You can pan your view in SketchUp in many different ways, but did you know that one of them would really help you speed up your work?

The best way to pan your view in SketchUp is to use the middle mouse button and SHIFT.

Until recently, I thought the same thing. Yes, it’s true, there are many ways in SketchUp to achieve the same goal. Commonly known methods for panning the model view are:

• Selecting the PAN tool from the toolbar.
• Using the default shortcut — the letter H
• Simultaneously pressing the middle mouse button and the SHIFT key.

It turns out that the combination mouse + SHIFT won the efficiency contest. But is it correct?

Did you know that panning is also possible only with the mouse?

It may shock you, but it’s true.

Panning the view can also be done by pressing the middle and left mouse buttons simultaneously. When I first learned about this, I had to try it out immediately. It really works. It also turned out to be much more convenient than the combination with the SHIFT key.

How can you use this to your advantage?

Use the mouse with four fingers instead of three.

Is it strange for you, too?

If you, like me, have only used these two buttons with your index finger, it may take you a little longer to get used to it. The best thing is to start holding the mouse like this in the first place.

Thumb on the side, index finger on the left button, middle finger on the middle, ring finger on the right button.

Once you get used to it, there’s no going back.

I refused to do this at first.

Giving up my habits proved to be harder than I thought. Once I did, however, it turned out that my 5-button mouse completely changed the way I worked. I assigned the most frequently used commands to the gesture functions.

Now I can pan my view faster and rarely have to use the keyboard to execute commands.

This post was created with Typeshare