SBP: Rotate Workaround Shortcut

[seurban]

Like many of you (who don’t own a Cintiq) I long for the ability to freely & non-destructively rotate the canvas, but until that feature comes I’ve created a workaround that I find useful. It’s not quite as good, since it is only in 90degree increments and it’s easy to get lost when zoomed in, but I think it is better than nothing.

Basically, I use SBP’s rotate canvas left and right, but use Auto Hot Key to map those tools to the buttons on my tablet. Auto Hot Key is only for Windows, but I'm guessing there's mac software out there that could do the same thing (needs to be able to turn keystrokes into mouse clicks and movements).

First, go to [http://www.autohotkey.com/|http://www.autohotkey.com/] and download (& install) their software. It seems pretty powerful, but I only use it for this one simple thing. Say no to it creating a sample script in your My Documents folder (it doesn’t hurt, just isn’t necessary) if it asks.

Then create a new AutoHotKey Script (*.ahk file, right click -> new -> AutoHotKey Script) and name it whatever you like (I called mine AliasRotateShortcut.ahk and put it in My Documents, but it can be anywhere) .These contain the code which dictates your shortcuts. Open it in Notepad and paste this text in it:

;rotate left
#q::MouseClickDrag, L, 81, 39, 101, 129, 0

;rotate right
#w::MouseClickDrag, L, 81, 39, 101, 145, 0

This assigns the shortcuts win-q and win-w (# translates to the windows logo key see the help file under Hotkeys to find the characters which correspond to other keys) to the mouse motions of going to Image > Rotate Canvas Left/Right. You can use another key combination if you want; I just used that because the windows key seems otherwise useless.

After saving this file, open Wacom Tablet Properties and set your function keys to these shortcuts. Note: make sure Auto Hot Key is not currently running, or you’ll never be able to set those shortcuts (that key combination just turns into mouse movements if your newly created file is open). I use the top two on the right side (I’m right handed) because the ones on the left get used by my free hand.

Then just double click on (open) your newly created .ahk file (I put a shortcut in my Quick Launch bar, or you could add it to your startup), open up SBP, and push the function keys on your tablet to rotate the canvas 90 degrees.