[Bf-committers] Improving Blender's keymap: a proposal

[Mike Erwin]

> Related to this is differences in keyboard layouts.  Many laptops do
> not have numeric keypads, and yet people are more and more frequently
> using laptops for serious graphics work.  There are also differences
> in keyboard layouts between countries.
>
> Also: number of mouse buttons?  People using tablets? Etc.

At a recent blender user group, about 12 people brought laptops, and
4-5 of them had USB keypads dangling off the side. For me, the user
pref to remap the top number keys is nice in a pinch, but plugging in
a full external keyboard is even nicer. No suprise here.

One unexpected benefit of the nicer 3D mice is that their buttons
elminate the need for a numpad. On a desktop this is a neat trick, but
on a laptop it changes everything. I'm shopping for a nice keyboard
for my desktop, and am drawn more and more to the tenkeyless models.
Paired with a SpaceExplorer, it's never a problem. And with a narrower
keyboard, there's room for everything on a keyboard drawer!

When using a tablet, the drag-to-move default behavior is never what I
want or expect. I end up turning off several keymap items like this.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all keymap, why can't we have it grow or
shrink based on what devices a person is actually using? Might be
better as a keymap-gen script outside blender, to keep things simple.
Input: "I have a US keyboard layout without numpad, an Inutos4M, and a
SpaceMousePro" Output: a default keymap for exactly that hardware.

Also, how about an interface that answers "what is mapped to XYZ in
edit mode?" That would help avoid conflicts.

Mike Erwin
musician, naturalist, pixel pusher, hacker extraordinaire