Number Pad / Macro Pad / Stream Deck / Loupedeck

[Mark Aceto]

6 hours ago, trevorgooch said:

Re Top 2d/3d - that's exactly the use i have for it.  I double tap there all there time.  

 

Swapping the icon is an awesome idea.  Maybe there is value in adding a double tap function giving the other views an ortho/perspective toggle.    I might play with that... 

 

Blender's numpad keybindings are going to give me an aneurysm but one consistent theme is TOGGLING: global / local, ortho / perspective, etc.

 

If a VW user only needs 2 choices, Ortho or Narrow Perspective, maybe it makes sense for a single tap to toggle "not this one; the other one", and use half as many buttons for those boolean operations.

 

[Mark Aceto]

Just now, Mark Aceto said:

If a VW user only needs 2 choices

 

I'm trying to figure out how to map Quick Prefs to the Stream Deck but, so far, I've only got:

• Show Clip Cube
• Toggle Grid (and an excellent script from @Sam Jones somewhere that also toggles Snap to Grid in unison)

Does anyone know how to create keyboard shortcuts for Quick Prefs? They're prefs, so only those 2 above have menu commands (that I know of). Maybe they can be scripted?

[Sam Jones]

6 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

I'm trying to figure out how to map Quick Prefs to the Stream Deck

What are Quick Prefs?

 

[Mark Aceto]

4 minutes ago, Sam Jones said:

What are Quick Prefs?

 

My trigger words.

 

 

 

 

[Sam Jones]

4 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

My trigger words

 

You would need to have a script made for each one, maybe more if you don't want to toggle, but specify. Make command for each script, install each command in the workspace.  After that it would depend on what Stream Deck needs, a keystroke or a menu command title.

 

Want to talk?

[Mark Aceto]

I could nitpick a few details here but just so folks know what else is out there:

 

https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q14-pro-alice-layout-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard?variant=40536317591641

 

[Sam Jones]

49 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

I could nitpick a few details here but just so folks know what else is out there:

 

https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-q14-pro-alice-layout-qmk-via-wireless-custom-mechanical-keyboard?variant=40536317591641

 

No command key.

 

 

[Mark Aceto]

30 minutes ago, Sam Jones said:

 

No command key.

 

Look closer... 

[Mark Aceto]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:18 AM, Mark Aceto said:

If I understand that “Top 2D/3D” key, I need to steal that. It’s like a home button. No matter where I am, I can always press the center of the matrix, and it will bring me home. If I’m in perspective view but want to go ortho, I go home, double tap... I also have a few workflows where I alternate between Plan and ortho Top. If the icon also swaps, that’s even cooler. Definitely a power up move from 5 and 0.

 

In practice, decided I like toggling Projection (Ortho, Narrow) and Render mode (Wireframe, Shaded) but don't like toggling Top and Plan (as a single key) because they also override projection and render modes I'm working in. Definitely a personal preference depending on your workflows. Different strokes... 

 

[Sam Jones]

Any idea what these are for?

 

[jmcewen]

Mapped as console gaming buttons like Playstation maybe?  They use circle, triangle square and x don't they?

 

Edit.  quick research  confirms the use of these symbols on gaming controllers but not necessarily for this keyboard.  From an interview with person who designed the playstation controls :

 

• Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colors to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols, and I came up with the triangle-circle-X-square combination immediately afterward. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color. The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one's head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent 'yes' or 'no' decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively. People thought those colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that that's what I wanted.

Edited August 8, 2023 by jmcewen
added info

[zoomer]

1 hour ago, Sam Jones said:

Any idea what these are for?

 

 

 

Reminds me of "Teletubbies" antennas (?)

[jmcewen]

On 1/16/2023 at 10:21 AM, Mark Aceto said:

Numpad on the left is great for Standard Views. Programming it with QMK/VIA also gives users the ability to add keys / shortcuts they normally wouldn’t use (because their hand is on the mouse or some other awkward obstacle).

 

However, the slippery mushy Streamdecks can be programmed for so much more, and for multiple Apps, so we shall see… 

 

Also, the Trackpad / Touchpad on the left is great for gestures, zooming… to round out the full Minority Report experience.

Why stop at numpad on the left.  How about the whole thing on the left?

[Mark Aceto]

1 hour ago, Sam Jones said:

Any idea what these are for?

 

 

Rotary knob:

• Clockwise
• Counter clockwise
• Click

So that could be volume up, down, mute... Or many other things: zoom in, zoom out, loupe... Navigate up and down layers (or saved views).

 

The other 3 keys are macros that can be mapped to pretty much anything. In fact, most of the keys can be remapped to whatever you want across multiple layers using the open source QMK VIA software. That's what this video highlights:

 

 

 

 

[jmcewen]

I used my mouse to get around my numpad placement, but I had to remap all the numbers on the mouse to make it match the numpad layout in my mind. Plus i get a few of the single key shortcuts that aren't worth mapping on the streamdeck, but do just fine going under my right thumb.  Cheap mouse, works well, pretty long battery life.  It is just really big, and that puts some people off.  I recently saw a different mouse with 16 thumb buttons, but i don't think I could handle that.  UTechSmart Venus and RedDragon Impact Elite are essentially identical.  Razer makes the Naga, which  seems pretty similar but is 2x the price and you can swap the thumb pad for some different custom key configs as well.

[Mark Aceto]

2 hours ago, jmcewen said:

I used my mouse to get around my numpad placement, but I had to remap all the numbers on the mouse to make it match the numpad layout in my mind. Plus i get a few of the single key shortcuts that aren't worth mapping on the streamdeck, but do just fine going under my right thumb.  Cheap mouse, works well, pretty long battery life.  It is just really big, and that puts some people off.  I recently saw a different mouse with 16 thumb buttons, but i don't think I could handle that.  UTechSmart Venus and RedDragon Impact Elite are essentially identical.  Razer makes the Naga, which  seems pretty similar but is 2x the price and you can swap the thumb pad for some different custom key configs as well.

Been actively exploring this option in my never-ending search for a better UIOP[]

[FBernardo]

I usually use the Logitech G13 which has been made obsolete... Sadly... But Razer has maintained and developed similar tool, the Razer Orbweaver, Tartarus these are very useful for gaming but also can be for software we use all keys are remapable and has a tiny "joystick" that you can use for several things (again all remapable example numpad numbers for quick view changes) then you can have 3 different maps of keys, with a press of a button you can temporarly change from map 1 to 2 or 3 and use another 23/24 set of new keys!

[jmcewen]

1 hour ago, FBernardo said:

I usually use the Logitech G13 which has been made obsolete... Sadly... But Razer has maintained and developed similar tool, the Razer Orbweaver, Tartarus these are very useful for gaming but also can be for software we use all keys are remapable and has a tiny "joystick" that you can use for several things (again all remapable example numpad numbers for quick view changes) then you can have 3 different maps of keys, with a press of a button you can temporarly change from map 1 to 2 or 3 and use another 23/24 set of new keys!

I lack enough faith in my memory of how I mapped my keys to use one of those without visual remindrs. But if you like that you should check out the Azeron Cyborg.  Using it looks like holding hands with a robot.

[FBernardo]

11 hours ago, jmcewen said:

I lack enough faith in my memory of how I mapped my keys to use one of those without visual remindrs. But if you like that you should check out the Azeron Cyborg.  Using it looks like holding hands with a robot.

 

I would definitely need a few more key, but it does look cool! 

[jmcewen]

2 hours ago, FBernardo said:

 

I would definitely need a few more key, but it does look cool! 

Redragon M990 gets you up to 23 buttons, 16 arrayed under the thumb, 1 by your index, and 4 behind the scrollwheel, which I think would typically select polling rate, but who really needs that in our industry? Pretty sure they count left right and center as part of the 23 programmable buttons, too. You lose some top buttons on the wireless version of this, so if interested be careful which you look at

 

In my set up with the little brother of this mouse, I use the mouse buttons for views and selection operations, a streamdeck XL on the left for common multikey inputs, and a stream deck pedal for x ray mode.  The pedal still has 2 unassigned inputs, and I am trying to figure what is most valuable to put there still.

[Mark Aceto]

Had another Stream Deck break through this week when I was workshopping a design in a Zoom. Even though I have SD toggles for:

• Ortho / Narrow projection
• Wireframe / Shaded render

I constantly kept playing Wac A Mole with those toggles and holding CTRL to temporarily activate the Flyover tool, and it was wildly inefficient. But my POV with customizing VW to streamline workflows is that you need hindsight to discover the efficiencies. Whenever I'm getting the most annoyed or frustrated is when inspiration strikes.

 

So, I realized that (similar to the convoluted VW view prefs) whenever I switched to Shaded, I also switched to Narrow, and activated the Flyover Tool. So why not make all of those actions one click?

 

Now, CMD+5 is ingrained in my memory, so it automatically switches to back to the Selection tool in Plan View.

 

But this could go one step further: you can toggle multi action macros.

 

 

With a single key, I can toggle back and forth between all of those projections, renders, and tools.

 

If I wanted, I could also toggle Show Grid, Snap to Grid, Show Clip Cube, and so on...

 

The only caveat I noticed, which you can see at the end of the screen recording below, is smashing that key like a rat in a Skinner box will confuse the SD. There seems to be a little latency. Who knows, could even be the cable I'm using.

 

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Mark Aceto

[ilijahmora]

Did you ever integrate loupedeck?

[Mark Aceto]

On 1/4/2024 at 5:25 PM, ilijahmora said:

Did you ever integrate loupedeck?