Decided between a 3D mouse and a keyboard macro pad for drafting speed

Been using AutoCAD for about 5 years now, mostly doing commercial plumbing layouts. A few months ago I had to pick between getting a SpaceMouse or a dedicated macro pad like the Elgato Stream Deck. I went with the Stream Deck since I already had a standard mouse I liked. Honestly, setting up macros for layer changes, viewports, and plot commands has cut my mouse clicks by maybe 30 percent. Took about a week to get the muscle memory down but now it feels weird when I have to draft without it. Anyone else try a macro pad for efficiency or did you go with a 3D mouse?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.derek9d ago

Did you try the Stream Deck with any AutoCAD plugins or just set it up custom? I run the same setup for piping plans and the biggest gain for me was mapping the "match properties" tool and the "isolate" command to buttons. Saves me from digging through the ribbon every time I need to copy layer properties or hide elements. The layer toggle keys are solid too for flipping between floor plan layers without using the dropdown.

simons288d ago

Kept it all custom @king.derek. Match properties and isolate are smart picks though. I mapped purge, overkill, and audit to buttons for quick cleanup without hunting through menus. The biggest time saver for me was assigning a toggle for ortho mode. Saves me from tapping F8 a hundred times a day.

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black.pat8d ago

Ha, you guys are over here mapping purge and ortho like it's a secret mission to save the universe from bad drafting. Meanwhile I'm just happy I finally stopped accidentally hitting F8 during a deadline panic. At this rate I'm gonna need a second Stream Deck just to remember what my keyboard even looks like.