A simple hand tool to grab the screen and move it around in any direction

Please no!

I think it sounds cool, but I doubt it would be that simple. When you see these "hand" cursors in applications, they are generally over a single object, like an image or document. I voted for it, so we'll see, lol.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

I actually thought about posting the same request, but couldn't be confident enough to say it's worth implementing.
But now I think it's worth it (in both TV and PRV). It needs to be enabled easily and quickly, like holding down both the left- and right-click buttons on the mouse temporarily enables the tool. Then the feature would really be handy.
 
Voted.

yeah I have one of those gaming mice with 12 buttons and really wouldn't mind mapping that feature to one of them

Hey, I completely agree. Improved navigation would be wonderful. I was just saying, as a developer, it probably won't be that easy
 
Navigation around a large project in Sonar is okay, but could be so much better and faster. The same is true in every DAW I've tried.
 
Regards,
Dan

I find dragging the background so counter-intuitive and at odds with how everything else works that I wouldn't do that - like I said, a way of dragging the view would be consistent and do what we both (in our own way) want.  just not the background.  Ever.

The navigation pane is a waste of space and would pretty much be rendered obsolete by a hand tool. Well maybe not for those  huge 300+tracks projects, but for most projects anyway.
 
I'm not suggesting they get rid of the scroll bars, mouse wheel scrolling, or anything in favor of replacing it with a hand. You'd still be able to turtle your way around just fine.
 
It's just a few lines of code that tie both scroll bars to mouse movement with a cursor icon. We're talking first year programming school level coding.
 
But I mean, there could be more to it, too, like inertia after you release the grab button, depending on mouse acceleration you could throw the screen from one end of the project to the other, it could be interesting.

hmm... perhaps I'm missing something.
 
If I want to drag horizontally I can drag (AND zoom) by just grabbing the timeline. I could of course also use the scroll bar at the bottom of the TV but it is fixed to project length and you need to click the magnify buttons for zooming so I ignore it. One of the most useful features is the Drag Scroll/Zoom timeline introduced in X2 but I think many people don't use it for some reason.
 
I digress...
 
If I want to scroll vertically then I just use the scroll bar to the right of the Track view. If anything what I would like is maybe a feature simialar to the Timeline Zoom where if I drag the scrollbar left/right it auto zooms the track height incrementally (and being able to disable that feature if desired). Maybe a "Track Snap" option would be cool too so when enabled as you scroll vertically the Track View snaps to the top of tracks (instead of halfway... again something that cna be disabled). The Auto Track Zoom thingie kind of does this but I find it a little awkward in general so this would be a better option for how I work.
 
Between those two things the only thing not covered would be diagonal scrolling that a "Hand Tool" could provide but the idea of having to switch tools or hold a modifier key kind of negates any real benefit of such a tool.
 
The more options the better really but it just doesn't seem worth the effort.
 
meh...
 
Edit: I just thought of a possible good solution... check it out.
 
Maybe instead of screwing around with hand tools or the vertical scrollbars maybe add modifiers to the existing Timeline zoom. Like as you drag Up/Down instead of Zooming Horz. you...
 
Hold Ctrl and it Scrolls Vert.
 
Hold Shift and it Zooms Vert.
 
Hold Ctrl + Shift and it Zoom/Scrolls Vert.
 
And I don't see any reason why you still wouldn't be able to drag left/right on the timeline while doing so (but my brain is all distracted and wacky so I may be overlooking something... just brainstorming).
 
So essentially in that scheme you can get ALL Zooming/Scrolling in ALL directions (even diagonally) by just clicking/messing around on the timeline.
 
Again... meh... just brainstorming.

jesus H christ.
 
here's what would happen once the cursor is a hand, whether you're above a clip, an automation line, or the vast empty space upon which our projects lie
 
nothing
 
nothing at all except the screen would scroll around, it's a CURSOR
 
you think they can come up with the smart tool and have all this elaborate cursor management system, they somehow this right here would present a technical hurdle?
 
you guys are just winding me up at this point
 
and how did zooming even find its way into this thread?
 
if you don't believe me, make the test. download the FL demo, use the hand tool. then come back to sonar and try to scroll around. you'll +1 the thread faster than a walnut can roll down the hen-house roof.