Hi,

today I found, than using the the "pan" function or the right mouse button cause an automatic shift of the viewport. For me it's very confusing to see the viewport automatic running. It could be nice, if the pan function could be like at Rhino, that the viewport follow the mouse without automatic shift. This "classical" behavoir helps to keep a feeling, where the viewport position is. I wished my english would be better to explain it. ;)

Regards,
Micha

Hi Micha, that "automatic pan" type mechanism only kicks in if you move your mouse near the edge of a viewport - specifically if you are within 45 pixels of the edge.

If you don't want for it to happen, just stay away from 45 pixels of the edge and it will behave like Rhino.

Generally the Rhino method where there is no acceleration is just not as good because if you can only pan as fast as you can move the mouse, it often times leads to a kind of "scrubbing" action where you have to repeatedly pick up the mouse and put it down again because you run out of room on the mouse pad. MoI's method gives a way to pick up speed and avoid that kind of awkward scrubbing motion. It's more ergonomic if you don't have to furiously move the mouse around to travel somewhere.

Also the old Rhino way where the mouse pointer wraps around when you leave the viewport boundary is not compatible with pen tablets. In general it is a part of MoI's UI philosophy to not programmatically place the mouse cursor in any location, it is just easier for the user if they are in control of placing the mouse cursor and that the software does not try to do it to "help".

So there are some pretty big benefits to MoI's system - it is actually specifically designed to solve problems in my older Pan design that Rhino uses. Going back to the old system would be sort of a downgrade instead of an upgrade.

- Michael

OK, I don't use a graphic tablet, but the mouse usage with the automatic shift makes me not happy, but if it is ok for the rest of users ... ;)

I would prefer a fixed relation between mouse movement at my table and viewport postion. Waiting of the automatic shift and don't know where the current position is (I tried to move the viewport between two objcts) makes me feel confused, my brain has no feeling for an automatic shift but a feeling for the movement of my hand/mouse.
It could be nice to toggle a view option for classical and automatic shift. I like the Rhino behavoir, that the mouse can be moved outside at one side and it come in at the other side, the relation between mouse movement and viewport movement is fixed and I can feel "my" position at the virtual space.

Hi Micha, so far I can't remember anyone other than you complaining about the new system... Like I mentioned it solves several problems with Rhino's older system.

> and viewport movement is fixed and I can feel "my"
> position at the virtual space.

Yes, that is part of why it causes a problem - it's forced to move only at a a speed directly connected with your mouse, which makes you have to "reset" your mouse location on the mouse pad over and over again to travel a farther distance. That kind of furious mouse "scrubbing" is unpleasant, it makes you wear out your mouse pad... ;)

For the next v2 beta I've added a setting in moi.ini that will allow you to disable the auto-pan mode if you want:
[View]
DisableAutoPan=n

If you set that to DisableAutoPan=y in the next v2 beta, it won't do that accelerated movement near the borders and instead just stay fixed to the same mouse distance same as how the mouse currently works until you get near the edge.

But I'm not currently planning on doing the cursor teleport thing - that is something that breaks really badly on any kind of "absolute mode" type pointer system, like a touch screen or pen tablet, and it is not particularly easy for me to always know when such a device is being used. So in general I do not intend to move the mouse cursor in some way that it does not move while under your normal control, like jump to the opposite edge of the screen.

- Michael

Also in my previous message I was wrong about the pixel size - it is when you move your mouse within 85 pixels of the edge that the auto-pan kicks in, which starts slowly at first and then will accelerate if you continue to move further towards the edge.

The 45 pixel thing is a zone that is set around your mouse when you first click down which does not have auto-pan set in it - this is so that auto-pan does not kick in instantly if you happen to initially start a pan nearby the edge zone.

- Michael

Thanks for the infos and the ini option. :)

Regarding the 45 pixel zone, is that controlled at all by an accuracy setting in the options or is it fixed. Possibly the snap settings?

Hi Burr, that auto-pan zone is a fixed size near the edge of the viewport. There is not currently any way to adjust it, is there some other value that you wish it was set to?

- Michael

I was refering to the pick zone not the auto pan zone. It was only curiosity