '  If you have more mouse buttons, you can easily assign ` to one of them, as we did above with other keystrokes.

 

Enjoy.

Cmax

 

 

 

dave
Advocate

Corey, waht mouse do you recommend that does this?

Mowee
Enthusiast

I jusy want to chime in and say I would very much like to have a customizable mouse option please!

colin.smith
Alumni
Status changed to: RUG-jp審査通過
 
robbie_in_oz
Enthusiast

I totally agree with the idea, that a mouse customization menu should be available, and not just for Fusion 360, but for Autocad and Inventor as well.

I'm now an Inventor user, but was a ProE user. In Pro Engineer I could use mouse button combinations to make a variety of moves, such as zoom, pan, orbit and set orbit point. In assembly mode move part and part orbit.

I got so use to mouse button combos that I could work with my left hand in my pocket. I only had to pull my hand out of my pocket to type text or sketch dimensions.

The orbit around point method, in Fusion 360 and Inventor is annoying. There should be a check box preference in options, to set point orbit as preferred orbit method.

bustedchain
Contributor

I agree.  I am designing from a laptop and have found other products to be VERY accomodating to letting you use a 2 mouse button touchpad.  I'm used to using both hands when I draw and don't mind using hotkeys to specify that I want to change movement modes. I would like to be able to tell Fusion 360 to let me specify a hotkey that will then treat the mouse button like a middle click.     The idea here is that it should work well whether you have 2 mouse buttons, 3 mouse buttons or 5.  It should also work well whether you want keyboardless navigation (3 or 5 mousebuttons) OR find yourself designing on a powerful laptop (2 mouse buttons, 2 hands and a scroll area on the touchpad).   The navigation should be relatively seamless between these scenarios.  It is possible.

mccarthy.corey
Explorer

Dave, 

Really any mouse will do this these days.  As long as it has a scroll wheel that can click right, left and down. I was using the Logitech M325.  That worked fine.  Cheap, small and bluetooth wireless. Although there are two much better mice out there that I recommend, though in the the $60-70 range, they are awesome. 

#1) Logithech MX Anywhere 2. (Best for people on the move)

Probably the perfect mouse.  Not only does it have a scroll wheel that clicks left and right ( though the down click on the center wheel is gone, it has an assignable button just below the scroll wheel as well as two more buttons on the the above the thumb rest that are also assignable and easily clicked, at least the rearward one.  It also has the ability to pair with 3 different devices via bluetooth.  But one of the beset features is its rechargable via a mini usb cord (included).  No AAA batteries required. Battery life, at least 90 days even with major CADing usage.  It DOES work with your computers built in BT, but regretably, its much much faster with the inclued BT USB dongle. Boo Logitech, you might want to work that out. 

 

#2) The Razer Tiapa (Best for people not on the move)

Awesome. Though its technically a gaming mouse and for left or right handed users, its clean comfortable and fast. It does retain the scroll wheel down click, which is preferred, and has two buttons above the thumb, well both thumbs since its an ambidexterous mouse.  So its like hmm a 10 button mouse, with the additional center button below the scroll wheel. It's perfect for one handed CADing, assumimg you follow my instructions above.  It IS wired, so be prepared for that, but the left and right click buttons are nothing short of pure perfection.  Fast, quiet and accurate.  Its cocaine for your hand.   If you dont mind a wired mouse, buy this one.

 

These two are the jam, but only because NO ONE MAKES a mouse with an acutal middle click ABOVE the ADDITIONAL scroll wheel.  The Contour Mouse comes close, but its big, clumsy, slow and ahemm horrible. But short of that, until someone mans up and makes a true one handed CAD mouse, these two will do just fine. The 3dConnexion CAD Mouse might be the answer to my prayers, but when I researched it months ago, there was something about it that I didnt like.  I wish I could remember what it was.  

 

Best, 

Cmax

 

bustedchain
Contributor
I am using a laptop, no room for a mouse. I don't want the hardware to conform to the software. I want the software to allow variations in hardware. Other cad products let me use a keystroke and a button click to do what the middle button does. My touchpad has a scroll area, so I don't need a scroll wheel. I'm just missing that middle click.
mccarthy.corey
Explorer
Get Auto hot key, and you can easily reassign any key to a middle click. No prob. Just use my aforementioned tutorial to make it happen.
dave
Advocate

Thanks Cmax ... added to my amazon.com wishlist!  

 

Corey ... thanks, will do!

darkprognosis
Participant

Stupid stuff like this made me chunk the software.  Sorry, I just can't recommend this program because the programmers are keeping with the Maya like interface and not listening to their users.  I may be an older CAD user (as in a decade not since Unix days) but when I come from somthing like Solidworks et. al. where I have total free movements with just a mouse I demand that from any piece of software I use or would potentially recommend.  I find it absolutely barbaric of Autodesk, though I expect nothing less from them, to force us to their way or it's the Highway.  Grab a clue as people want versatility and customizations not hard set do or do not type of nonsense.

 

Sorry, I am not like one of the above users because this is absolutely a deal breaker for me on a personal basis and I have eyes for a company that would have purchased this on my say so but I can't give that now.

dave
Advocate
Agreed that idealism has no place in product development. Customer
driven processes should be upfront ... not couched somewhere in the
support and feedback department. A good starting place for companies
like Autodesk is customerdevlabs.com. I'm dealing with another
company right now that claims to be customer driven because they build
a product, then forces users to fight over (via "requested feature"
votes) how to fix it.
friesendrywall
Collaborator

Please add mouse customization.

SwissPL
Advocate

I use DeathAdder but can't get the mouse to rotate or anything, tried all settings combinations, can't figure it out. What am I doing wrong?

mroek
Collaborator

I hate that I can't use RMB to orbit, having to use the keyboard and middle button is a PITA. Yes, you can use Autohotkey to create something to allow you to use just the mouse, but I want to orbit with the right mouse button. Why can't we have fully customizable buttons in F360? That's not a difficult thing for a programmer to do...

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