I need to turn off the scroll wheel zooming in After Effects. If I am looking at a Comp window and I scroll with my mouse, the view zooms in or out. I don't want to do this, especially because I have a Magic Mouse and any stray movement suddenly zooms my window. It's a realy problem. Can I turn this "feature" off?
The problem is with Apple not Adobe on this one. I have several apps that are difficult and frustrating to use with the Magic Mouse. My standard mouse has software specific functions you can assign to buttons and behaviors from the System Preferences. For each app I use I have assigned mouse behaviors for the most common keyboard shortcuts. For example in AE I never have to go to the tool bar or remember the keyboard shortcuts for the pen tool, the roto brush, the selection tool, new layer or the type tool. These functions are assigned to the mouse buttons. The scroll wheel has no effect on the scale of my comp window because I turned off that function in the mouse configuration settings in the system preferences. The same goes for all of my Adobe apps. I seldom have to click on a tool bar or go to a menu to run my normal workflow because I assign one of the 12 mouse buttons to 12 of my most common tasks.
In Apple Mail (which I think is a real pain to use with a Magic Mouse) I can read, delete, save attachments, organize to folders, and organize my mail without ever pointing to a specific message or touching the keyboard because every action that I take except answering or composing a new message has been assigned to a button.
Apple created some nice functionality in the Magic mouse, but without the ability to customize the mouse on an app by app basis you're always going to run into behaviors that slow you down or frustrate. The magic mouse even frustrates me in Final Cut because it's always doing things that I don't expect.Don't blame Adobe for Apples shortcoming.
The Magic Mouse works absolutely fine in Apple Mail, don't spout such nonsense unless you actually use one.
The only applications I have had trouble with the Magic Mouse is Adobe apps and Cinema4D, Photoshop CS5 now scrolls like treacle http://adobegripes.tumblr.com/post/637696077/photoshop-magic-mouse-scrolling-cs4-vs-cs5-you when CS4 worked beautifully.
While both After Effects and C4D have terrible 100% hard coded scroll wheel zooms. Personally I think the ball is firmly in Adobes court to allow the user to control the ability of the scroll wheel in their application, why should I have to turn scrolling off completely when scrolling panels in After Effects works fine. To suggest Apple should include a preference pane to customise scrolling in every single application on your computer is ridiculous when you can count the apps at fault on 1 hand.
You can keep your 12 button mouse, I don't want RSI and consider less to be better in this case.
Didn't mean to start a war here. Point was that Apple, unlike Logitech or even Microsoft, does not allow customization of mouse functions on an app by app basis. There are things that I really like about the Magic mouse, but I don't like it for apps like Photoshop, AE, C4D, or even mail, because I want to be able to do the things I do most often without reaching for the keyboard or drilling down a menu.
I don't much care for the scroll wheel zooming in AE so I turned it off on the Mouse Control Settings. Seems like a valid option to me. Customization of mouse functions should be IMHO in the mouse configuration, not on the app preferences.
For most Apple Apps the Magic Mouse is great. I use it all the time on my 13" MacBook Pro. I like the gestures idea, but browsing through, sorting, organizing, flagging more than 200 emails a day is a pain with any mouse that you can't assign functions like flag, delete, next message, or move directly to a button. I'd rather left click than ctrl click or right click and dig through a menu just to flag a message. I'd rather just move my finger slightly to the right and click the mute button on my mouse to delete an email than mouse way up to the delete button or reach for the delete key with my other hand. I'd rather just press the forward button with my thumb to save an attachment. It's just easier and I can get through my daily e-mail in about half the time.
Pick a workflow that you like but don't criticize me for setting up my system so that I don't have to move from the bottom right corner of the number two 30" monitor to the top left corner of the 30" number one monitor just to pick a tool. I set up my tools so that my work is easier, more productive and so that my hands don't ache at the end of the day.
"I don't much care for the scroll wheel zooming in AE so I turned it off on the Mouse Control Settings. Seems like a valid option to me."
My original question was how to turn off Scroll Wheel Zooming in After Efects. Everyone says I can't. But you saying I can? How? Where are these "Mouse Control Settings" in After Effects?
You don't, and IMHO shouldn't adjust mouse properties in the app. You adjust them in the mouse settings in the System Preferences. There are no mouse settings in AE.
Apple does not have app specific settings or the ability to turn off the scroll so you're stuck unless you want to use another mouse.
That is what I thought, but your previous posts left a little uncertainty, so I wanted to make sure.
I am back to begging Adobe to take off this "feature" so that people purchasing new Apple systems with the latest Apple mouse can actually use the program properly.
Even better, since CS5 really doesn't have much new over CS4, continual rounds of "Just Do It" updates of issues like these might make up for this lackluster release.
I strongly disagree with you on this point. If the mouse behavior needs to be adjusted to work properly with an app, then the preferences to do so should be in the app itself. It is not Apple's job to make up for lazy coding on the part of Adobe or any other software company. Adobe's response to this issue, and similar responses to other issues, are setting it up for a major fallout the moment a roughly comparable application appears on the field. Case in point: Flash.
Words cannot express the profundity of my desire for a professional grade, MODERNIZED, Mac-centric graphics editing program! I am so tired of all the horrendous PC Windowisms constantly littered onto my system via Adobe. Adobe UIs are HIDEOUS! Would some company out there please hear us and save us from this tired, stunted ickyware!
If you hate it don't buy it, don't use it. There are options at any price point you want.
You might want to try Combustion (last updated in 2008) for about a grand, Fusion at about at about $7K, Flame at somewhere in the low to medium six figures, or Inferno at a mid six figure price, or on the other end of the price point FX Home for about $150. I'm sure there are others. Your results may vary. Your satisfaction may vary. Your frustration level may vary.
If you want to make suggestions or feature requests you'll find a form here. Adobe listens. That's why CS5 now access every GB of ram you can stuff into your machine....
I thought Fusion was Windows only... Combustion has been discontinued, I thought.
Nuke is a possibility for OSX if you'd like to spend more than the entire CS suite.
You Mac users crack me up...
EDIT: Haha. Woops, I almost forgot Apple's own compositing and motion graphics programs: They discontinued Shake (where's that followup program? Too busy working on Ipad apps? Thanks for purchasing, eliminating windows version, and killing it altogether), so I guess you're left with Motion. Have fun. Cya. Nice knowing you.
OK so I made the feature request as Rick suggested. It's nice to know that Adobe listens. Too bad they're not going to DO anything about it. But knowing that they "listen" helps to lessen my frustration. I love when corporations "handle" me. I don't think I will waste energy on hoping that they will make this a more inclusive features for all Macintosh users.
Also if I turned off the scroll wheel entirely in AE then I wouldn't be able to scroll the timeline which works fine with the Magic Mouse. The only thing that doesn't work is the ridiculous zoom behaviour.
God even this textbox I'm typing into has had the standard OS right click behaviour destroyed so you can't auto-correct spelling mistakes in your browser.
The right click to correct spelling in this text box is overridden by the java than makes it possible to do live formatting. You'll see the same thing in any site that uses this engine for live formatting.
The magic zoom behavior is annoying but would be completely fixable if Apple allowed full app by app mouse behavior customization. I have to admit that whenever I freelance on another system that is using any of the apple mice that the zoom behavior in the comp window is very annoying. It's only with my fully programmed mouse that I never see the problem.
I don't see what there is to fix… They are called SCROLL wheels not zoom wheels, they should scroll as the default action and zoom as an option if you really want that so badly.
Yeah I know why this text box is broken, I just find it hilarious that someone invested time to program a spell checking function into this text box and all the useless formatting options (Text alignment? really? LOL) at the expense of the browsers standard functions (which should include a spell checker anyway these days)
Formatting functions don't even work by the way, just tried to right justify this post. Why bother including them at all
Feh. If Adobe actually DID listen, they would have taken one of the following steps (in order of likelihood):
added all the features to Illustrator that FreeHand had 10 years ago that are STILL missing.
continued to update/upgrade FreeHand (not as stupid as it sounds...look at how many different clothes detergents Proctor & Gamble makes that compete with one another).
release the source code with a Creative Commons license, and allow developers to create an open source alternative to Illustrator (okay - THAT would be suicidal for illustrator, but a guy can dream).
I know a few things about the way Adobe (and all software companies for that matter) work. I worked for competitiors of theirs, and a company they acquired. Lots of friends still work there at Adobe.
Problem is, what we don't see as consumers is what REALLY goes on there - the jockeying for dominance by one product group over another, the limited resources and the constant battle for them between fixing what's broken (not a money-maker but helps the customers) or adding new features (attracts new customers but introduces more bugs). At Micrografx, we used to joke that a X.0 release was our "X.UH-oh" version. At one time tech support guys would ask each other, "did they want help with the "original recipe" or "extra buggy." But what really kills me is I have a lot invested in FreeHand. And it had features and functionality that is simply not in Illustrator, even now. That's insane. To make an analogy in another area, it's like GM buying Chrysler for their variable-speed transmission, and other cool technology, then discontinuing all the unique features and products, and continuing to sell the same old stuff. I realize that vector drawing is a mature category, but we deserve better than Illustrator.
Even worse is the Windows-centric nature of Adobe. Back in the day, Adobe was a Mac company, first and foremost. Their Windows products were...um...kind of a joke. Illustrator 1.0, for instance, cost $100 more than it's Mac counterpart, and could only PRINT in color...it couldn't display anything in color on the screen. (!) Somewhere along the way, someone made a decision to develop on Windows (with a huge advantage in overall market share, this makes financial sense) and port the code to Macs. That's a BIG mistake, because ported code is, by definition, bloated and unresponsive. It's a cost-effective way to do business...right up until your users wise up. Unfortunately, by going for the larger Windows market, Adobe's forgotten that in graphics, Macs are still the choice of a majority of graphics professionals.
How do they diss Macs? Let me count the ways: let's take video, for instance. Take a Mac and a PC. Equip both with the same CPU, RAM, and Hard Drive. See which one plays back video faster. Surprise! It's the PC. Why? Bloated code. Same is true for Flash. And Photoshop.
The only thing that allows Adobe to get away with listening to their bean counters instead of their customers is they have VERY little competition. In fact, where they DO have competition, they are (surprise again) competitive. Final Cut almost destroyed Premier. But Adobe got serious about improving Premiere, and today it's begining to win the hearts and minds of the Apple faithful.
As I see it, there are two solutions here. I'm good with either one.
Someone (like Apple) steps into to make quailty apps on the Mac that will make it a two horse race. Adobe will improve...or die.
Apple buys Adobe and folds CS6 into their software line, like Final Cut Pro and Logic Studio.
Don't care which happens. But I'm really very unhappy with the state of things as they are. So...Adobe...ARE you listening?
I would call this hard-coding-stuff a bug. I have a Logitech Mouse and use ControlerMate to control its buttons.
There I disabled the mouse-wheel completely for After Effects and added some custom-shortcuts. Unfortunately After Effects just ignores my settings and interprets the mouse-wheel like the standard-configuration. And ControlerMate isn't a software which adds something after the action happened, it replaces the manufactures drivers.
The work that most of us do with After Effects is so time consuming we don't have time to buy a new mouse, or change software, let alone boycott the company.
And let's face it. After Effects is awesome, despite many of its short-comings. However, Apple computers now come with Magic Mice. Also, they are amazingly useful devices. After Effects is the only program that becomes jittery to the point of unusability using this mouse and adds hours to a project just waiting for a frame to redraw after accidentally zooming in or way out to postage stamp size. There's more too. Those who have many open compositions: did you know you can scroll in the tab area to change which comp you're viewing? You didn't? A useless feature you say?
It's unacceptable that there is no option to turn off these bugs. You, developers, are wrong. I understand it's a lot easier to direct someone to alternative software suites instead of adding a checkbox. Maybe you can add it to your "Secret Menu" where everything else that makes the program actually usable is also stored.
Now that my three minute break is up, back to work!
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