Change Mouse Rotation, Panning Settings

[eduncan911 5]

How can I change the mouse rotation (right-click hold, drag) and panning (right-click hold + shift, drag) settings?

This is killing my arthritis-filled fingers.  It's especially bad on my Thinkpad trackpads that require such high holding force, and Yoga-style multi-hand, multi-finger gymnastics to do a simple pan.  No other application, not a single one, has this crazy setup that Cura has.  Or, they have it easily configurable in their settings.

 

Is there a json file I can edit somewhere for the key/mouse bindings?  Technically, I am using the AppImage version of Cura (on Linux).  but for this, I'll build a new appimage if I have to. 

 

If you do a search, there are many posts of similar confusion as this is a non-intuitive setup.  Many people starting out in Cura, and many posts asking how to do simple movements like this (I, for one, had to search to find it as well).  These posts date back all the way to 2014, and version 2.x.  Through 3.x. And it continues to 4.x.

Edited August 4, 2020 by eduncan911

[ahoeben 1,955]

15 hours ago, eduncan911 said:

Is there a json file I can edit somewhere for the key/mouse bindings?

 

There is not. There is no way to configure this; it would need a change in code.

 

The only consolation I can offer is that for panning, you can use left-click+shift instead of right-click+shift.

 

[nallath 1,123]

Nope, but it is an item that's relatively high on the backlog.

[ChrisMentink 0]

@nallath, so now it is may 2021, still we would like to be able to configure the mouse functions, to match other software we use. Is it still relatively high on the backlog?

[nallath 1,123]

Yes, but unfortunately, other things have been inserted above it.

 

If people want this faster, the only thing that can be done right now is writing a pull request.

[Boozekashi 0]

+1 for being able to adjust HID settings  

On Mac, the right click menu often pops up when panning and sometimes clear build plate or reload models inadvertently.

[eduncan911 5]

On 5/17/2021 at 3:27 AM, nallath said:

Yes, but unfortunately, other things have been inserted above it.

 

If people want this faster, the only thing that can be done right now is writing a pull request.

 

@nallath Can you point me to the file/code in github?

 

[nallath 1,123]

The camera controls live here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Uranium/tree/master/plugins/Tools/CameraTool

[thomasljung 0]

Hey nallath, can you please make options for navigating. Ive avoided Cura for many years due to this, but I've realiced your slicer is the best, except the navigation. 

 

The user want to customize this themselves due to what you're used to. I would also like to rotate round the model, due to where i click on the model. No orbit around some invisible center point in space makes it impossible to inspect close up. Please fix this. 

 

Where do I vote this up in some kind of backlog?

[gr5 2,189]

48 minutes ago, thomasljung said:

No orbit around some invisible center point in space makes it impossible to inspect close up.

I know.  "Orbit center point not in part" is annoying but you can inspect close up if you do:

 

Try shift+ right mouse drag

 

You can also use a space mouse (6 axis mouse instead of the normal 2 axis mouse)

[daashmor 0]

Is this still in the backlong? Right click to orbit is counter intuitive for any other modeling and slicing software. 

[Slashee_the_Cow 303]

10 hours ago, daashmor said:

Is this still in the backlong? Right click to orbit is counter intuitive for any other modeling and slicing software. 

Smartarse response: I know you can make some other modelling software (FreeCAD at the very least) behave like Cura.

Yes, I know that's not the answer you're looking for.

 

On 1/23/2023 at 7:40 AM, gr5 said:

You can also use a space mouse (6 axis mouse instead of the normal 2 axis mouse)

Suggestion to make your life harder: I know some software supports joysticks for this sort of thing. Gives you another 3-4 axes to work with.

Or... don't even get me started about my HOTAS. Gives me... has to start counting 9 different axes of control (joystick X/Y/twist, throttle, two scroll wheels, one slider and a little nub which most things have you move like a mouse (so it does two axes).

Edited September 14, 2023 by Slashee_the_Cow
added bit about HOTAS

[safderun 0]

Any updates? 

[Slashee_the_Cow 303]

2 hours ago, safderun said:

Any updates? 

Well it's still not in Cura, that much I can tell you. I assuming it's been submitted as a feature request at least once so if you can find it in the Issues page on the Cura GitHub repo, you'll be able to see what the developers have said about it.

 

You could use software such as AutoHotkey to remap the mouse and mouse+key interactions in Cura.

[nallath 1,123]

If you go to preferences, you can select another style of navigation called "freecad trackpad". I personally don't like it at all, but you might like it.

You might also want to enable "center object on select" in the same menu

[CBX_Micha 0]

Same question and same disappointment. It's a shame that things like this are not implemented since years. I'm not a coder but it can't be so hard to create an option to remap how the mouse/trackball react...
And no: "freecad trackpad" don't do nothing at my side in 5.7. If I chose that, I lost the control of the cam view completely; it just don't work...

[mrender 26]

Do we have to install Rawmouse to use a spacemouse or is it built into 5.7 preferences now?

[CBX_Micha 0]

8 minutes ago, mrender said:

Do we have to install Rawmouse to use a spacemouse or is it built into 5.7 preferences now?

... I haven't seen any option for that in 5v7 ...

[Slashee_the_Cow 303]

2 hours ago, CBX_Micha said:

2 hours ago, mrender said:

Do we have to install Rawmouse to use a spacemouse or is it built into 5.7 preferences now?

... I haven't seen any option for that in 5v7 ...

It's important to remember that these are fairly niche features you're talking about, and that development manpower is a finite resource.

 

What percentage of Cura users would have a SpaceMouse? I'm guessing under 1%. Cura is almost certainly used by professionals who use UltiMaker's printers and might have one, but there's also a very high number of hobbyists and things like educational facilities using it, most of whom wouldn't even know what one is.

 

There are bugs that need fixing which affect well over 1% of users. There are features in development which will likely be useful to well over 1% of users. It just makes sense to prioritise these things, especially since Cura might be free to download, but is still essentially "sold" as part of the product with UltiMaker printers, both to individuals and enterprise customers. People who spend the money for an UltiMaker printer (I wish I could afford to be one of them) or buy a whole bunch of them for their school or business want solid software with features useful to them, and the significant majority of them do not own a SpaceMouse.

 

So why is it that smaller open source projects like FreeCAD or OpenSCAD support devices like these? They are passion projects. The people who do the development also use the program a lot. And if you're that much into CAD that you develop a FOSS CAD program, then the odds you have a SpaceMouse are significantly higher. And when you're not a company responsible for delivering the best quality software they can to customers, your priority list can basically be whatever you want it to be.

 

Does it suck when peripheral <x> doesn't work with software <y>. Yes. The number of flight games which only recognise my HOTAS as a three axis joystick make me want to through said HOTAS through the screen (fortunately they're often a bit of a tangle of cables so it's not that easy). I have an eleven button mouse. The buttons can act as generic mouse buttons, but most programs won't let you map anything more than a left, right or middle click, so I have to resort to using the configuration program included with the drivers to map them to key combinations. This also means that running in the background I have configuration software for Corsair, Valve (Steam counts when you own a Steam controller), Razer and four different Logitech programs (and not that it runs in the background, but I do have to fire up 8BitDo's software at times). Far from an ideal situation, but I can't reasonably expect game developers to have native support for all these things which most people don't have.

 

What can I do about it? Well for most games, and most software, not much. But if you want something supported in open source software, then you can implement it and submit a pull request to have it included in the main program. I know that it sounds easy when I put it like that but putting it like that ignores the fact that programming doesn't come easily to a lot of people. And the crux when it comes to development: nothing is as easy as it sounds. Nothing is as moderately difficult as you think it will be. Fixing one bug adds two more.

 

So when there's only so many people working on a program, they have to allocate their time as best they can. And adding support for something that will only benefit a small number of people often just doesn't make the cut.

[CBX_Micha 0]

5 minutes ago, Slashee_the_Cow said:

What percentage of Cura users would have a SpaceMouse? I'm guessing under 1%. Cura is almost certainly used by professionals who use UltiMaker's printers and might have one, but there's also a very high number of hobbyists and things like educational facilities using it, most of whom wouldn't even know what one is.

 

Nice and very detailed, long answer. But unfortunately, that misses the point.
Mainly it's probably about the desire of quite a few users to be able to change the settings of the mouse/trackball so that the handling corresponds to the usual CAD program, for example. And since many users also use a 3D mouse, it is obvious that these users also want to not have to constantly change their grip and/or rethink things.
Even though everyone here understands that there is no endless manpower of programmers available here, this topic has been on the agenda for years, but is always treated like a stepchild.

[mrender 26]

Agreed these are niche features from the hobbyist standpoint however the S line upwards are marketed as professional machines and are quite locked into using Cura which again is put forward as a professional system.  Ultimaker provides plugins for all the main CAD platforms which is great but not having the same spin zoom pan setup as your CAD system is a pain when it is the day job rather than a hobby.

[Dustin 143]

Feedback is great and all.. 
But your mostly shouting at the void right now.

Best place to provide this such of feedback is on github where the dev's are nearly full-time.. 
https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/discussions
They only occasionally lurk the community forum.

Additionally UltiMaker Cura is open source. The shear number of people that contribute to the code base makes it clear when people want something that has no resources to be developed they take it upon themself to get it done. 
With that said, clearly there has not been as much demand for added support for this functionality you mention as it does not appear anyone has figured it was worth their time to add it if they wanted it.

[Slashee_the_Cow 303]

14 minutes ago, CBX_Micha said:

is always treated like a stepchild

As a stepchild, I can tell you from experience that this is treated much better than a stepchild. For starters, someone has cared about it within the last ten years.

[CBX_Micha 0]

Sorry, don't understand that "metapher (?)" ...

[Slashee_the_Cow 303]

7 minutes ago, CBX_Micha said:

Sorry, don't understand that "metapher (?)" ...

It's been at least ten years since my stepmother has talked to me or even sent an email or message. "Good riddance to bad rubbish", as my mum would say.