As you have been getting used to the trackpad orbit (or finding the right sensitivity for it), are you finding that you are more able to keep your camera level? If you’ve already had a chance to try this out in a project model, I’m curious to hear if the sensitivity or control starts to feel more predictable or not. Thanks for testing!
Hi Mark
It would be possibly be ideal to use the trackpad to zoom or ‘look around’ while the mouse pans and orbits. When using the mouse, we can’t get the “smooth zoom” style that is possible when the Zoom tool is enabled in SKP (pro, at least).
I dont understand why we cant assign Zoom (in & out) to a keyboard function. If we could, then it would enable a smoother/more fluid style of navigation which is ideal for presentations to clients or for recording camera paths etc.
3d renderers such as Twinmotion and Lumion offer a similar mode based on WASD keys (W & S for zoom, A&D for pan) then the mouse to control camera direction or orbiting.
Cheers
Sam
It gets better in a short while getting used to it, currently these settings works best for me:
Two-finger swipe set to pan, as in the ios viewer, where one finger orbits.
Keeping zoom without pinching is essential. Its nice to be able to pinch zoom, but that cannot be the main method. Please dont fall in love with that pinch -gesture, and think that trackpad users will use that for zoom. It does not work when you are on sketchup all day.
The preferences setting does not have the “Zoom” option for the two-finger swipe. The natural thing for me would be to have the 2 finger swipe set to to zoom and then two user configurable buttons to invoke pan and zoom. That way anybody can set what’s their main tool.
There´s also the accessibility settings ( on the Mac) that will invoke screen zooming. Luckily those are configurable, to shift, control or command, but easily gets in the way.
As a 10 -11 year trackpad user on sketchup, I would probably set my device to “Mouse” (sorry…) and use my very efficient but a bit elaborate existing shortcuts, as they give me the feeling of direct control and precision of having the orbit and pan tools appear on screen. Maybe thats just a habit, but it feels faster and very precise.
Yeah on the desktop version…
But this is for the web based modeller!
The web modeller is the testing ground for a unified system of settings for customizing input devices, as is stated in the introduction post. Its a good idea, but it makes me kind of nervous too, as trackpads is often seen as more flimsy artistic devices, and not “Real pro” as in a mouse with seven buttons and flashing lights. That’s why I want to emphasise the real world use case that pinching, as cool and natural as it looks like, is not ergonomically a good idea. You can have it, but you need to be able to get away from it too. And that is important, because trackpads are not for casual users, it is a pro tool. To me, I order zooming as the primary navigation tool, and panning and orbiting as derivations of that main tool. Therefore one should be able to set zooming as the main 2 finger swipe , and panning and orbiting as modifications of that tool (With shift and control)
With:
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zoom on the 2 finger swipe list
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ability to set custom controllers for orbit and panning
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the existing controllers for speed and reverse
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the added “show navigation tools on screen”
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Then this settings box would be feature complete. It’s a little bit of added complexity, but for such an important feature , where there are so many considerations in terms of compliance with operating systems, system settings, and user preferences, I would give that preferences pane the whole menu.
And this is really important stuff. I, for one, keep my old 2004 autocad for windows on a VMware machine and I´m not buying a autocad for Mac license because I asked them to give me zooming without the pinching. They didn’t give it to me, but I can 2-finger swipe to zoom on my 2004 pc version on a virtual machine. So thats the better Autocad ( not that they brought much else new in the last 16 years either) 
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Pinching for zooming in and out is fine for small screen devices like phones or small tablets but (IMO) near worthless on full size screens, too imprecise. And as Odd_Haakon_Byerg states “is not ergonomically a good idea.” Of course I’ve never been a fan of the trackpad, or touch screen for that matter. I realize that the electronics industry and device designers love them, streamline look, no external buttons (cheaper to build) but that doesn’t necessarily equate to an easier or better interface. Anyway I’m sure I’m tilting at windmills…
I should say: For years and years now, my standard setup with SketchUp is right hand on the Wacom tablet with pen mostly left clicking, while my left hand is mostly on the trackpad doing two finger scrolling (in place of the middle wheel scroll wheel). A button on the pen is assigned to middle-click, and the left hand does keyboard shortcuts when not on the trackpad, but the bottom line is: Two finger scrolling on the trackpad is already my standard, everyday practice. I still prefer the feel of that to pinch-to-zoom.
I may be one of the few people who only use trackpad with SketchUp. I was quite used to two fingers to “mouse wheel” in or out of the model, but I am ok giving up on that in order to get two finger orbit or pan.
The two finger pinch is more effort than two finger scroll was. I have a suggestion that would take care of the two extreme cases where pinching repeatedly would be annoying:
Make it be that a quick, brief, pinch-in would Zoom Extents, and a quick, brief, pinch-out would Zoom Selection, if there was a selection at the time.
I like the concept but pinch zoom is not that great, too slow, and possibly tiring. Also if you have to hold the shift down to pan, sort of defeats the one hand action. Maybe in the Pro version you can choose two finger for orbit, have three finger zoom, and have a gesture to switch between pan and orbit. Mayb.e there are a couple gestures to assign as you like, and a couple “switches” (Clicking?)–while drawing is totally by the other device.
Thanks for the feedback. This is really important stuff. We agree that Zoom is equally essential to fluid SketchUp modeling as Orbit. From the video, it seems that you have been able to adopt a pretty fluid transition between the two.
In the video, can you clarify which shortcut you are using? I think you are referencing the Mac shortcut for triggering a mid-operation Orbit, right? But have you customized other navigation shortcuts?
As you say, trackpads are not just for casual users. I’m sure you can also imagine, though, that we observe many beginners never discover ‘on-demand’ Orbit. So, we’re keen to make both as discoverable and accessible as possible.
This works for me with no specific setup that I can think of, on a MacBook Pro trackpad.
- Ctrl + Cmd click ( and hold) invokes the orbit, and then moving a 2nd finger to control it.
- Adding shift to the mix for Panning in the same manner.
I have set the secondary click to a two-finger click, but turning that off has no effect on Sketchup, and zooming is inversed… On a Mac trackpad the 2-finger swipe IS the scroll-wheel, so then it is also the zoom.
This has probably been an undocumented effect that has always been there, I have never seen it referenced anywhere, but adopted it sketchupping on small cafe´ tables. The mouse would take the place where my beer was supposed to stay
Obviously using one button at the time to alter trackpad gestures would be better than my 2 or 3-keys+ click-drag combination.
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… and I can clearly see the need to force-introduce orbit, I’m just suggesting that zoom should be on the list where you configure your swipe action, as I think that is what most users will end up wanting once they find it´s configurable.
Hi Mark,
I am glad SU is looking at improving the track pad experience. I work on a MacBook Pro with its HUGE trackpad (it is this size for a reason, right?), but sometimes get a little frustrated with the way the navigation controls are set up.
Can you perhaps standardise the method of zooming across the two platforms - SketchUp and LayOut. At the moment they work in opposite ways, when it comes to the zoom function. Obviously the zoom function for LO is an improvement, but still needs lots of tweaking, but zooming in LO generally works in the opposite way to SU. A two finger zoom-in zoom-out function on SU does a left, right, up, down function in LO. To zoom in in LO a two finger ‘pinching’ method works (but a little time delayed - but better than 6 months ago).
Thanks again for improving the navigation around SU.
This is great! Finally!!
And already works very well, I attach my configuration on macOS.
The only feature request, if possible, is to merge Mouse and Trackpad mode into one.
Moreover, I suggest to tweak mouse mode too: I strongly support 2nd button click+hold to orbit, together with the actual 3rd button to orbit. This would enable a two button mouse to work.
This is great!!!
One thing I would really like is the ability to choose the modifier key for the pan action (when orbit is the two finger default). I have a similar setup in Blender and am able to set the modifier to cmd there… it makes one-handed panning a lot easier than with shift).
Also, and minor, I would also suggest the inverted orbit and pan to be the default (but make it the off state in the checkbox, because why would it be “inverted” by default).
And finally, when are we getting this in Pro on desktop??? 
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Any update on when we will be getting this on the pro version? My free trial is almost up, and I’m trying to determine whether to buy full version or not. This is critical in my decision making. Thanks!
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Just wanted to chime in, that this is stopping me from upgrading to the Pro Version. I like a lot of things the Pro offers, but I don’t often have a mouse when I’m using my laptop. Using hotkeys to switch tools for navigation is a bit of an issue for me.
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Same. I would be tempted to upgrade to Pro if the desktop app controls were as good as web. As it stands, it’s just not worth it for the money. I may upgrade to Go in order to edit textures though.
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I know this is an old topic, but are there any thoughts as to when/if this functionality will be added to Pro? I absolutely love the way it works in the Web version! I can’t use a mouse most of the time (not at a desk) and, for me, it is critical to be able to pan/orbit while having another tool active. Hence, I do most of my designing in the Web version and must switch to Pro for functionality that is only available there. Keep up the good work!
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