Zoom in/out with mouse wheel

ingo_knoch

Hi,

I'm a long time SolidWorks user (over 10 years), so it is hard to change the mind in things which runs automatically. Zoom in/out with mouse wheel is one of this, every time I use the function in Onshape I use to wrong direction.
I know different CAD systems use different directions to zoom, but in SWX is an option to reverse the zoom direction to the other way around.

May be an option in the user profile like units settings would help to get faster and easier in Onshape!

Bye Ingo

lougallo

This has been marked as an improvement. Currently it respects the operating system (on a Mac you can reverse it with the natural scrolling option). This is something that gets immediate feedback and you get used to it but I agree an option is the best long term solution. I was a 15 year SW user and I am used to it now but I am not using multiple tools every day.

pete_yodis

Lou, I second Ingo's suggestion. An option to change the scroll direction would be nice. There are a lot of SolidWorks users that will be trying this out and it would be nice if it could conform to what they are immediately used to. One less frustration for a new user. MY first impression was that the controls I was used to didn't work here and therefore Onshape felt klunky, when in fact its just me being klunky.

pete_yodis

It would also be nice if the double middle mouse button click could zoom to extents. I use that on all the time in CAD products. Very quick.

brucebartlett

PDY said:

It would also be nice if the double middle mouse button click could zoom to extents. I use that on all the time in CAD products. Very quick.

Never used that one before, had to try it in SW just to see it work. Yes it is quicker than press F if your hand isn't already on the keyboard.

brucebartlett

It would be great if you could select a face and double click the mouse wheel to go normal to.

lougallo

@babart77 just select the face and hit 'n'

brucebartlett

Nice one, thanks @LouGallo‌. I have looked at the quick keys but they have not all sunk in yet.

jon_hirschtick

hey middle mouse can be faster -- no need to go to keyboard -- nice suggestion -- @LouGallo‌: is the middle mouse press filed as an improvement?

lougallo

@JonHirschtick‌ It could be although it would not be something that would work on all the devices that lack a middle mouse...  I can add it to measure interest.

pete_yodis

Middle mouse is something SolidWorks users are going to feel instantly familiar and appreciated. I know my muscle memory needs to be altered when using Onshape. I think its one of those things that just makes that initial impression all that much more impressive and probably goes a long way to keeping all those SolidWorks folks engaged a little longer...

lougallo

I am assuming @PDY this is referring to the zoom direction, not the dbl click to fit.  Zoom direction was requested and postponed until we have a user settings menu.  We are continuing to measure the need but unlike a hard coded shortcut key zoom has immediate feedback and is quickly corrected.  It makes sense to have it in our user settings UI when it is developed in the future.

pete_yodis

@LouGallo I thought I mentioned both zoom direction and middle mouse click to zoom extents - at some point.  I know SolidWorks and AutoCAD/DraftSight default zoom inputs are opposite of one another, so SolidWorks eventually allowed the zoom direction to be flipped in a system setting.  I am pretty sure they did this to make AutoCAD users feel more at home.  I would think Onshape would want to at least mimic SolidWorks as a start - again for that instant familiar feeling and conveyance of comfort.  I would assume your largest audience of existing CAD users will be SolidWorks proficient.  A setting to be able to flip zoom inputs would be ideal - that's nice to hear its coming with the setting UI.  Looking forward to it. 

You are correct the double click to zoom extents is a different request and one that would only apply to non-Mac users. 

The larger point is that you might want to consider making the ability to satisfy SolidWorks users with their preferences - if not make it the default setup out of the box.  Viewing and view control is one of those things that is so elemental and in almost every action - so you really notice it when things are different.  I wonder if you could have a quick setup guide to Onshape the first time you log in so that you can get things situated immediately.  One of the questions might be to ask if they want view controls setup for SolidWorks.  This could also entail other CAD program view control defaults -  a series of radio buttons perhaps... just a thought.

lougallo

@PDY agreed!  Although the middle mouse works fine on Mac too ;-) If you are not using a Magic mouse..

Jim_Anders

LouGallo said:

@PDY agreed!  Although the middle mouse works fine on Mac too ;-) If you are not using a Magic mouse..

Yep!  I run SW on my MBPro all the time with a 3 button mouse.  I was bummed that the Magic Mouse didn't have enough magic to work.

caradon

Any updates on support for 3Dconnexion devices yet?
That's what I'm craving for.

Dries

lougallo

@DriesV as a web application our support would need to be provided by the 3rd party as well.  That will be out probably after we are open for business since we would need to have our API complete and front facing.  With Google already bringing secure device support to the browser It can be done.  No real standards yet for 3D devices but I have read things on USB javascript libraries for hardware support. 

joseph_dick

First, let me say I love Onshape!  Now to the topic:  the user interface should be consistent with respect to mouse operations in pan, zoom, and rotate.  Me, I want to virtually reach out and touch the part.  

Pan works like grabbing the part and sliding it on a table.  Calling this "pan" is semantically incorrect, because panning a camera is rotating about a fixed point - a tripod - to another view.  In the parlance of moving picture cameras, this is a tracking shot, i.e. the camera is on tracks.  Call it "pan", that's fine with me; its just semantics as I said.  Meanwhile,  thank you for letting me move the part.  I want to work on it, not make a movie about it.

Rotate as well does as one would do with a real part.  You touch the face of it and it rotates like a globe.

Zoom is where it all goes south for me.  I want to pull the part toward me, as if were really there, beckoning it by drawing my finger towards me - the most innately human of gestures - and move it away by pushing it away, extending my finger, again a natural gesture.  Or, if it's me that's moving, I pill myself toward an object, I do not push myself away.  

No, for zoom I have to change metaphors mid-stream!  Suddenly I'm operating a camera by remote control!  I have to "push" the virtual camera closer to the part to magnify it, and the vice-versa, invoking a third metaphorical object to accomplish the task!  Better to think virtual reality with all mouse gestures, instead of playing virtual videographer with one out of three.

Other than that, excellent stuff!  Keep up the magnificent work!  I've dove in in head-first, and I'm already using Onshape in my work and for personal projects in a matter of days, even doing some of that on my Nexus 5.  As a result, I'm buying the top-end Chromebook Pixel to move forward, having no longer to lament the lack of SolidWorks on Unix based operating systems.  In my 35 years of CAD, it looks like its finally converging to the dream we had at Purdue's ECN in the early 80ss and better: A Vax 11-780 in a three ring binder that could do everything anywhere.  :-)

terry_kuehne236

Is there a method to zoom in/out with the mouse faster or with larger increments?

NeilCooke

Speed is determined by your system settings. 

StephenG

In Onshape a double click of the middle mouse button results in a "Zoom to fit".
Which is also the keyboard shortcut "f". (Onshape is a product that lends itself to two-handed driving; one hand on the mouse and one hand on the keyboard to take advantage of its single key keyboard short cuts.) 
"Zoom to fit" is also available in the right mouse button context menu popup.