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Zoom using Arrow Keys


Tony83

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Good morning,

 

I'm currently using AutoCad 2012 while in the process of installing 2013. Over the last few months i've had an increasing problem with a sore finger causing by an over reliance on zooming with the scroll wheel. To combat the problem I've recently purchased a track mouse but i'm finding it difficult to move around the drawing as freely as i'd normal be used to.

 

Is there any way of setting the arrow keys on the keyboard to zoom and perform a similar function as the scroll wheel on an orthodox mouse?

 

Regards,

 

Tony.

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You can use ZOOM command and -PAN that will allow you to use the cursor for indication of specific points. To move the cursor press and one of arrow keys. This is similar with behaviour of very old releases of AutoCAD; however the & control of cursor speed doesn't seems to work.

 

 

Later edit: Even if is possible to move the cursor with above solution, I didn't find a way to pick points using only the keyboard.

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Basically you'd like to move around in your drawing without having to use your right index finger when operating your mouse. Is that correct?

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Tony,

 

There is the old standby Zoom Window, Zoom Previous, you could set them up to work with hot keys or a macro for easy access. There are other options though and I can relate to the zoom with the scroll wheel, being tedious and wearing.

 

One thing that I find very useful and very fast is the use of the aeriel viewer window. If you've got a lot of screen real estate like a dual monitor it works great. You will need to research the variable names an command name for that though. Autodesk in their wisdom has "removed" official functioning of it but it is still there.

 

As far as using the +/- arrow keys I've got a lisp routine on my freebies page called AutoUCS.lsp that in what I call ZoomMode that does what you are asking. You could give that a try.

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The Aeriel View feature referred to in Patrick's response can be activated at the command line via the .DSVIEWER command. It looks like this...

Aeriel Viewer.PNG

The Aerial Viewer can be resized and placed anywhere on your screen. You can zoom to any part of your drawing using the viewer then pop back into the drawing to continue working.

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Ah, thanks ReMark, I got lazy in looking up the command. One thing that I do with it is I have the window under the mouse automatically activated so I don't even need to click into or out of it (back into the drawing window). The biggest problem I have is, since I've got it sized almost to the same size as the drawing window, is trying to draw in it. :o But then, that's old age for you.

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I used the Aeriel View back when it was called the Birdseye and marketed by a company called nth Engine. Then AutoDesk stole the idea and put them out of business.

 

I normally size AV to 2x3. I generally know where I'm at in my drawing so I don't need it to be as large as what you are used to using.

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I used the Aeriel View back when it was called the Birdseye and marketed by a company called nth Engine. Then AutoDesk stole the idea and put them out of business.

 

Ha! I started using it when it was an add on called TurboDLD. It's too bad Adesk doesn't see much value in it. I've played around recently with Inventor Fusion and it's a pain without it.

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