Windows trackpad orbit

travis
Contributor
Contributor

Windows trackpad orbit

travis
Contributor
Contributor

I apologize in advance if this information is already listed somewhere, but for the life of me I can't find it. 

 

How do I get my windows pc to orbit with a trackpad?  This is available for Mac but not for windows.  Tried all different combinations of two finger swipe + shift + ctrl, etc.  nothing seems to work. 

 

Please help

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masa.minohara
Alumni
Alumni

Hi @travis,

 

Thank you for posting! I am using a Dell Precision and it has a touchpad with three buttons. I can rotate the view with Shift + center button and a single finger swipe, and I assume this can be different depending on what machine you are using. Could you try checking the touchpad settings on our machine?

 

dell touchpad.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A workaround is to use the Orbit command at the bottom of the screen but I recommend that you use a mouse for CAD operation.

 

orbit.png

Masanobu Minohara

Product Support Specialist



Fusion 360 Webinars | Tips and Best Practices | Troubleshooting
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travis
Contributor
Contributor

Hello Masanobu,

 

Thank you for replying.  

 

The vast majority of the time I use a mouse, and only use the touchpad when absolutely necessary.  I recently purchased an MSI with only two buttons built in.  I was hoping to find a keystroke that works, but I'll resort to the orbit command. 

 

Thanks again,

 

Travis

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi guys, just wondering if there is a solution for this issue. My switch from mac book pro to surface book has been painful. Navigation was so easy on my mac with two finger + shift. Now i have to keep switching back and forth between pan and orbit tools its much slower. Please let me know if missing anything. Thanks for any help. 

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Anonymous
Not applicable

I'm also just trying a windows machine after a decade on mac.

 

There are a few key issues (Cntrl location vs. Command button) that I think I can train my fingers for ... but ...

 

The base trackpad navigation is a real bear.  The mac trackpad just "worked" - and now i'm hunting through forums to try and see how I can quickly zoom / pan / orbit / etc ... I don't want to be slowed down because of interface issuers 😞

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Anonymous
Not applicable

I'm also just trying a windows machine after a decade on mac.

 

There are a few key issues (Cntrl location vs. Command button) that I think I can train my fingers for ... but ...

 

The base trackpad navigation is a real bear.  The mac trackpad just "worked" - and now i'm hunting through forums to try and see how I can quickly zoom / pan / orbit / etc ... I don't want to be slowed down because of interface issuers 😞

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TrippyLighting
Consultant
Consultant

Based on my experience on a high spec Surfacebook there is only a very limited number of gestures available on a Windows trackpad compared to a mac. I don't own a macbook but know at least one Fusion 360 power user that owns both and feedback is the the mac trackpad is far superior. 


EESignature

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Yes - I have been on the PC for about 2 weeks now - and find the Windows 10 environment perfectly fine.

 

The location of the Control Key vs. the Apple Command key seems a little backwards as it forces one to use their pinky instead of the thumb for one of the most used keys.  The command key feels much more natural. 

 

I find the touch screen pretty helpful at times - silly sounding but especially with the calculator!

 

However - the Mac Trackpad is an amazing piece of engineering.

 

Question - how do you find Fusion 360 on the Surface book?  Is it powerful enough? 

 

Thanks!
Ethan

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catlord
Explorer
Explorer

... so I found this thread looking to find information about trackpad gestures on Windows. 

Knowing that Fusion 360 has great support for trackpads on Mac OS I am very disappointed that I can't even pinch to zoom on Windows (instead having to mimick scrolling), much less use my fingers to pan or orbit. This requires me to use a mouse which I otherwise wouldn't have to do. 

I am otherwise highly impressed by Fusion 360, just this (and missing support for Linux) is marring the experience a bit. 

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matt30ne
Participant
Participant

same story here, i've just got a Surface Book 2 and I am having trouble orbiting with the trackpad (and with the mouse since I wanted to be stilish and got a Surface Arc device). Autodesk, would it be possible to add some serious gestures to trackpad on Windows? thanks!

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Anonymous
Not applicable

I know I'm a bit late on this discussion... but most laptops allow you to press the left and right "mouse buttons" simultaneously to simulate a middle mouse click. Shift + LMB + RMB works for me on Revit at least. 

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Whats the official stance on this? Just got a new thinkpad with W10 and using two fingers or the middle mouse button all i can do is to zoom.

Are notebook gestures supported on Windows?

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joe.bruce.psu
Observer
Observer

+1. Fusion 360 works so well on my MacBook Pro (though recent updates have had some focus issues), but teaching my daughter to use F360 on her Windows 10 PC -- which has just as capable of a multi-finger trackpad -- is SO painful because of the slow pan / orbit.

 

Any progress on trackpad gesture support for Windows, Autodesk?

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darkforcesabers
Explorer
Explorer

Sorry to Necro-thread this, I haven't seen this mentioned yet on the forums; but for those looking for a more factory solution that doesn't require a third-party scripting app; try this:

 

1) Go to "Preferences".

2) Click on the "General" tab.

3) At the bottom, uncheck the option that says "Use gesture-based view navigation".

4) Restart Fusion.

 

This will allow you to use the orbit tool too navigate your projects, simply by using a shift+ right click & drag motion.

(I know on Mac it's accomplished a little differently by holding down shift+ drag. But this seems to do the trick just as well on PC, with a little getting used to!)

 

You can also make sure "Reverse zoom direction" is enabled- in case you liked the factory trackpad zoom function of a Mac's as well.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Shift + 2-finger drag to orbit does not work for me on a Windows laptop with a touchpad. I tried disabling "Use gesture-based view navigation" in the Fusion 360 preferences. Didn't work. Re-enabled it. Didn't work. In either mode it doesn't seem to have an impact.

 

Info about my system. Windows 10 Pro on a Dell XPS 15 9500, 10th gen Intel processor, 16GB Ram. All of the latest Windows updates are installed.

 

Any other suggestions as to how to get this working?

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stonejo
Observer
Observer

I was having the exact same problem and looked into mouse remapping software, but that was a dead end.

 

In the process I found that you can hold F2 for pan and F4 for Orbit. Additionally F3 is zoom and F4 is home.

 

Hope this helps!

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aaronzoltan
Explorer
Explorer

Is there a response from autodesk on this??? I also use W10 and have no shortcuts known to me about pan or orbit. This slows things down immensely. Hello? Autodesk?

 

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aaronzoltan
Explorer
Explorer

I apologize for my ignorance on this, but I tried holding F2 with and without ctrl, fn, alt, windows key, and cannot get the pan to work. Would you be able to clarify this technique or direct me to a link with the information?

thank you

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stonejo
Observer
Observer

You have to be in "fn lock mode"

 

Just hit fn + esc. None of your regular f-key shortcuts will work (volume, brightness, etc.) unless you hold the fn key. It's kinda like caps lock that way. once you are in fn lock, you hold down the f-key that corresponds to what you are trying to do. For example when you hold f4, you should see a crosshair appear for orbit.

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Pushing this thread cause this function is needed...

 

otherwise the software is barely usable with just a trackpad

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