magic trackpad

[Stephen Dolbee]

Apple just announced the release of the Magic Trackpad. I have always thought the mouse worked better than a trackpad could, but I have never done CAD work on a laptop. Does anyone think this is a viable alternative? What are the pros and cons now that it is available for the desktop?

[Anonymous]

no easy middle click (must use key combo as well) makes me not so sure it'd work as well as a mouse...I'm still waiting for the big screen drawing board, and for the record I wouldn't mind putting my hands on that...(literally!!)

[vistasp]

Stephen wrote:
Apple just announced the release of the Magic Trackpad.

And Wacom have come up with the Bamboo Touch. Let's see how this thing pans out. There's a comparison at the bottom of this article.

[Anonymous]

I want one!

Do you think a pinch to zoom setup would also work if implemented with AC?

[vistasp]

No clue how well either of these gizmos would work for AC. Let someone else try them and report. 😉

I'm just breaking the bank on a new i7 system and, in any case, I'd wait until such devices mature a bit instead of being a guinea pig. Have the Wacom Bamboo Pen (mostly for fooling around with photo/art) - and I love it!

[Anonymous]

ok i've dived in & bought one, so will report back on monday! as for the i7 they are fantastic!

[Anonymous]

ok i've been using it for a couple of hours now & have actually put my mouse away. The gestures are great for switching between apps etc.

it would be great if a patch was released for AC allowing the pinch to zoom to work!

[Stephen Dolbee]

How do you pan and zoom?

[Anonymous]

Stephen wrote:
How do you pan and zoom?

as i've been using their magic mouse for a while, i'm slightly more use to it. eg i have space bar set up for pan, & you use two fingers for scrolling (zoom),

i'm not sure if i'm completely sold on it yet, it's great for everything else, but with CAD type apps, the rest of the gestures really need to be integrated...

[Greg Kmethy]

We are still waiting for our Magic Trackpad to arrive, so I could not test it, but ArchiCAD 14 users be aware that ArchiCAD 14 supports zoom and pan on the Macbook's trackpad:
- 2-finger scroll is zoom
- ALT+2-finger scroll is for pan

Same stands for the Magic Mouse, but with one finger.

You can switch zoom and pan in the Work Environment/Mouse Constraint panel ("Use wheel for an and alt+wheel for zoom", or "Use wheel for zoom and alt+wheel for pan")