Option to change middle mouse button to "rotate view"

[Anonymous]

I know Autodesk likes the idea of having the middle mouse button as pan. But most operations in modeling involve rotating and navigating the model. Pan as a direct mouse click is OK if you are working in 2D. And yes I know you can drag the navigation cube and yes I know you can hit "shift" and middle mouse button at the same time.

But why not just have a simple selection to customize your own interface.

Perhaps by making the platform more flexible to the user, it will attract and retain users to the software.

[Anonymous]

Guys;

I came from using Pro/E and Solid Edge.  The middle mouse button function for spinning the model is backwards from these (and from Solid Works, too).  Search through the posts; most people want the middle mouse button to rotate the model when it is pressed, and then if they want to pan then hold down an additional key like Shift.  Why not just let the user decide how they want this to function?  Dont hard-code it; make it part of the customization.

If you think it's not that big of a deal look through the posts.

Yes, I know about 3D controllers; I've used them for eight years or so.  That not the point; unless AutoDesk is getting a kickback from 3D Connexion, there is not a good reason to hard-code this functionality backwards from what the other programs are doing.

I read that Inventor users suggested how this would work; they were wrong.  Perhaps they had never used another 3D CAD program?  Not sure, but the rest of the 3D CAD world got it right. The development team propagated this error by hard-coding the behavior instead of letting the end user decide.

[MattH_Work]

Absolutely don't agree.

Middle mouse to pan & zoom

I've got F4, Orbit & Spacemouse for rotating.

[Anonymous]

MattH_Work;  my guess is you've never used anything other than Inventor.

Unplug your Spacemouse and use Inventor.  What do you spend more time doing, rotating, or panning?  Most people, if they're being honest, will say rotating, as the complete part is usually on your screen unles you're zoomed in.  For the sake of argument, let's see you agree that you do indeed rotate more than pan.  Why would you want to add clicks to use Orbit or the as-coded functionallity?  Why do Creo, SE, and SW all work oppposite of Inventor?  Did everyone else get it wrong?

How about this:  Even though you don't agree, why not let the end-user decide how they want their Inventor to function?  If I don't agree that 3D controllers are productive, would you want me to take away the ability to use them?

I would make this wager; if the development team allowed the end-user to decide how they want their middle mouse button to function, then surveyed all Inventor users, the functioning I outlined (middle mouse button spins, add-Shift to pan) would be used by a wide margin, especially by people who switch to Inventor from other CAD programs.

[MattH_Work]

"What do you spend more time doing, rotating, or panning?  Most people, if they're being honest, will say rotating, as the complete part is usually on your screen unles you're zoomed in"

As it happens I spend more time pannng, I use a spacemouse for rotating, or F4 or Orbit or Shift / Middle mouse on the odd occasion. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, but I will say that giving the user a choice is no bad thing.

[Anonymous]

MattH_Work;

Ah, you skipped the very first part; unplug your spacemouse and then work.  You said you use your spacemouse for rotating; that's the issue here.  If you didn't have that, your finger would more or less hardly ever move off of Shift, because (I contend) that you spend more time rotating as compared to panning.

If you get a chance, drive a seat of Pro/E (Creo)/Solidworks/Solid Edge and see what it's like.  Actually, Creo would be best; it automatically rotates around your mouse cursor, so your screen doesn't rotate off of the point of interest you're working on.  It's a double-win for that software in that category.

[Anonymous]

I agree whole-heartedly with everything expressed by the original poster.  Thank you, ungarata. I came here to say exactly what you said, in largely the way you said it.

I am an experienced SW user (let's some around 4,000 hours), and somewhat experienced in ProE also.  Due to my new job, I'm currently learning Inventor.  The fact that I have no control over the behavior of my mouse buttons is making me insane.

 If more people say they want MMB to be pan, fine, let that be the default.  I don't care what your defaults are.  Defaults are merely a starting point.  But don't artificially cripple the program (along with my sanity) by not giving me the option to change that. 

Every other program I've used (be it SW, ProE, Windows, even games) has this control built-in.  It is the ubiquitous default position.  I must then draw the conclusion that the Autodesk folks, at some point, made a conscious decision to deviate from this standard.  It is my studied opinion (based on my own experience and the written, stated experience of many others, across multiple forums, and over the course of many years), that this was a fairly huge mistake.

I would like to re-inforce the suggestion then, at this time, that this mistake be rectified as soon as humanly possible.  While enterprise level software is most-often mandated and selected by the enterprise, that selection is very often influenced by the desires of the end-users. This is the sort of thing that would incline me to campaign to change our software.

Thank you very much for your kind assistance.

[Anonymous]

The Idea

Add a function into the customize tab where you can change your panning and orbiting keybind of the mouse.

For example:

Default is Shift + Middle mouse button
New is Alt + Left mouse button

Pro:

• Let's you customize navigation to your personal preference.

Con:

• Atleast drop sales of the Space Navigator by 1.

Add kudo's if you agree with this idea, and you totally think that Autodesk should add such a function!

[Anonymous]

I just made the same request, as I am sure others have too.

I wonder if Autodesk has a investment stake in Space Navigator?

[Anonymous]

This issue makes me hate inventor

[Anonymous]

Pan shortcut = middle mouse button (MMB)

Orbit shortcut = shift + MMB

Can we swap the shortcut to MMB + Shift? or have the option to assign mouse buttons like keyboard functions?

So I can swap between orbit and pan without lifting my mouse button (and breaking the movement)

[DRoam]

Agreed. Actually, all of the following should be completely customizable within the Application options:

MMB

Shift+MMB

Ctrl+MMB

Alt+MMB

Ctrl+Shift+MMB

Alt+Shift+MMB

Ctrl+Alt+MMB

And we should be able to choose between the following to assign to those (basically, all of the tools on the Navigation Wheel):

Pan

Continuous Zoom

Orbit

Constrained Orbit

Walk

Look

Up/Down

Rewind

[Anonymous]

@DRoam ya, like keyboard functions...but it's mouse functions. It'd be useful 🙂

[Anonymous]

It seems to me being able to customise the mouse buttons is at least as desirable as customising the keyboard, as a primary interface for navigation. I can't understand offering keyboard customisation without mouse button customisation.

I would like to switch the centre mouse button to orbit and pan to shift + centre mouse button. I can survive without pan but orbiting is essential in 3D. As I am new to Inventor, this issue is very bothersome to me as other programs offer a higher degree of flexibility.

[egkingjr]

Agreed.   Devlopment team take note this is such a simple feature.    I have thousands of hours of sketchup muscle memory and using middle button and shift keys for sketchup is wired in and I find formit very clunky because of that.  If I could make formit behave like I want it would be such an easy transition to formit.   

[Anonymous]

I agree with this 100%.  The 3D world requires rotation of models for development.  Panning is a 2D activity.

[danmachen]

Most CAD packages allow the rotation of the model with the single mouse.

I think the best option is:

Middle Wheel = Pan

Right Click + Middle Wheel = Rotate

Middle Wheel Scroll = Zoom

Its so simple! It makes the 3d Mouse completely obsolete allolwing the user more use of the left hand for shortcut keys.

[BriHecato]

• Just download little but powerful application called X-Mouse Button Control
• Create profile connected to inventor.exe
• Rebind Middle Button with "Simulated keys": {F4}{MMB} +selected option "3 During.."

Also in latest version you can use button chording to set sequence of two mouse buttons for one action (like RMB -> LMB but i strongly recommend to start chording from 4th or 5th button).

App works with all of 5-button mouses that are recognized by windows.

Profiles linked with exe does auto switching.

App is sometimes better than Synaptics or LGS.

Remeber to support developer via Paypal 🙂

[robin_mcg]

Nearly all CAD programs rotate the part or assembly around the mouse pointer but inventor does not - why? I know I can use orbit tool to change the rotation point but you don’t want to do that every time you pan or zoom to a new place on your part. I know I can use a space pilot but I used that in my previous job but it is too slow compared to using the mouse.

I would like to have a setting that lets you set the mouse pointer as always being the rotation center.

I would also like to be able to set the “ctrl” button function:

 Ctrl + middle putton - pan

middle button - rotate.

As it is now it is the opposite of all other CAD-programs and not changeable which makes it difficult for all consultants using different programs all the time.

[PaulMunford]

To re-set your tumble origin. Left click on something to select it. You can now deselect it if you want - Inventor will tumble around your selection.

[Anonymous]

I agree 100%. I work in a consultant company and we use multiple CAD programs depending on our client's needs. And I must say Inventor rotation is the worse of all. Sure you can press F4, select your center and rotate from there, but it takes a lot of time and F4 is not the most accessible button.

Also to oppose what PaulMunford said, there are many times where you can't left click on a part to rotate around that part/assembly, while applying mates or measuring comes to mind. You would be forced to stop close the measure/constraint window, select the part, reopen, etc. Also, some parts or assembly are simply too big and selecting them won't help (if there are no parts around what you want to rotate around from).

Giving the option to make you mouse pointer/surface you are mousing over your rotation center every single time would be incredibly useful.

Being able to remap those keys would also be amazing (MMB, Ctrl+MMB), but I think the rotation center is a lot more urgent.