Of Mac mice and SketchUp

[RogerS]

I'd like to pass on a brilliant tip that Dave R gave me recently. I'd been having problems with the centre roller ball on my Mac mouse intermittently zooming in SU. It worked fine scrolling up and down in a webpage but click back to SU and it would/would not work.

So Dave told me to go out and buy a cheap USB mouse and plug it in - and not fiddle about with any software or drivers that might come with it.

Result! Not only does the zoom roller button consistently work but if you click on it, you go straight into Orbit and if you shift-click then you go straight into Pan.. That saves so much time especially if you are wanting to draw long lines and need to shift your field of view to finish the line.

Great tip, Dave and best £2.75 I've spent for a long long time. =D>

EDIT: OK....lesson number 1...you get what you pay for....LOL. After an hours use the scroll wheel now grinds away. So the principle is excellent....just need to get a decent USB mouse now. Any recommendations welcome.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Hi Roger, I'm glad you found the mouse to be useful. It most certainly does make navigating in SketchUp faster and easier. When I suggested a cheap mouse, I was thinking in terms of $20-$30US (or equivalent). I didn't know you could buy a mouse as cheap as you got that one.

As to a suggestion for a mouse, get an inexpensive Microsoft or Logitech mouse. I have an old, wired Microsoft optical mouse on the iMac and the least expensive Logitech wireless optical mouse on my MacBook Pro. Both work fine for all applications as plug and play.

For those who might be considering a new mouse and plan to use it for SketchUp, I'll reiterate what I told Roger.

—Don't invest in an expensive mouse with lots of buttons. Two buttons plus the center wheel/button is plenty. I expect there are those who have a complex mouse with 39 buttons, two wheels and a shiny red knob who will dispute this. You can use those fancy mice but there's no requirement to make that sort of investment
—If the simple mouse comes with a disk containing the driver software, use it to put your tea cup on. Or hang it in the garden by a piece of string to frighten the birds away from your peas.

The center mouse wheel action is the same for both PC and Mac.

Roll the wheel for Zoom, click and hold the wheel and move the mouse for Orbit and hold Shift while holding the wheel down for Pan. You can switch between whatever tool you're using and the camera navigation tools without losing the tool. When you let go of the mouse wheel/button the cursor reverts to the tool you were using. No need to go chasing over to the toolbar to switch to the Orbit tool every time you want to change your point of view.

 

[Steve Maskery]

When I suggested a cheap mouse, I was thinking in terms of $20-$30US (or equivalent). I didn't know you could buy a mouse as cheap as you got that one.

What? Something cheaper in the UK than in the US? <victormeldrew>I don't believe it!</victormeldrew>