Hi Danny,

> I'm just going by what other vendors are adding
> to they're software

Is that something new in NX6?

Did they previously have any control available at the top level UI for switching views like MoI's view tab control?

It seems like something like you are describing might get added into a system that did not already have an easy way to switch views...


> The action I'm familiar with is actually using the RMB and
> not actually clicking the button but to hold it down for a
> second then the popup will appear then you mouse over
> the icon you want and upon release you call that command.

Yeah, that could be a possible triggering action.

I've been a little hesitant to rely on that action too much since it can be slightly odd to "hold still" when you are actually trying to do things quickly.

I also worry a bit about it possibly getting triggered accidentally when the actual intent was to right drag to pan or rotate a view.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> Is that something new in NX6?
No, implemented about 3 versions ago.

> Did they previously have any control available
> at the top level UI for switching views like
> MoI's view tab control?

Yes there has always been a toolbar for this.

> I also worry a bit about it possibly getting
> triggered accidentally when the actual intent
> was to right drag to pan or rotate a view.

Ah yes, that's the difference, NX6 always uses the MMB for rotation.

-

Hi Danny,

> Ah yes, that's the difference, NX6 always uses the MMB for rotation.

What is used for panning and zooming then in NX6?

One priority I had for MoI was to try and make rotate, pan and zoom with the mouse be all immediately available and not require modifier keys, although there are several modifier keys that do work for people who are used to using them in other software.

So in MoI:

Right drag = Rotate 3D viewport or Pan in a 2D view.
Middle drag = Pan in either kind of viewport.
Scroll wheel = zoom


These view manipulations are actions that you may want to do at a very frequent rate, so they basically got the highest priority.

Other things that you may not need to do at such a high frequency can actually be good to not try to super optimize to be as fast as possible because if you don't do them too often it does not really gain you much in the big picture to have them super optimized (By super optimized I mean something like trying to make them happen in 1 second instead of 2 seconds or something like that).

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> What is used for panning and zooming then in NX6?

Firstly, in NX we predominantly work in the 3D view all the time.
The buttons used:

Right drag = No view action, popups.
Middle drag = Rotate
Middle+Right drag = Pan
Middle scroll = Zoom

-

Hi Danny,

> Firstly, in NX we predominantly work in the 3D view all the time.

I guess that kind of leads me to wonder why it is set up with a special popup menu for switching to different views if they are not used very often?


Re: view manipulation - the one that seems pretty odd to me is the Middle+Right drag = Pan. That's holding down 2 buttons of the mouse at the same time?

That's so undiscoverable - it seems unlikely that anyone would ever figure that out without training.

I mean when I am messing around with a program to figure out how it works, I will try some various mouse buttons and keys but I never think to try holding down multiple simultaneous mouse buttons to see what that will do.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

> I guess that kind of leads me to wonder why
> it is set up with a special popup menu for
> switching to different views if they are
> not used very often?

I might of indicated that the popup is for the views, in actual fact I've got mine set up for different shading views, wire, shaded with hidden lines....etc. they can be changed to what ever you want, I was just trying to convey the action to be used in MoI for the views.

> That's so undiscoverable - it seems unlikely
> that anyone would ever figure that out without training.

mmm....I can't remember how I knew that, maybe in the documentation which nobody reads :) also I think most 'high end' 3d CAD packages utilise these buttons in the same manner.

-

That's the first time I've ever heard of having to hold down the middle and right buttons for something!

I couldn't even do that on my wacom - the right click is set to the stylus button closest to the tip and the middle is set to the top button... :-P

-Will

> I've been a little hesitant to rely on that action too much since
> it can be slightly odd to "hold still" when you are actually trying
> to do things quickly.

With TabletPC you can set "hold it down for a second" action as a synonym to right-click and it is very useful to me. Actually, this is also why I had asked and Michael added an alternate method to pop up cline menu - you can press and hold down on the marker for a moment or right-click the marker to pop up the construction line menu.

Petr