Key Mapping for certain buttons?

[Steve B]

I'm involved in the making of an Auto Hotkey script for Artage to better facilitate working in Full Screen Mode on a tablet pc all the time. I'm currently trying to figure out what keys are mapped to what functions, to then make a little button for them.

I've got lots figured out, but I want to Hide Layer as one of my functions. I don't currently see a keystroke for this, nor do I see the option of adding a keystroke to this, the way there is for, say, Edit Layer Texture (very helpful, btw, that that is allowed to be mapped to a key, as I use it alot). Is there a similar option for Hide Layer?

I'm also trying to zoom in and out more smoothly with buttons. Right now, the increments are very broad-- there's quite a jump. I want to be able hit a button and have it smoothly zoom in or zoom out, they way it does if I hit Shift and then Hover Right-Click. Is there a way to bind a button to this kind of very small, incremental (1% at a time??) kind of zooming?

Thanks!

[DaveRage]

Hi Steve,

Unfortunately there isn't a way to use keyboard shortcuts for those items currently. Sorry I wasn't able to be of more help.

[Steve B]

Hmmmmm....

So just to be sure, there's no way to smoothly zoom in and out with a keyboard? Bummer if so. That would be nice.

[DaveRage]

That's right. The keyboard currently does zoom in set increments via ctrl + and ctrl -. Shift + right click and drag is not part of the keyboard shortcut system.

Something which may help: For situations where keyboard access isn't really workable like slate machines / tabletPCs with the screen folded down, the canvas positioner also gives access to smooth zoom pan, rotate as well as resetting all of the above if required.

[Steve B]

Yeah, I know that it works pretty good. I was trying to get a setup though that let's me have the basic 5-10 functions I need while in Full Screen mode. Perhaps we'll figure something out with the Shift button instead.

Thanks!

[Steve B]

I have a question about the Lasso tool too. If I press Shift + S to get the Selection tool, use it, use transform, hit Enter, etc. I'll be able to select and transform something. I now want to exit the Selection tool. I was thinking it might be something where you hit a kind of "release" button that lets you get back to whatever drawing tool you were using before you used it, but I'm thinking now that may not be the case. ??

It seems to me now that if you've used the Selection tool you have to think of it as a drawing tool, and therefor need to press a new key/button to start using whatever tool you're going to use. Is this true??

One other idea I had was that there might be a key that would allow you revert back to the last used tool. Obviously, if this were being done on a keyboard, I'd just press the next key I wanted, however I'm trying to do this through a key-combination in Auto Hotkey, and so am looking for a way for one button to do multiple things in a single tap from the pen. Anyways, I thought I'd check if there were such a key command?

edit-
I'm also curious if there's a way (either a key command or a item in the menus) that would allow Artrage to use the whole screen. Some programs have this as F11. It basically makes the art program supersede the Windows Toolbar temporarily (until you toggle it off). On a 12.1" screen this is obviously very nice, as I gain 1/2" in width. Is there a way to do this in Artrage? Right now, if I hit right-click the menus and palettes go away, but the Windows Taskbar still remains. Would be nice to have this feature.

[DaveRage]

That's correct regarding the selection tool, it's treated the same way as a drawing tool in terms of shortcuts, so there isn't a way to go back to the last tool you used with a keypress ( there's no 'last tool' function currently )

For Fullscreen, you can assign a keyboard shortcut in the Window Commands -> Toggle Fullscreen option. This doesn't cover over the Windows taskbar however.

[Steve B]

Toggle Fullscreen is what you currently get if you hit the right-click button, correct? I was looking for that command in the various menus and keyboard shortcuts and couldn't find it.

[DaveRage]

Sorry, I see what you're looking for now. Toggle fullscreen makes your window fullscreen / windowed. Right click or pressing the enter key takes you to 'clear canvas mode' which removes all the panels and pods just leaving the canvas. You can assign an additional keyboard shortcut for clear canvas mode in the 'Panels' section of the keyboard shortcuts panel.

[Steve B]

No, I was looking to hide the Windows Taskbar with the program. But I see now what the Enter/right-click button does. I love that Artrage uses the right-click for so many commands. It's an ingenious and functional method. I'd never want to take that away from the right click. I guess I was just hoping for a bit more elbow room on my tablet pc.

No prob though. I'm hunting out the ramifications of auto-hiding my Windows taskbar instead.

When I finish the AHK setup, I'll post it in the general forum to share with others who want to more smoothly work in full screen/no panels mode. For those with limited space, such as tablet pc users or 12" cintiq users, the idea is to create a very functional but very small (1" by 2-3") interface that can be put (for instance), on the right-most side of the screen for pen input and key commands. Then you switch back to the "normal" screen with right-click to get to the various panels and menus, etc. that take up a bit more real estate.