Stu3d
Senior Member
I have been using a 2d cad software for 30+ years, it uses 2 letter keyboard shortcuts for everything which makes it incredibly fast to use.
Inspired by ExMachina and Bolsover I decided to create a shortcut keyboard that would kind of emulate that. Thanks to Max for providing the icons.
Function keys at the top are constraints, next two rows are 2d sketch followed by part features with a couple of assembly keys at the end. Some other useful keys on the right.
The small icons on the front of the keys require Shift.
I have tried to keep the keys in the same order as on the screen where possible whilst using the most useful to me.
No view keys as I only move what's on screen with the mouse, I don't use the cube either.
I am not an RGB fan but enabled some for this purpose, especially as I accidentally bought a keyboard with an American Enter key which I don't get on with so illuminated it red so i don't miss it.
It is still a work in progress. I hope the proposed UI changes don't mean I have to start again.
Would a keyboard like this be permissable under TooTallToby rules? Just curious, I don't intend competing as I am rubbish. I am hoping this keyboard will improve my workflow!
I originally started out with a much more complicated layout using Shift and Ctrl, it included sheet metal, surfaces, splines and lots more with smaller icons.
The idea was to use Sticky Keys which is built in to Windows so I wouldn't have to be a contortionist, no need to hold down Shift or Ctrl, just tap them which would emulate 2 letter commands.
It looked too busy and I ran in to a few problems. eg, I was over ambitious, I discovered some of my shortcut keys couldn't be enabled in Alibre! You can't set a shortcut to Ctrl-R or Ctrl-[ etc. F1 is bound to Help.
I bought a 100% mechanical keyboard to make sure I could replace any keys I wanted. It has 10 macro keys which may be useful at some point.
I bought relegendable keycaps from ebay, £2.93 for 10 in quantity. The top of the clear cap is slightly frosted which is strange, the sides are crystal clear. I had to discard the base parts due to the slope of the keyboard they sat at a funny angle. I designed & 3d printed new ones, a different angle & height for each row. I tried clear filament initially so led would shine through and illuminate the key labels but the light spread was too uneven. The paper size is 13.8mm square and 13.8mm x 5.8mm on the front.
I also tried 3d printing clear caps, the result was usable but ebay caps much better.
The icons are in SVG formt, to use them I had to convert them one at a time in to PNG format in Paintshop Pro. I tried batch converting them but lost loads of quality. Some of the icons were broken eg, tab, dimple & flange contour in sheet metal and equation editor. I either modified other similar icons or screen saved them in to PNG. I had to darken the yellow and green icons to get contrast with white paper. I also enlarged some so they filled key better.
Two shortcuts I would really find useful would be toggles for maintain association and change to reference in project to sketch, that would be a good use for one of the macro keys.
And yes, I do have too much time on my hands
Inspired by ExMachina and Bolsover I decided to create a shortcut keyboard that would kind of emulate that. Thanks to Max for providing the icons.
Function keys at the top are constraints, next two rows are 2d sketch followed by part features with a couple of assembly keys at the end. Some other useful keys on the right.
The small icons on the front of the keys require Shift.
I have tried to keep the keys in the same order as on the screen where possible whilst using the most useful to me.
No view keys as I only move what's on screen with the mouse, I don't use the cube either.
I am not an RGB fan but enabled some for this purpose, especially as I accidentally bought a keyboard with an American Enter key which I don't get on with so illuminated it red so i don't miss it.
It is still a work in progress. I hope the proposed UI changes don't mean I have to start again.
Would a keyboard like this be permissable under TooTallToby rules? Just curious, I don't intend competing as I am rubbish. I am hoping this keyboard will improve my workflow!
I originally started out with a much more complicated layout using Shift and Ctrl, it included sheet metal, surfaces, splines and lots more with smaller icons.
The idea was to use Sticky Keys which is built in to Windows so I wouldn't have to be a contortionist, no need to hold down Shift or Ctrl, just tap them which would emulate 2 letter commands.
It looked too busy and I ran in to a few problems. eg, I was over ambitious, I discovered some of my shortcut keys couldn't be enabled in Alibre! You can't set a shortcut to Ctrl-R or Ctrl-[ etc. F1 is bound to Help.
I bought a 100% mechanical keyboard to make sure I could replace any keys I wanted. It has 10 macro keys which may be useful at some point.
I bought relegendable keycaps from ebay, £2.93 for 10 in quantity. The top of the clear cap is slightly frosted which is strange, the sides are crystal clear. I had to discard the base parts due to the slope of the keyboard they sat at a funny angle. I designed & 3d printed new ones, a different angle & height for each row. I tried clear filament initially so led would shine through and illuminate the key labels but the light spread was too uneven. The paper size is 13.8mm square and 13.8mm x 5.8mm on the front.
I also tried 3d printing clear caps, the result was usable but ebay caps much better.
The icons are in SVG formt, to use them I had to convert them one at a time in to PNG format in Paintshop Pro. I tried batch converting them but lost loads of quality. Some of the icons were broken eg, tab, dimple & flange contour in sheet metal and equation editor. I either modified other similar icons or screen saved them in to PNG. I had to darken the yellow and green icons to get contrast with white paper. I also enlarged some so they filled key better.
Two shortcuts I would really find useful would be toggles for maintain association and change to reference in project to sketch, that would be a good use for one of the macro keys.
And yes, I do have too much time on my hands
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