SpaceMouse + regular mouse shortcut customization tips?

[laukejas]

Hi,

After 11 years at SW, I finally wised up and got myself a SpaceMouse Compact (just the knob, with 2 programmable buttons). For my regular mouse, I am using Logitech G502, which has 11 programmable buttons. It has been just a few days, and I'm already much faster at navigating models than I ever was with a regular mouse. Problem is, I was a heavy keyboard user - I only ever used mouse for navigation and selections, as everything else was assigned to keyboard shortcuts. But that is very inconvenient with SpaceMouse, constantly having shift my hand from it to the keyboard.

To anyone riding SpaceMouse Compact + regular mouse, can you share some pro tips on customizing shortcut menus, toolbars, assigning programmable buttons on SpaceMouse and regular mouse, etc.? What's your customization setup? My end goal is to do away with keyboard completely except for entering dimensions. I am really struggling with things like multi-select (which requires CTRL and SHIFT), also lack of ESC, DEL, TAB and SHIFT-TAB (hiding/displaying), and so on. There's only so many programmable buttons I have before I have to start relying on shortcut menus and toolbars.

Would really appreciate some suggestions on how you solved this.

[CADNurd]

I have the SpaceMouse compact, and a much more regular mouse than yours, with no extra buttons.

I struggled with similar issues and settled on assigning CTRL to the right button on the SpaceMouse. For a long time I had the S-Key assigned to the left SpaceMouse button, which worked well; but I now use that button for toggling 3D rotation on/off.

I've moved the S-Key now to a 'mouse gesture' - specifically right-mouseclick-hold and swipe left. Escape, I've also put on the same mouse gesture but swiping right. I've assigned multiple segments of the 8 segment wheel to the same command so that I don't have to be so precise . . .

. . . SEE LABELLED IMAGE BELOW

It works for me, but with your 11 button mouse you'll probably settle on a different setup.

[laukejas]

I have the SpaceMouse compact, and a much more regular mouse than yours, with no extra buttons.

I struggled with similar issues and settled on assigning CTRL to the right button on the SpaceMouse. For a long time I had the S-Key assigned to the left SpaceMouse button, which worked well; but I now use that button for toggling 3D rotation on/off.

I've moved the S-Key now to a 'mouse gesture' - specifically right-mouseclick-hold and swipe left. Escape, I've also put on the same mouse gesture but swiping right. I've assigned multiple segments of the 8 segment wheel to the same command so that I don't have to be so precise . . .

. . . SEE LABELLED IMAGE BELOW

Untitled drawing.jpg

It works for me, but with your 11 button mouse you'll probably settle on a different setup.

You really like that ESC key I see Thank you for your input. So far, my setup is like this:

Left SpaceMouse button: Zoom to Fit
Right SpaceMouse button: Normal To (used mostly for sketches, since trying to zoom in with SpaceMouse always results in non-normal rotation)

Mouse wheel down: S-key
Mouse wheel left: Undo
Mouse wheel right: Redo
Mouse middle button: ESC
Mouse thumb button: CTRL
Mouse front edge button: Hide (components, bodies, etc.)
Mouse rear edge button: Show (components, bodies, etc.)
2 more mouse buttons unassigned yet, not sure what to use them for

But this is just after 3 days of work, so probably there are far better setups. Looking for more ideas.

[CADNurd]

. . . Mouse wheel down: S-key

Didn't know you could do that - scroll down to activate something?

Anyway. Definitely have a look at SolidWorks 'mouse gestures' and also, something I only found out later, you can create your own 'custom radial menus' with up to 8 segments each in the 3Dconnexion software - in a clunky/roundabout way turning the 2 SpaceMouse buttons into as many as 16.

[laukejas]

Didn't know you could do that - scroll down to activate something?

Anyway. Definitely have a look at SolidWorks 'mouse gestures' and also, something I only found out later, you can create your own 'custom radial menus' with up to 8 segments each in the 3Dconnexion software - in a clunky/roundabout way turning the 2 SpaceMouse buttons into as many as 16.

No no, I meant pressing mouse wheel down. Scrolling up and down is also programmable with my mouse (with Logitech G Hub), but I left them as default.

Using mouse gestures already. Still, haven't found the best layout, which is why I'm hunting for ideas with this post

[DanPihlaja]

Hi,

After 11 years at SW, I finally wised up and got myself a SpaceMouse Compact (just the knob, with 2 programmable buttons). For my regular mouse, I am using Logitech G502, which has 11 programmable buttons. It has been just a few days, and I'm already much faster at navigating models than I ever was with a regular mouse. Problem is, I was a heavy keyboard user - I only ever used mouse for navigation and selections, as everything else was assigned to keyboard shortcuts. But that is very inconvenient with SpaceMouse, constantly having shift my hand from it to the keyboard.

To anyone riding SpaceMouse Compact + regular mouse, can you share some pro tips on customizing shortcut menus, toolbars, assigning programmable buttons on SpaceMouse and regular mouse, etc.? What's your customization setup? My end goal is to do away with keyboard completely except for entering dimensions. I am really struggling with things like multi-select (which requires CTRL and SHIFT), also lack of ESC, DEL, TAB and SHIFT-TAB (hiding/displaying), and so on. There's only so many programmable buttons I have before I have to start relying on shortcut menus and toolbars.

Would really appreciate some suggestions on how you solved this.

The only thing that I can suggest is to start getting used to using mouse gestures.

I went with the larger space mouse with 15 different buttons....for this very reason.

[Frederick_Law]

On Mouse:
Enter, ESC so you don't need to move to top right to click Check and X.
S for the other menu.
Delete if you're brave.

On 3D Mouse:
Shift and Ctrl.

[laukejas]

On Mouse:
Enter, ESC so you don't need to move to top right to click Check and X.
S for the other menu.
Delete if you're brave.

On 3D Mouse:
Shift and Ctrl.

MouseButtons-01.jpg

Thank you, these are really good ideas. How do you deal with not having Normal To bound to any of these mice keys? I find it incredibly difficult to pan and zoom in a sketch with 3D mouse without inducing rotation, which makes it impossible to add relations to whatever that is behind the sketch by some distance. Or is there any way to temporarily "lock" 3D mouse so rotation movements are ignored, for example by holding some key?

[Frederick_Law]

How do you deal with not having Normal To bound to any of these mice keys?

Use Inventor It's easy to pick behind.
PS: Solidworks got Select Other also:
https://help.solidworks.com/2021/englis ... er_dlg.htm

I just use 3D mouse to rotate pan and zoom to what I need to pick.
I'm used to not looking at plane view. Even when sketching.

Fine tune speed to as fast as you can handle.

For the first 3 months with the 15 button mouse, I was finding new hand muscle every week LOL
Once the muscle memory kick in, you don't need the keyboard much.

If you need, there are macro keypads you can buy.
Or build.

[Glenn Schroeder]

I've been using a 3d mouse for many years, and wouldn't want to have to work without it, and I didn't start with AutoCAD like many people of my generation, so I never got accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts.

I'd like to agree with @DanPihlaja about using keyboard shortcuts. I have mine set up with twelve in each of the four environments, and once you get used to it they're very fast.

Here is what mine look like, but of course for different industries and workflows different commands will likely make more sense. (Note that I have Escape in the same location for all four, and the one to open, close, or edit a sketch is the same in three of them.

[laukejas]

I've been using a 3d mouse for many years, and wouldn't want to have to work without it, and I didn't start with AutoCAD like many people of my generation, so I never got accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts.

I'd like to agree with @DanPihlaja about using keyboard shortcuts. I have mine set up with twelve in each of the four environments, and once you get used to it they're very fast.

Here is what mine look like, but of course for different industries and workflows different commands will likely make more sense. (Note that I have Escape in the same location for all four, and the one to open, close, or edit a sketch is the same in three of them.


image.png

That is a great layout. I can definitely see some ideas to borrow from it.

[XHawkeye]

Hi,

Problem is, I was a heavy keyboard user - I only ever used mouse for navigation and selections, as everything else was assigned to keyboard shortcuts. But that is very inconvenient with SpaceMouse, constantly having shift my hand from it to the keyboard.

This is the reason I quit using the SpaceMouse after trying it for a week. Too much to unlearn after using keyboard shortcuts since acad 10.

[laukejas]

This is the reason I quit using the SpaceMouse after trying it for a week. Too much to unlearn after using keyboard shortcuts since acad 10.

Maybe the missing link to replace the keyboard is voice control. Like this https://www.solidworks.com/partner-product/xpresso. Although I suspect it's possible to find a free generic alternative that "presses" assigned keyboard buttons/shortcuts on a certain voice command.

I mean... Let's be honest, we all start talking with our SW 3 hours into the overtime anyway. So why not have it actually listen to what we're saying? For example, you could bind voice command "oh no, not again" to a macro that kills hanging instance of SW via Task Manager and launches a fresh one. Or "I've had enough of this s$@%" to Save All, check files back into the PDM vault and close SW for the day.

[SPerman]

When I was using NX, I found the spacemouse indispensable. When I started with Solidworks, I found my left hand on the keyboard so much that I got rid of it. Since then I am back to using the spacemouse, but mostly for panning and zooming. I still find my hand on the keyboard more than on the spacemouse. This time I bought the one with all of the buttons, but now I'm fighting muscle memory. I'm sure if I glued my left hand to the mouse, I would eventually break that habit. The problem is there are still lots of times the keyboard is needed, and my hand stays there instead of going back to the spacemouse. (I was a Autocad user back in the 90's, and was a fan of doing everything through the keyboard.)

[Glenn Schroeder]

When I was using NX, I found the spacemouse indispensable. When I started with Solidworks, I found my left hand on the keyboard so much that I got rid of it. Since then I am back to using the spacemouse, but mostly for panning and zooming. I still find my hand on the keyboard more than on the spacemouse. This time I bought the one with all of the buttons, but now I'm fighting muscle memory. I'm sure if I glued my left hand to the mouse, I would eventually break that habit. The problem is there are still lots of times the keyboard is needed, and my hand stays there instead of going back to the spacemouse. (I was a Autocad user back in the 90's, and was a fan of doing everything through the keyboard.)

If you're interested in a couple of tips with the spacemouse with the buttons, since I rarely need the Alt key using SW I programmed it for Delete instead (which I use fairly often). Also, if you review PDF's often, as I do, you can use it to zoom in and out on them also, and you can program the Fit button to work the same way with PDF's as it does in SW.

[Frederick_Law]

I've been using a 3d mouse for many years, and wouldn't want to have to work without it, and I didn't start with AutoCAD like many people of my generation, so I never got accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts.

I started in AutoCAD 9. Well actually on drafting table.
Still got my keyboard shortcut setting files.
Don't miss it at all.

[dave.laban]

As far as Mouse Gestures go, having the S-key menu in the bottom-right location of the Gesture Wheel is definitively the best place for it, as when it pops up it's already underneath your cursor without having to change direction.

I've got a SpaceExplorer and I think the button I use most is to toggle Rotation On/Off to enable zooming and panning around a model without it rotating undesirably. I think I've also swapped the zoom axis from default which was a game changer for me, zooming in and out is controlled by moving the puck towards/away from my desk vertically, rather than towards/away from the screen.

[laukejas]

As far as Mouse Gestures go, having the S-key menu in the bottom-right location of the Gesture Wheel is definitively the best place for it, as when it pops up it's already underneath your cursor without having to change direction.

I've got a SpaceExplorer and I think the button I use most is to toggle Rotation On/Off to enable zooming and panning around a model without it rotating undesirably. I think I've also swapped the zoom axis from default which was a game changer for me, zooming in and out is controlled by moving the puck towards/away from my desk vertically, rather than towards/away from the screen.

Can you tell me how you managed to map that Rotation On/Off to a button? I can't find how to do that with SpaceMouse. It would be a massive asset when sketching.

EDIT: never mind, found it. Now my SpaceMouse is perfect