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Electronics => PCB/EDA/CAD => KiCad => Topic started by: Red Squirrel on June 06, 2020, 11:48:48 pm

Title: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: Red Squirrel on June 06, 2020, 11:48:48 pm
I find on my computer any time I zoom in or scroll, it's a very choppy experience, it just sends me all over the place, it's very horrible.  Is there a way to tame this?   I'm running a 4k monitor.

Running version 5.1.5 (default in Kubuntu 20.04).  Is there a setting somewhere for smoother zoom/scroll operations or a known fix?
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: poeschlr on June 07, 2020, 05:36:00 am
KiCad has a cool but yet unconventional feature where it centers your view port around the current cursor position on zoom. This allows for efficient navigation of the draw area. Can however be quite disorienting to new users who are not yet used to this. You can change this behaviour via preferences -> preferences -> Common -> Center and Warp on zoom.
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: Red Squirrel on June 07, 2020, 06:01:33 am
Oh thank you!  That does make it much better.  Is there by chance also a way to modify the zoom "steps" so it's a bit smoother?  But either way this one setting made a big difference and I can live with this.
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: Bassman59 on June 08, 2020, 04:31:20 am
Oh thank you!  That does make it much better.  Is there by chance also a way to modify the zoom "steps" so it's a bit smoother?  But either way this one setting made a big difference and I can live with this.
Scrolling with the mouse scroll wheel? Does the mouse driver have a control panel that lets you adjust scroll speed?
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: poeschlr on June 08, 2020, 09:10:03 pm
Controlling the zoom step size is not supported in KiCad version 5 but i will be in version 6. (Is already in the development snapshots as announced here: https://forum.kicad.info/t/post-v5-new-features-and-development-news/15693/184)
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: Red Squirrel on June 09, 2020, 03:46:19 am
Oh that's good to know.  I will just wait.  I don't really want to mess with the global mouse settings, and being Linux I'm not sure how easy it would be to even change.  Not on that machine now so can't check if there's an option in the system settings or if it would be more involved.  The cursor centering seemed to be what was causing me the most issues though so at least that's changed, glad that's an option to remove.  I can kind of see the appeal for it though.
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: phil from seattle on June 21, 2020, 04:33:01 pm
Yes! Much needed feature. I have the same issue - little flick of the wheel and you're at 30,000 feet.
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: poeschlr on June 22, 2020, 07:48:26 pm
That should not really be the case. If you have a different mouse then try it with that one as it could be a problem with the mouse. If the problem persists even with another mouse then please report this over on gitlab. Even better if you could provide a screencast.
Title: Re: How to make zoom/scroll more smooth?
Post by: Red Squirrel on June 23, 2020, 12:50:31 am
It's only that program that does it though. Anything I do to the mouse would then cause everything else to feel too slow.  The main issue is the zoom steps are too large.  So 3 "clicks" of the scroll wheel and you're zoomed way out or way in by too much.   It was amplified by that other option, which turning it off made it better.