Handling without a Mouse

urs_egger099

Hi there,

I'm trying to handling my models and drawings on a business notebook with trackpad and touchscreen - but without a mouse. That is the case while being travelling at the airport, on a train or so. Usually there is also no table and I have my notebook on my knees.

Rotate: right trackpad button + trackpad --> not so easy to handle but let's say that's okay

Pan: Ctrl + right trackpad button + trackpad --> seriously? that's horrible handling

Zoom: Pinch trackpad --> way too sensitive, cannot accurately zoom to the region I want

Using the touchscreen doesn't work at all (neither in pc mode nor in tablet mode - it just zooms all browser content)

Does anybody know another way to handle my 3d space without the mouse?

Thanks a lot for your feedback

Urs

bradley_sauln

You can also utilize the keyboard shortcuts

bradley_sauln

You can also utilize the keyboard shortcuts

urs_egger099

Thank you Bradley,
That is a good workaround. Needs some training though. 

But is there some way to use my touchscreen directly as I would on a Android or iOS tablet?

regards,
Urs

bradley_sauln

urs_egger099 said:

Thank you Bradley,
That is a good workaround. Needs some training though. 

But is there some way to use my touchscreen directly as I would on a Android or iOS tablet?

regards,
Urs

This is something I am waiting for myself. Right now the mouse/keyboard for the browser and touch controls for the mobile apps are independent of each other. The current functionality has to do with what works best for the form factor but I know more and more devices are supporting touch screens/monitors. I will add you the improvement request for this.

alnis

I actually often find myself using my trackpad instead of my mouse to navigate, especially after typing some value because my hand is closer to the trackpad than it is to the mouse. At least on my computer, here's what using my trackpad is like with Onshape:

• Click and drag with two fingers (right-click) -> rotate
• Click and drag with three fingers (middle-click) -> pan
• Swipe up and down with two fingers (scroll) -> zoom in and out smoothly respectively

However, I am using Pop!_OS (a Linux distribution), so it's possible that not all of these touchpad gestures work the same on your system. I know that they also work on ChromeOS. Also, not all touchpads support these sorts of multitouch gestures, and they do require a "click anywhere" touchpad rather than one with distinct buttons. If your touchpad does have separate left/right-click buttons, it might be possible to click them both at the same time to input a middle-click.

brian_brady

alnis_smidchens said:

I actually often find myself using my trackpad instead of my mouse to navigate, especially after typing some value because my hand is closer to the trackpad than it is to the mouse. At least on my computer, here's what using my trackpad is like with Onshape:

• Click and drag with two fingers (right-click) -> rotate
• Click and drag with three fingers (middle-click) -> pan
• Swipe up and down with two fingers (scroll) -> zoom in and out smoothly respectively

However, I am using Pop!_OS (a Linux distribution), so it's possible that not all of these touchpad gestures work the same on your system. I know that they also work on ChromeOS. Also, not all touchpads support these sorts of multitouch gestures, and they do require a "click anywhere" touchpad rather than one with distinct buttons. If your touchpad does have separate left/right-click buttons, it might be possible to click them both at the same time to input a middle-click.

I do the same on my MacBook Pro. I have not used a mouse for CAD when teaching for over 5 years. They feel so strange now when I try. However, the MacBook Pro trackpads are super large and handle multi-touch gestures very well. Not all Windows-based trackpads do since MS seems to leave a lot of that up to the manufacturer instead of baking it into the OS.

steve_shubin

I agree with @brian_brady

My 2017 MacBook Pro trackpad works like a champ when using Onshape

PAN
ROTATE
ZOOM

all work great on MacBook Pro

To zoom — a lot of times I just FLICK two fingers and it does a nice smooth zoom. Then a two finger touch to stop the zoom

tim_hess427

Unfortunately, I don't have the same luck with my windows machine. 

I can use two fingers to "right-click", but it doesn't seem to recognize "right-click+drag". Its a similar story with the three-finger gestures as a replacement for the middle mouse button. 

The best I can do with my computer - my touchpad does have a "right-click area" in the bottom right corner. So, I can click that corner with one finger (or a thumb) and drag the other finger around to rotate. But there's no option for middle-click and drag.

urs_egger099

Hi there, 
Just tried the same on a Microsoft surface. It is the same as with a standard notebook.

nick_papageorge_dayjob

steve_shubin said:

I agree with @brian_brady

My 2017 MacBook Pro trackpad works like a champ when using Onshape

PAN
ROTATE
ZOOM

all work great on MacBook Pro

To zoom — a lot of times I just FLICK two fingers and it does a nice smooth zoom. Then a two finger touch to stop the zoom

Hi, I'm on an M1 MacBook. I can't figure out the gestures for pan or rotate for the life of me. Zoom works. Can you list how you do it? I tried what Alnis mentioned, and had no luck. Thank you.

nick_papageorge_dayjob

I just tried on my 2013 Intel MacBook Pro and pan and rotate also do not work. I have the trackpad set so you don't have to physically push it, and a 2 fingered click is a right click. Right clicking works in Onshape, as it brings up the contextual Onshape specific right click menu. But doing anything after that does not rotate or pan. I also tried both Firefox and Safari. No difference. I can use the trackpad fine in Fusion360 for view manipulation. I'm scratching my head at this one.

steve_shubin

@nick_papageorge073

ZOOM OUT & IN

2 finger brush away

2 finger brush towards me

PAN

Hold CONTROL then 2 finger press & hold while sliding

ROTATE

Hold OPTION then 2 finger press & hold while sliding

nick_papageorge_dayjob

steve_shubin said:

@nick_papageorge073

ZOOM OUT & IN

2 finger brush away

2 finger brush towards me

PAN

Hold CONTROL then 2 finger press & hold while sliding

ROTATE

Hold OPTION then 2 finger press & hold while sliding

Thanks. Unfortunately pan and rotate don't work. It just zooms in/out since I have two fingers on the trackpad. Tried a force click with two fingers, and a tap with two fingers. Nothing. I've been using apple track pads for 15 years now, I'm very familiar with them. And these gestures (similar) work great in Fusion. I must have some setting wrong somewhere.

nick_papageorge_dayjob

I found the issue finally! I had my mouse control preferences set to Creo, which uses the middle mouse button for both pan and rotate. There is no middle mouse button equivalent in the mac trackpad. When I switched my preferences to onshape default, the trackpad worked. I think I will open a feature request to allow separate settings for a physical mouse and a trackpad.

roger

Both Creo and SolidWorks use the middle mouse button drag to rotate. Thus, if Onshape's mouse settings are set to either Creo or SolidWorks, you will be unable to rotate the model when on a trackpad. nick_papageorge073, did you ever open a feature request to allow separate settings for mouse and trackpad?

S1mon

I would strongly support separate settings for mouse and trackpad. I set the movement to Solidworks settings back in 2015 so quickly I don’t even remember what the default Onshape settings are like. I’m used to having my scrolling set to Apple’s “natural” for the trackpad (matching touchscreen behavior) but I use Logitech drivers for my mouse and set it so it scrolls the traditional way.

nick_papageorge_dayjob

roger said:

Both Creo and SolidWorks use the middle mouse button drag to rotate. Thus, if Onshape's mouse settings are set to either Creo or SolidWorks, you will be unable to rotate the model when on a trackpad. nick_papageorge073, did you ever open a feature request to allow separate settings for mouse and trackpad?

I thought I did, but in my 6 pages of feedback/questions to support I did not find it. They are probably sick of me:) Incidentally, my fix was just to put Onshape in default mouse mode. I ended up getting used to it in a matter of minutes on my 3 button mouse, and it works for the trackpad too. This, after using Creo since the 1990's.

david_teresi

Blender's trackpad controls work really well - pinch to zoom and two finger drag (without clicking) to rotate. Would love something like this for Onshape