Touch screen scripting / using ASPRO with Surface
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:19 pm
EDIT:
For those who use Surface-like devices, the biggest shortcomings are the huge dependency on modifier keys and keyboard shortcuts.
Here are solutions I've found so far (there are more in the thread below):
TouchMe Gesture Studio (at Microsoft Store):
-Really amazing tool that allows you to map gestures from 2 to 5 fingers to any functionality. You can map gestures to undo/redo (check the tip-tap-gesture, really good for this), hide all palettes, enter and leave design mode etc
-Right-click-drag on numberic boxes changes the value
-There is an assignable keyboard shortcut to hide all palettes at once. In keyboard map window this is called "Close/Open Secondary windows". You can then further assign this to a gesture.
-By using AutoHotKey-app for Windows, you can further map the volume controls of the device to become modifier keys, app-specific. This means that when you run Anime Studio, volume up would become for example ALT and volume down would become control. You can even map the pen button to anything you like, for example hide/show palettes or enter/leave design mode.
With this info, you will have two of the most common modifiers, a physical pen button (or two if you map the side button to something special as well) and gestures to do the rest. This will give you very much to work with with Anime Studio without keyboard (and other apps as well)
---
Is it possible to hide/show palettes (tools, layers, style) by scripting? Also, is there a way to alter the brush size quickly via scripting? Does ASPRO store this value somewhere so that I could manipulate it via my scripts (basically make bigger/smaller by invoking a script)?
The rest of the message is ideas that can be scripted to make working with touch screen easier.
I'm trying to build tools for touch screen usage for Surface-like device that don't have keyboard. I wrote with the support and got the slight impression that there's not too much interest in supporting stuff like this natively. They do have some support for Wacom, but Surface-like devices would require assistance from the GUI since the workflow can't rely on keyboard shortcuts.
I can create button scripts for may functions that are often needed, like deleting selected stuff, undoing and redoing. It's even quick to write a tool for navigation so I could keep timeline hidden. It could be used to scroll by dragging the canvas and it could quickly jump to next/prev keyframe by swiping up/down with the tool. It could do something more with click or something even more with double click. This would make navigation easier and clear up screen estate. The tool buttons are also quick small for touch screen usage but this I could live with.
Two of biggest challenges that limit the usage are:
-Altering numeric values in fields? How do you do this quickly without a keyboard? Most ASPRO values are numeric fields and you currently can't drag them up and down (this would seem logical). Using virtual keyboard for this is frustrating since almost everything in ASPRO is based on changing numeric values. There are no sliders whatsoever.
-Quickly hiding interface elements like layers/tools etc. There are keyboard shortcuts for each of them separately, but you a touch screen device would really need one button / gesture to hide/show them all at once.
For those who use Surface-like devices, the biggest shortcomings are the huge dependency on modifier keys and keyboard shortcuts.
Here are solutions I've found so far (there are more in the thread below):
TouchMe Gesture Studio (at Microsoft Store):
-Really amazing tool that allows you to map gestures from 2 to 5 fingers to any functionality. You can map gestures to undo/redo (check the tip-tap-gesture, really good for this), hide all palettes, enter and leave design mode etc
-Right-click-drag on numberic boxes changes the value
-There is an assignable keyboard shortcut to hide all palettes at once. In keyboard map window this is called "Close/Open Secondary windows". You can then further assign this to a gesture.
-By using AutoHotKey-app for Windows, you can further map the volume controls of the device to become modifier keys, app-specific. This means that when you run Anime Studio, volume up would become for example ALT and volume down would become control. You can even map the pen button to anything you like, for example hide/show palettes or enter/leave design mode.
With this info, you will have two of the most common modifiers, a physical pen button (or two if you map the side button to something special as well) and gestures to do the rest. This will give you very much to work with with Anime Studio without keyboard (and other apps as well)
---
Is it possible to hide/show palettes (tools, layers, style) by scripting? Also, is there a way to alter the brush size quickly via scripting? Does ASPRO store this value somewhere so that I could manipulate it via my scripts (basically make bigger/smaller by invoking a script)?
The rest of the message is ideas that can be scripted to make working with touch screen easier.
I'm trying to build tools for touch screen usage for Surface-like device that don't have keyboard. I wrote with the support and got the slight impression that there's not too much interest in supporting stuff like this natively. They do have some support for Wacom, but Surface-like devices would require assistance from the GUI since the workflow can't rely on keyboard shortcuts.
I can create button scripts for may functions that are often needed, like deleting selected stuff, undoing and redoing. It's even quick to write a tool for navigation so I could keep timeline hidden. It could be used to scroll by dragging the canvas and it could quickly jump to next/prev keyframe by swiping up/down with the tool. It could do something more with click or something even more with double click. This would make navigation easier and clear up screen estate. The tool buttons are also quick small for touch screen usage but this I could live with.
Two of biggest challenges that limit the usage are:
-Altering numeric values in fields? How do you do this quickly without a keyboard? Most ASPRO values are numeric fields and you currently can't drag them up and down (this would seem logical). Using virtual keyboard for this is frustrating since almost everything in ASPRO is based on changing numeric values. There are no sliders whatsoever.
-Quickly hiding interface elements like layers/tools etc. There are keyboard shortcuts for each of them separately, but you a touch screen device would really need one button / gesture to hide/show them all at once.