Shift/ctrl zooms and pans at the same time - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mjetz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 05, 2014, 11:16:29 pm
content: I have been using Altium 14 for some time, although still have much to learn, I'm sure.I have recently gotten a new laptop and upon installing Altium on it and firing it up, I have found that zooming and panning isn't really working properly in a PCB document. Shift + scroll should pan, ctrl + scroll should zoom. But when I try shift + scroll, it mostly pans but also zooms in sporadically. Same thing with ctrl + scroll, it mostly zooms but also pans sometimes. It's very annoying! It works fine in a circuit schematic document, it's only in a PCB file.Any suggestions?

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2014, 12:13:13 am
content: I'm going to guess that you're using the new laptops touchpad for mouse movement?Quick test, try a USB mouse instead.I'm thinking that the laptop is sometimes interpreting your finger movement on the edges as a scroll event (left/right or up/down) which is confusing Altium.If that's whats happening, and you want to use the touchpad instead of a usb mouse, try disable the H and V scrolling in your touchpad driver.

author: Mjetz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 06, 2014, 01:42:01 am
content: That would make sense if that were the case, but I am in fact using a USB wireless mouse.Edit: I've now tried completely disabling the touchpad and the same thing is still happening.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2014, 12:17:50 pm
content: Try a corded mouse, maybe your getting RF interference on the wireless mouse link and the corruption is triggering random mouse events.(more likely if you're using a no-name brand wireless mouse. a logitech or microsoft mouse will have proper error checking etc..)Other than that i really cant think of a reason why that would happen.A windows reinstall is probably the last thing i would try. If the laptop is infected with a virus/rootkit you might get weird mouse/kbd effects from dodgy keylogging code.

author: Mjetz
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 06, 2014, 10:04:05 pm
content: I was going to reply saying that I don't have a wired mouse to test with, but then I found that the problem seems to have gone away on its own! False alarm, I guess. Thanks for your time!

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 07, 2014, 06:24:44 am
content: Sometimes the shift or ctrl keys can be registered as "stuck" down when the'yre actually not. A power cycle fixes this. It happens a coupel times every year for me.

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2015, 12:19:23 pm
content: Sorry for pulling up an old thread but this sounds exactly like the issue I am having. I first noticed it on my laptop using the trackpad, wasn't a huge deal as I don't usually use the laptop for more than viewing designs.I recently bought a wireless mouse as I was doing some minor changes and the trackpad wasn't up to task, this however has the same issue.I've done a quick screen capture showing the effect when not moving the mouse and simply scrolling up and down on the wheel:I am a bit lost as to how this is occurring when horizontal scroll is disabled and nothing other than Ctrl and the wheel are in use.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2015, 12:26:12 pm
content: is the wireless mouse a good brand or a no-name cheapy?

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 17, 2015, 12:44:47 pm
content: It's a Microsoft mobile 4000 (link) so I would hope it was half decent.I haven't noticed any issues with other programs but that maybe because they don't respond to what ever type of input the mouse is generating?

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 17, 2015, 07:01:01 pm
content: Quote from: logictom on January 17, 2015, 12:19:23 pmNotice it's only panning the center of the view when zooming out past a certain level.This is occurring because the window is fitting to its maximal extents. Altium has this bizarre concept of space, where you cannot view beyond the edges of that space (I think it's 100 inches square or something like that). And for whatever reason, they start the board in the very corner, so you can't pan over the corner, especially when zoomed out.The very first thing I do on a new board design is, move the board outline up and right by 10 or 20 inches, and set the "origin" accordingly, so this only occurs at uselessly wide zoom levels.Occasionally, you will move objects into this "null space" as well, whether by accident or by unfortunate library imports/changes/updates or whatever. The "Select - Outside Rectangle" command does not enumerate objects out there. The only way I know of, is to locate the objects manually: either by sorting on position coordinates on the PCB List Panel (sort by any of X1, Y1, X2, Y2; whichever are the most negative), or on the PCB Filter Panel and entering a similar query (e.g., "(X1 < -1000) AND (Y1 < -1000)"). Then click in the PCB window, M, S (Move Selection), and reposition back on the screen. Or Align to something, or etc.Tim

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 18, 2015, 04:16:27 am
content: Thanks for your input Tim. I know the issue you are referring too but that is not the issue in this case.I have uploaded another video showing the issue when zoomed in close to the board, the board and origin have been moved far from the lower left limit.If I zoom slowly sometimes it will zoom without panning but it is still occuring.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2015, 07:47:07 am
content: Oh yeah, so it just jumps around erratically... beatsdahellouttame.Tim

author: logictom
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 18, 2015, 10:47:40 am
content: Played around a little more, disabling the vertical scroll either completely or just for Altium seems to do the trick. Zooming in and out is much slower but at least it's usable now.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2015, 11:03:29 am
content: Quote from: logictom on January 18, 2015, 10:47:40 amA little trick I "discovered" for zoom in/out was mouse R & L click and move the mouse.Takes a bit of getting used to but it's handy all the same.Easy with a Trackball mouse.