Of Mice and Human Interface Devices

[Michael Hancock]

Fun topic.

I also have a G13 but use it primarily to launch specific folders in finder, or to run macros for stuff I do a lot (like uploading to Vimeo). I haven’t mapped it to use with an NLE yet.

My mouse is the Logitech G700. It has a lot of buttons and I’ve mapped them all to make browsing the web better, like opening/closing tabs, tabbing between them, going back/forward on webpages.

For color I have the Avid Artist Color and Avid Transport, which I’ve mapped a handful of macros to. I’m working my way into doing more and more color work so eventually I’ll have every button on the transport mapped. That’s been a lot of fun and it’s amazing how much time you save when you start mapping macros of actions you do a lot of. I’m looking to add an X-Keys XK-24 or XK-80 to map even more macros to, for both editing and color work.

The touch panel on the new MacPro looks like it might have potential, depending on just how much you can customize it. If there’s already a keyboard shortcut I don’t see the value in mapping that to the touch panel. But if you could map menu items that can’t be mapped to a keyboard, or anything that requires a right click it could be amazing. I’d love to have a “Roles” button to hit, then it shows all the roles I’ve mapped so I can very quickly select multiple clips and assign a role with the touch of a button. Or have every custom export settings displayed so you can just touch the one you want without having to dive through menus – that would be fantastic. I doubt that level of customization will be available, but i really, really hope it is. And if it is – I hope they make an external keyboard with a touch bar. I’d pay good money for that. It could replace the G13 entirely, and be more functional.

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Michael Hancock
Editor

[Andrew Kimery]

[Michael Hancock] “For color I have the Avid Artist Color and Avid Transport, which I’ve mapped a handful of macros to. I’m working my way into doing more and more color work so eventually I’ll have every button on the transport mapped. “

Yeah, there is an element of fun in experimenting and re-thinking your setup. The keyboard layouts we use today were designed in the mid-1800’s for typing. They certainly aren’t the best HID for editing, but they are everywhere and everyone knows how to use them so here we are.

I’ve always changed my keyboard settings, but there were always keys at left as default because… why not? But when you start with a totally blank slate then it really makes you look hard at your choices. As I said in my previous post, it took me a couple of weeks to really dial in a setup I like with my G13, but the muscle memory took a big longer change. For example, on a keyboard my left pinky hits “shift”. On my G13 it hits “delete”. So there were a lot of times I wanted to use shift as a modifier and my muscle memory said, “Okay pinky, do your job” and I’d delete something by accident. It was frustrating at first but then just became comical (and finally I developed muscle memory for the G13). When I get a chance I’ll post a pic of my G13 layout.

A bonus side effect I didn’t mention in my first post is that the G13 is always a conversation starter wherever I work and seems to impress producers.

[Bill Davis]

I’ve written elsewhere that when X was released, my cheese grater had the wrong GPU to run it, so I started learning it on my newer MacBook Pro.
Without being aware of it, I was re-training my editing brain for a touchpad.
I was shocked at how much that changed things for me.
So much so, that even with a VERY robust system like the top of the line iMac I was editing presentations on at NAB – I went out and bought an APPLE Magic Touchpad and set it underneath my keyboard so I could continue to edit fluently.
I haven’t touched a mouse in more than 3 years now.
I find it WAY faster to NEVER have to move my right hand – I just drop it 2 inches to the trackpad for all my ballistic cursor tasks. Multi-touch zoom and two finger swipe movement along my storylines comes along for the ride.
I suspect the TouchBar will simply ADD more movement to where I already go for my function keys – but for software specific modal commands. Should be fun.
YMMV.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Mark Suszko]

These interface experiments remind me of when I brought in my Thrustmaster A-10 Warthog flight sim HOTAS throttle and stick and ran the wiring alongside the editing controller to see what my brother editors would say. They were disappointed that it wasn’t real.

The gaming keyboard with hotkeys looks like an interesting add-on… and you can do Starcraft with it on your break time:-)

One of the things I liked about the magic mouse was that it enabled me to swish the timeline left and right with my thumb, even as I used the rest of the mouse to click and drag/ enable edits. For me, touch interfaces are good for broad tasks like timeline manipulation, as well as for fine control of sliders/knobs. While the Microsoft Surface computer stunned for a lot of reasons, the multi-knob that was offered as an accessory is what caught the most of my attention.

[Jeremy Garchow]

Still on a Wacom and Keyboard. I am constantly searching for a better way and haven’t found it.

Part of it is that a regular mouse will cause too much pain, so the Wacom is a pain reliever, even though it’s not as efficient.

I really want a TouchBar enabled keyboard with a trackpad on the side, like this but with a trackpad: https://imgur.com/a/07XlY

Touch Bar Keyboard

[Steve Connor]

[Bill Davis] “Without being aware of it, I was re-training my editing brain for a touchpad.
I was shocked at how much that changed things for me.
So much so, that even with a VERY robust system like the top of the line iMac I was editing presentations on at NAB – I went out and bought an APPLE Magic Touchpad and set it underneath my keyboard so I could continue to edit fluently.
I haven’t touched a mouse in more than 3 years now. “

I did exactly the same, certainly helps stop “claw” hands

[Bill Davis]

I’m going to mildly disagree about the side positioning. Anyone who uses a laptop regularly (and that’s a LOT of people) expects the trackpad to be below the home row and under your thumbs. I think it’s optimal to leave it in that position. I know it would make for a bigger external keyboard – but I think the benefits of a unified computer input experience would be worth it.

My 2 cents.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Andre Van berlo]

I have the same experience with my trackpad. I don’t even remember in which box I put my mouse. It makes much more sense to me to use the pad in most apps I use.

[Andrew Kimery]

I’ve never been a fan of editing with the trackpad on my MBP. I find having both hands on my laptop (one trying to use the keyboard and the other using the trackpad) to be uncomfortable cramped. Even when I’m using my G13 (under my left hand) I’ll still use a mouse as opposed the the MBP’s trackpad. If I was going to use a trackpad it would have to be the Magic Trakpad and placed to the right of the keyboard where a mouse would normally be.

[Bill Davis]

[Andrew Kimery] “I find having both hands on my laptop (one trying to use the keyboard and the other using the trackpad) to be uncomfortable cramped. “

Boy my experience is 180 degrees opposite that.

Fingers on the homerow – all it takes is a gentle drop of my right thumb to mouse around on the trackpad. Add the index finger for pinch moves.

It’s hardly more movement than moving your right hand up a row for JKL transport.

In fact, since my thumb stays on the space bar for constant start and stop – it’s position is halfway to the trackpad by default.

Hours of editing daily for years now and not the tinyist hint of RSI.

The mouse is dead to me now, I’m afraid.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.