Kampfzentrum Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 Hey all, I'm hoping that things are pretty friendly around here, as I will be here for awhile. My company just switched over to AutoCAD for 2D plant layouts whereas normally I'm designing tool fixtures in SolidWorks. I find AutoCAD incredibly rigorous and overwhelming when it comes to the interface and customization. So most of my questions will be regarding that. I have used AutoCAD when I went to school for drafting, but since then much has changed. OK, simple question at first, I have a Logitech MX Revolution and am trying to map commands to the mouse. For instance, when using a standard mouse, holding down the middle button will enable you to pan. I want this function - and others - out of my Revolution mouse. Right now, if I hit the middle button an pointer appears that looks like 2 outward pointing triangles on the obliques of a circle; when this appears I am able to move side-to-side, but not up and down - eventually my drawing disappears and I am forced to "undo". Can anyone help me? Quote
ReMark Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 Welcome to the CADTutor forum. 2D plant layout? Yep...doing some of that today myself. What kind of plant are you referring to? So, you want to program your mouse buttons. That's done through the CUIx. You can get to it via the Manage tab, Customization panel on the Ribbon at the top of your screen. Check out some of the Similar Threads below for further information or refer to your AutoCAD Customization Guide. Welcome aboard. Quote
Kampfzentrum Posted February 9, 2011 Author Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks for the tip! The plant is typical production plant, but is going through some serious restructuring. I have to layout the entire deal working off of old prints of the area. I bit different than what I'm used to. I'll see how that works and update this thread. Also, since I'm on this, I cannot get the .dwf extension to open up in AutoCAD. I try mapping it in Windows, but it will not - strange! Quote
ReMark Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 I'm currently laying out a 3,000 gallon reactor, pump, side arm heat exchanger and an access platform in 3D. Fun, fun, fun. Try AutoDesk Design Reviewer for opening a DWF file. I think you'll have better luck. From your AutoCAD Help file. "A published DWF or DWFx electronic drawing set can be viewed and plotted with Autodesk Design Review." From a popular AutoCAD tutorial website comes this. "DWF – This is also a fairly new format. This is used when you want to create a drawing that is for use on the Internet or otherwise not editable. It is a Drawing Web Format. This type of file contains features that allow users to view drawings on the Web without having AutoCAD on their computer." Quote
nestly Posted February 9, 2011 Posted February 9, 2011 I have a Logitech M705, (8 buttons if you count the tilt wheel) and I just use advanced setting in the Logitech software (SetPoint) to assign the buttons whatever function I want it to perform in AutoCAD. Specifically, the middle mouse button should be typically be assigned to "Middle Click" or "Middle Button" for panning in AutoCAD, Quote
Kampfzentrum Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 Well, I'm in the CUI, I am looking at Pan (Realtime) and I cannot find a way to map a mouse button to this command. Also, I went into the SetPoint and tried to map but say, for instance, I want the middle button to Pan, I would have to map a "P" and an "Enter" - just too much. If there was a shortcut key for Pan, I'd be in. Is it me, or is AutoCAD just a bit unuser friendly? I mean, is AutoDesk a German company? Because they sure over complicate the sh*t out of this. SolidWorks just seems so much easier and streamlined compared to AutoCAD. No offense to the hardcore AutoDesk users, just frustrated with this program. Quote
ReMark Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Pan is normally associated, along with Zoom, to the mouse wheel. One wheel...two commands. This doesn't seem more practical to you? I'm not familiar with the device you are using. Does it have a zoom wheel? Quote
Kampfzentrum Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 That's exactly what I'm trying to do, Zoom In/Out with the roll of the mouse wheel, and Pan when it is pressed. Right now I have the Zoom feature, but Pan is gone and some other feature is there that makes my drawing disappear. Like I said above, when I press the middle wheel the cross hairs cursor disappears and a new cursor appears, it looks like 2 outward pointing triangles on the obliques of a circle; when this appears I am able to move side-to-side, but not up and down - eventually my drawing disappears and I am forced to "undo". Quote
ReMark Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 I'm running 2010 right now and I know for a fact that straight out of the box zoom/pan are assigned to the scroll button. When a roll the wheel the cursor does not change and I can zoom in and out. When I press and hold the button a small hand appears and I can pan. Maybe you tweaked something right out of the box before seeing these default behaviors? Quote
nestly Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 What is the action/task assigned to the middle button in SetPoint? If it's "Middle Button" or "Middle Click" then rolling the wheel should zoom in and out, and depressing wheel should pan. When you depress the Wheel, your cursor should turn into a "Hand" Quote
ReMark Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 BTW...what is MBUTTONPAN set to? Type the variable at your command line then press Enter. It should be set to 1. Quote
ReMark Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 I see your problem...not enough wheels on that thing. Sorry, could not resist. I'll try to contain myself. Quote
nestly Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Oh... no "middle click" by default? Those Logitech guys need to be thumped on the head. Try the Option for "Other" and then see if "Middle Button" or "Generic Button" is available from the drop down list. Quote
SLW210 Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Well, I'm in the CUI, I am looking at Pan (Realtime) and I cannot find a way to map a mouse button to this command. Also, I went into the SetPoint and tried to map but say, for instance, I want the middle button to Pan, I would have to map a "P" and an "Enter" - just too much. If there was a shortcut key for Pan, I'd be in. Is it me, or is AutoCAD just a bit unuser friendly? I mean, is AutoDesk a German company? Because they sure over complicate the sh*t out of this. SolidWorks just seems so much easier and streamlined compared to AutoCAD. No offense to the hardcore AutoDesk users, just frustrated with this program. Just take the command and drag and drop onto the button you want to use it. Quote
Kampfzentrum Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 OK, "Other" brings up a pre-configured menu of Cut, Paste, etc. Nothing for AutoCAD. As for the drag and drop deal, here's my issue. The CUI has a listing of 10 (I think) different mouse buttons and they all have different assignments, however, AutoCAD is not recognizing any of the other buttons on this mouse. So something between AutoCAD and the mouse software is not communicating. I think that I'll have to go to the Logitech to get this thing licked. Quote
Kampfzentrum Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 I f*ckin' got it! It was the damn Logitech software! If I turn it off it pans just fine. Blasted stuff! Blarg! Quote
nestly Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 If you turn of SetPoint, I'm not sure you'll be able to customize your buttons. The only problem I have with SetPoint is it causes the borders of the palettes to display improperly. What version of SetPoint are you using? Here's the options I have for "Other" http://screencast.com/t/n3A3KVH9bM0 Quote
ReMark Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 So it wasn't AutoCAD's fault after all. That's nice to know. Glad to hear you got it figured out. Thanks for updating us too. Quote
Kampfzentrum Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 AHHH!!! Nestly! You're a genius! Totally works now! And thanks for that descriptive video. Now I really got it. I never thought of going to that, I figured those functions were all Windows operations. OK, after reviewing this thread, I realized that I did something wrong. Above when I said I could not get .dwf files to associate with AutoCAD, I meant .DWG. Yeah, for some reason, I cannot open up a .dwg file with a double-click, I have to open it through the "Open" command. I have tried associating it in Windows by setting the default program, but no luck. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.