How to Properly Use Search/Design Shortcuts

[VisionMakerr]

Hi, the search I'm referring to is the search window that comes up when you press "s".

It's a really nifty feature to pull up buried tools/features, but I don't seem to be giving it the type of parameter the programmers intended (see image).

 

Does anyone have any tips for what parameters to give it to ensure the right tool is pulled up?

Thanks!

Thomas

PS I'm really sorry if I'm not following submission guidelines, but as a student I guess I have enough permissions to post but not enough permissions to view the submission guidelines:

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

the search will search for all words that you type in - you are getting all the commands that have either "offset" or "plane" in them.  The idea is to present a list of commands, and let you pick from that list which command you want from that list by clicking on it.

[VisionMakerr]

Hmm okay, thanks for the quick response!

I was trying to use "s" as a complete set of pre-made, easy to use shortcuts, but I guess that's not really what it was created for. So, instead if I want a shortcut, I'll just make one.

This isn't to say that it wouldn't be nice to see "s" serve as a permanent shortcut service since it doesn't require memorization or the holding of multiple keys at once, but with all it takes to develop Fusion, I'm sure designing smart searching algorithms to perfect an already functional feature isn't at the top of your todo list. (:

[jeff_strater]

not sure what you mean by "shortcuts" here.  The two "accelerator" UIs that Fusion supports are:  Hotkeys (a single key way to invoke a command), and the Shortcut toolbox (the UI that comes up when you type "s"). 

Hotkeys can be bound to any command, and are edited by using the "three dot" menu next to the command dropdown.  You can assign a hotkey, or edit the hotkey that is already assigned:

The Shortcut toolbox, you can think of as an alternate toolbar - a way to group some commands into another UI that you can quickly call up, and access those commands.  There are two ways to add a command to that toolbox.  In the above UI, if you click on "Pin to Shortcuts", it will get added there.  The second is the search capability in the toolbox itself.  This is not a command line interface, and it is not meant as an advanced search interface.  It is just a way to try to find another command that you want to add to the toolbox, by name.  So, yes, it is not a super intelligent search UI.  It's intent was to just narrow down the list of commands to help you find the one you really wanted to add to the toolbox.  It was intended to be used just to set up the tools, and therefore rarely.  Once you have the toolbox set up the way you like it, you don't very often need to use Search.  So, investing a lot of effort into supporting wildcards or other advanced search was just not cost effective.

[VisionMakerr]

Thanks for the detail, that insight was exactly what I was looking for.

As a newcomer to the program, I found myself using the shortcut toolbox search a lot, and over time I found myself beginning to rely on it. However, as you described, it was never intended to be a replacement for natural hotkeys, so I'll either make new hotkeys or use my mouse to access either the toolbar or the shortcut toolbox shortcuts.

With that being said, I still like the idea of using the shortcut toolbox search to replace hotkeys because I think it's easier to press 3 memorable keys in a row than hold down many at once ("s, s, w" for sweep rather than "ctrl + shift + s"), but again I understand why you wouldn't want to further develop it.