iMac ALT/Option key woes

[Bruce]

I've just switched from 15 years of using Archicad on PC, to now using it on Mac. It is an interesting learning curve.

One thing I've noticed is the double-up with the ALT (or Option) key.

The Option key is used for creating a copy when dragging. However, it is also used for zooming with a Magic Mouse, creating a temp origin mid-command (Option+Shift), and also locking to an axis (Option+X or Option+Y). This means I am often creating unwanted copies because I forget to un-copy after one of these commands.

Is there a way around this?

[Barry Kelly]

Bruce wrote:
Is there a way around this?

Go back to PC.

Sorry I couldn't resist that.
Hopefully a MAC user can help you out.

Barry.

[Erwin Edel]

Plug in any generic (comfy) USB mouse with a proper scroll wheel, unless you absolutely love the Apple mouse. I find them too small (and I have small hands) to hold comfortably for prolonged use and prefer a mouse with a few more buttons.

I can recommend Logitech mice for compatibalilty, comfort of use and durability (I've never had one break within 10 years of use).

[DGSketcher]

The mouse isn't the problem, it's the key allocation! I moved to a Mac a few years ago, no regrets on that aspect, but that Alt/Option key assignment is crazy and I can't find a fix. It means you have to think a bit more carefully about what you are doing, especially when Dragging something that requires a screen zoom to complete the action. Come on GS, you know this is wrong...

[Erwin Edel]

Perhaps I misunderstood, I thought the problem occured when needing to press ALT to zoom, which is not necessary with a scroll wheel mouse.

[DGSketcher]

On the Mac the Alt key toggles between zoom & pan BUT it also triggers copy mode when moving something. The result is you select something to drag (not copy), then press the Alt key to Zoom (or pan) which simultaneously changes the "drag" into "drag a copy" unless you cancel copy mode by pressing the Alt key again before completing the drag. Not the best interface programming I have seen from GS.

[Stress Co_]

I use a Magic Mouse with "MagicPrefs" installed.
With it, you don't need to press any keys to Pan/Zoom.

Zoom by "scrolling" the center of the mouse and pan by
"click-dragging" the mouse.

It's no longer a supported plug-in, but
is working for me on Mojave.
http://magicprefs.com

[Christophe Fortineau]

Hello Bruce,

I use PC Windows and PC macOS (all are PC )
I can't use something else that this kind of mouse : this
Magic mouse is a great tool for FinalCutPro or Adobe suite etc. ....
But I don't think it's a 3D appropriate tool for Archicad or C4D
No C4D user that I know uses this beautiful object that still stands prominently on the desktop

[Eduardo Rolon]

Just to add another vote for Magic Mouse but with BetterTouchTool and I use it for C4D too so now you know 1.

[Bruce]

Thanks for the replies - they are all responding to the problems of zooming with the mouse. There seem to be workarounds for this, which is good.

However, there are also the issues around using ALT+SHIFT to assign a temporary user origin (or 'zero' the cursor), and also to lock to an axis or radius with ALT+X, ALT+Y or ALT+R. I use these commands frequently in my workflow.

It seems that this is hard coded into ARCHICAD, and I cannot reassign these keys.