[chimerax-users] setting up mousemode - translate z - set pivot

[Tom Goddard]

Hi Helge,

  I see using shift+left can work with modes that do something special with the shift key such as

	mousemode shift leftMode 'translate selected models'

Using this mode will do rotation, but then if you release the shift key while still holding the mouse button it switches to translation.  This works because the mouse mode is chosen by looking at the modifier keys at the moment the mouse button is pressed.  After that if you release or press other keys it sticks with the same mouse mode until the mouse button is released.  Still it is a bit awkward to do a translation with no rotation since shift+left drag will do a rotation.  You have to do shift+left, then release shift, then drag.  But it works if you can get used to that dance.

  I fixed the selection drag box so it is green against any background.  It will not be green on top of models because it toggles the color bits so that it can toggle them back without redrawing the scene as you resize the box.  That fix will be in tomorrow's daily build.

	Tom


> On Dec 22, 2020, at 5:27 AM, Helge Paternoga <Helge.Paternoga at chemie.uni-hamburg.de> wrote:
> 
> Hi Elaine and Tom,
> 
> Thanks for the explanations, that was very helpful. The build-in shift functionality indeed explains the translate/rotate behaviour!
> 
> For me the shift button + "reversed" translate/rotate functions work perfectly, so I guess I will keep it that way. Is there anything else that speaks against it?
> 
> For fitting, I am dealing with ribosomes and I have come to align the map I am fitting into in a way that makes the features clearly distinguishable (i. e. the straight solvent side of the large subunit viewed from the side), then I just move in my new map rotate to align the features and dump it using the z translate until it is in the other map, followed by fit in map.
> 
> I was contemplating on how much I should stick to my old habits vs. trying new behaviours that might be more effcient in the long run. It is clear that ChimeraX offers many new opportunities for improving the workflow, but for now I like to keep my old logic (which cleary comes from using Chimera for a long time). I like to have three separate keys for rotating - xy translating - z translate that can be modified for the selected model (or dragged, will look into that). Therefore, I came up with the following setup:
> 
> mousemode shift leftMode 'translate selected models'
> mousemode shift middleMode 'rotate selected models'
> mousemode shift wheel contour
> mousemode setting contour speed 0.1
> mousemode control wheel 'translate selected models'
> mousemode setting zoom speed -1
> 
> fun F1 cofr sel
> 
> camera ortho
> set bgColor grey
> lighting soft
> 
> This actually leaves the right mouse button completely free and I was already wondering what could be a good function to map here!
> 
> An unrelated observation that I had was that with grey background the selection rectangle while holding control is not visible on the background anymore (It works with white and black).
> 
> Helge
> 
> 
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