[Sam W]

Small request to allow the Space Bar system to be customized. I personally would like to have the Pan tool to be swapped with the zoom tool, so I can pan regardless of where my cursor is. I find it more intuitive that way since zooming is something I do less frequently and when I do zoom I don’t move my mouse away from the area I pressed the space bar at.

With other software, panning tends to behave like zoom does in this application so my habit is to press Space and then already move my cursor.

Hope this was clear, I found it a bit hard to explain it well.

[Mike Stumbo]

Hi Sam,

This is Mike again. I hope this answers your request.

First though, are you using a drawing tablet, such as a Wacom or XP-Pen? This will greatly help you if you don’t have one already! There’s some that are relatively cheap too! Amazon has the Wacom Intuos starting at $64.99 USD.

Anyways. The hand tool is accessed by simply holding down the H key, zoom is Z, and you guessed it, rotate tool is R key, respectively. The space bar is set as the combined tool, which I actually like and prefer because it means I have two less hotkeys I have to have programmed on my drawing tablet. Also with Alpha 6, you can now zoom in/out with your mouses scroll wheel, and pan with the hand tool by middle mouse clicking and holding, like in apps such as Photoshop.
Hope this helped, fellow Alpha tester, and

Happy Animating.

~ Respectfully,

Mike Stumbo

Animation Generalist

[Niels]

Hi again Sam,

In addition to what Mike said:

I am a bit confused because it IS panning (hand tool) that is in the center area when you hold Space. Zoom is the outside area. So if you want to pan/move you hold space and click and drag exactly where your cursor is already. Am I misunderstanding you?

Thanks,
Niels

[Sam W]

 

 

Yah, I didn’t think I was being clear when I asked for the menu to be customizable. I’m just saying I want to be able to have the move tool to be the one on the outside and zoom to be in the middle when I use the spacebar navigation. That’s all, I already know about the other shortcut keys but I prefer the space menu mostly. For me it just makes more sense that panning would be the one where you can click anywhere outside to use.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Sam W.

[Niels]

OK I see. But still, wouldn’t you want your most used tool to sit right where you have your cursor – so you don’t have to move it first?

[Sam W]

well, in this case you can zoom anywhere regardless of where the cursor is. I just want to pan regardless of where the cursor is and only zoom using the middle.

[Niels]

I mean, regardless of where the cursor is, the pan area pops up right at that spot. So you don’t need to move it to the large outer area. Maybe the problem is that for some reason it doesn’t work like that at your end? I am suspecting the interface might just pop up in the middle of the screen or something?

[Sam W]

It’s because I usually move my cursor after pressing space, in most software I use the space bar does panning regardless of where the cursor is on the screen and so I prefer that method. When I zoom, my cursor generally doesn’t leave the area that I pressed for the menu.

So for me, it makes more sense to have zoom confined to the middle button and panning to be on the outside. Which is why I would like to customize the space bar menu to move things around since this is mostly a preference thing.

 

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Sam W.

[Niels]

Thanks for explain once more.

I do understand what you are saying. I am however reluctant of adding certain features, or just functionality in general, because, as you probably have noticed, an important value in the vision of Animation Paper is to keep everything very straight forward, simple and easy. I will go a long way to keep it uncluttered.

Behaviour and functionality in Animation Paper is designed to give very optimised workflows, ie enable the user to work very efficiently. Therefore, with your case, you can actually press Space and start dragging immediately – even before the interface is visible. So if you have a tendency to move your cursor while you are waiting for the interface to appear, just know, that you don’t need to wait – simply press Space and press down with your pen immediately so you can do your panning. This way we also keep it in line with other software.

[Sam W]

Ah, you’re right that works mostly how I would like it. Maybe it’s just because I waited to see it thinking it wasn’t available. The only issue is that I need to bring my cursor back to the move icon before pressing again or it goes into zoom. Would it make sense for the menu to jump to the next cursor location rather than staying put – So I can pan from the next location rather than going back to where the menu is? Maybe as a preference option.

[Niels]

I care about making the way it works the right way – I mean, what tends to be the right way for almost everyone. You’d be surprised how much we all think alike – how much we prefer our UX the same way, when you get into the fine detail of things.

That’s also why I keep going on, to make sure we are on the same page. If I can avoid it, I will not just do an option or preference setting, because more often than not, it turns out there is one way that people actually agree is the best way. Which is often the most efficient and intuitive way.

[Sam W]

well maybe the menu can follow the mouse around? Just feels a little awkward to scrub when it comes to panning. But how it is now isn’t bad either, just not what I’m used to.

[Niels]

Yeah, that would be a possibility. I’ll think about it.

In the meantime you could use H instead (hand tool), it seems it would work much better for you?

[Sam W]

Yep! H is fine! Thanks for listening to my panning complaints lol

[Niels]

You are most welcome! (Your “complaints” are valuable information and ideas, I need to always listen to and take very seriously. Thank you!)