Factory Worker using Revit on a Mac

[TheViking]

Hi All,

Well I made the plunge and changed my work computer from a Lenovo laptop with Win7 to a new MacBook Pro with Lion and Win7 (using parallels). I'm still in the setup phase and it has been a learning experience. I've made the switch as a learning experience. I've been a part time Mac user for a few years (my wife has one), so I wanted to see 1st hand what all the fuss is about. Some things I really like other things can be frustrating. Is is frustration because it is different from Windows or is it Mac pushing its agenda, not sure.

Anyway, my first question to the community is how are people using the Magic Mouse with Revit. I find the lack of middle mouse button some what frustrating. I know there has to be some way to improve the navigation, so I'm here to ask the experts. Any advice?

Thanks in advance,

[Gordon Price]

Erik,Welcome to the cool side! So glad to hear about Macs sneaking into the Factory. Nothing but good to come of it!
On the middle button front, give MagicPrefs a try. Once your finger remembers where to go, middle button functionality is dandy. But I guess it is like moving to a fretless instrument, takes a while to remember where things are without the tactile feedback. Wouldn't trade my MM for anything now tho.

Have fun with the new toy!

Gordon

[iru69]

BTW, just so Erik (or anyone else) doesn't spend hours trying to locate that in his Preferences panel, "MagicPrefs" is a free app you have to download - it allows for improved functionality of the MM. But I think what this really points out is what I've been saying for about seven years - Revit should let users customize that sort of stuff. I have never been able to "Pan" in Revit because it's physically uncomfortable for me to hold the middle mouse button down while maneuvering the mouse. I have to constantly zoom in and out to get to different places in the drawing.

Erik, as someone who made the switch on my home computer a couple years ago (and am really glad I did), there are a few frustrating things that do seem to be a part of Apple's agenda... for no good reason. For all the "easy to use" talk, what that really means (and the part that I really like about OS X) is not having to deal with a million Windows updates every day, and installing and uninstalling apps takes ten seconds (and no registry!), and you rarely have to think about drivers, a lot more attention is given to aesthetic details, and things just tend to "work". But when it comes to a lot of UI stuff, a lot of OS X apps tend to be more unintuitive than Windows in a lot of ways (or at least just as bad) in their attempt to be "minimalistic". And don't even get me started on how badly "Finder" sucks (do yourself a favor and get a copy of PathFinder - I wish even Windows Explorer had some of those cool features like tabs).

Of course there are lots of good articles and forums for "Switchers".

p.s. - let's get Ravit native on OS X.

[Steve_Stafford]

... I have never been able to "Pan" in Revit because it's physically uncomfortable for me to hold the middle mouse button down while maneuvering the mouse. I have to constantly zoom in and out to get to different places in the drawing...

Is holding down the right mouse button (right hand) instead combined with the shift key (left hand) uncomfortable too? I mean compared with pressing the middle wheel button? When you hold the Shift key down and press the Right Mouse button Revit will pan too. Let go of shift and press CTRL instead and Revit changes to Zoom (a little different in 3d views)... Sorry if you already knew that

[lucis29]

I have a mouse with one extra button (on the side). I use that button for panning in Revit.

[TheViking]

And don't even get me started on how badly "Finder" sucks (do yourself a favor and get a copy of PathFinder - I wish even Windows Explorer had some of those cool features like tabs).

I looked into Path Finder and it is better than Finder (although it comes at a price), but it cannot replace Finder. This is one issue I have with Mac and iOS. Apple forces you to use their software because they want to control the game and they are "perfect" (well that may be me just ranting). Very frustrating that even Path Finder recommends running both applications all the time. This seems like a hack.

Hopefully, I will find some time to play with MagicPrefs. I did a quick look and was able to make some minor tweaks so switching spaces is better. Does MagicPrefs have the ability to set different behaviors for different applications?

[iru69]

I looked into Path Finder and it is better than Finder (although it comes at a price), but it cannot replace Finder...

Totally understand your frustration with that... for what it's worth, other than the fact you can't actually remove the Finder icon from the Dock, I haven't come across a scenario where I have to use Finder more than once a week... sometimes even a month will go by. With the over-the-top amount of Path Finder preferences (it might actually be too customizable, even for me!), you can set up PF to take over pretty much all of the Finder functionality. I place the PF icon directly under the Finder icon... after a couple years, I hardly even notice the Finder icon. But I couldn't agree more that the whole necessity is hacky and shouldn't be necessary in the first place.

Is holding down the right mouse button (right hand) instead combined with the shift key (left hand) uncomfortable too?

Thanks for the tip Steve - I'm sure it will help someone! We've actually been through this all before in past threads, and I'm not going to rehash it in this thread - always the bottom line for me is that Revit should allow for customization of "alternative" input devices. For instance, while Shift-Right Mouse Button doesn't work for me, Shift-Left Mouse Button probably would.