Hello there,
In the beginning, I just wanted to find a solution for a shortcut to toggle preview in GH : neither the standard CTRL + Q worked (bc Mac), nor the CMD + ’ (bc french keyboard). So I decided that I could take advantage of this weird-never-used screen on the top of my keyboard (the Touchbar), and then went on adding new stuff.
I’m now pleased to share these Rhino-friendly Touchbar presets which make me gain time on a daily basis : Rhino 7 Touchbar presets.zip (550.5 KB)
Of course, it will never be as efficient as the specific shortcuts set of a Rhino long-term user. But I believe it could be an efficiency boost for begginners and mid-level users.
1. The features
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Rhino default appearance : “pop-up toolbar” kind of duplicate
I put there the basic commands I want to access the fastest, which are most of the time already quick to access thanks to aliases. Nevertheless, after a bit of practice, I now use most of them every single time I open Rhino. Zoom Selected, Move, Rotate 2d, Scale, Join, Lock, Hide, Change object layer, Match Properties, Top view. -
Rhino MAJ pressed appearance : enhanced “pop-up toolbar”
Some functions from the standard setup are replaced with there “cousin” functions : Hide becomes, Show selected, Join becomes Explode, etc. -
Rhino Command options mode : fast access to the various command options
When you are using a function, the buttons to activate different command modes appear from the left of your Touchbar and you can click any of it to launch them. For example here, I launched the Rectangle command, and could draw it using 3 points by clicking the 3Point Touchbar button. -
Grasshopper radial menu
(WIP) When programming on the GH canvas, the buttons from the radial menu are directly accessible from the Touchbar. This feature has some weird bugs : when doing a lot of back and forth between Rhino and GH, it can sometimes not reappear (or disappear). A right-click on the canvas seems to be able to force it to appear (don’t ask why).
Careful : it needs defining specific shortcuts in the GH preferences (see below). The shortcut is then simulated by your Touchbar.
2. How to install it
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Obviously, you need a Mac with a Touchbar…
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You need to install BetterTouchTool on your Mac. It’s a paid software, but finally makes the Touchbar a useful thing.
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Just open the .bttpreset file from this post
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To activate the GH features, I defined to following shortcuts (Grasshopper > Preferences > Interface > Shortcuts) :
- Zoom preview (View tab) : ALT + CMD + Z
- Toggle Preview (Solution tab) : ALT + CMD + P
- Toggle enabled (default) : CMD + E
- Bake (default) : CMD + B
- Disable solver (Solution tab) : ALT + CMD + K
- Create cluster (Edit tab) : ALT + CMD +C
- Selected only preview (Display tab) : ALT + CMD + A
- Group (default) : CMD + G
Tell me if you encounter any problem.
Cheers,