This add-on is designed to improve the user experience of Blender for users without immediate access to a keyboard or mouse. It provides many customizable UI improvements to cater to your workflow needs.
Pan, Rotate, and Zoom the viewport with your finger.
The viewport has be updated to use 3 interactive "hot regions" to control the camera position.
If you are a pen tablet user; the pen will still draw, while your finger can be used to control the camera.
If your tablet doesn't support touch; you can set the middle mouse button to activate the control regions in the add-on settings.
- Pan by dragging for the middle of the viewport
- Zoom by dragging along the left or right edge of the viewport
- Rotate by dragging the remaining space in the viewport
Touch Controls come with a toggleable overlay which can be assigned colors.
It is recommended to disable the overlay once you are comfortable with the size of each touch region, or set the transparency very low. (note: the overlay will not be shown in the render output)
You may chose to switch the Pan and Rotate regions. If you lock the viewport rotation, Panning can be done anywhere between the Zoom control regions.
Double-tap to trigger one of the following actions:
- "Transfer Mode" to change the active object
- Toggle Touch Control
- Toggle Local View
- Toggle Full-screen Viewport
note: this feature only works by tapping your finger or clicking to prevent the pen from accidentally triggering it while drawing
Important features have been made available directly in the viewport. Each button can be toggled on/off from the overlay menu.
The following on-screen buttons are currently available:
- Undo/Redo
- Toggle Fullscreen Viewport
- Toggle Quad-view
- Recenter Viewport
- Change Rotation Center Point
- Toggle N-panel
- Toggle Viewport Rotation Lock
- Topology Control
- Sculpt Brush Dynamics
Quad-view may sometimes replace the perspective viewport with an orthographic viewport when toggled off and on. This may cause the main viewport rotation to be automatically locked. Simply unlock it with the on-screen button.
This attempts to bring the active object back into view. If the origin is misaligned, it may not work perfectly.
Locking the viewport rotation replaces viewport rotation with panning control.
NOTE: Quad-view will default to rotation locking for isometric viewports (top, front, and side views)
This feature provides quick access to Retopology control in Sculpt mode and is not shown in any other mode.
If the selected object has a Multi-resolution modifier; the retopology controls change to subdivision level controls.
Quickly jump through subdivision levels, subdivide and unsubdivide right from the viewport.
A yellow icon means the next subdivision step needs to be calculated. It will automatically try to subdivide/unsubdivide when clicked.
A red icon means you have reached your subdivision limit and it will not try to subdivide further. You may change the maximum subdivision levels available for the on-screen buttons to limit accidental subdivision.
note: the subdivision limit only applies to increasing subdivision levels. You may unsubdivide as much as Blender is able.
This feature allows you to quickly access the UI for brush resizing and strength control in sculpt mode.
This button allows you to assign up to 8 commands, unique to each edit mode (object, sculpt, texture paint, weight paint, etc) and reposition it where ever you want, to best fit your workspace. If you don't need it, simply disable it in the settings menu.
If you have a suggestion for more features, please check if it's on this list before submitting a request on Github.
I'm continuing to look at features which could improve the experience of Blender without adding too much clutter to the UI.
Currently, I'm planning to add the following features:
- auto-retopology levels
- better 3D gizmos for edit mode
- control gizmo enum (flip through object gizmos in sculpt mode)
This list will change as I explore options and get more user feedback.
Building the addon zip can be done by using the included bundle.sh
script. Simply run:
./bundle.sh
It will output the files to include and generate a new ZIP file:
$ ./bundle.sh
adding: touchview/ (stored 0%)
adding: touchview/lib/ (stored 0%)
adding: touchview/lib/Gizmos.py (deflated 77%)
adding: touchview/lib/items.py (deflated 68%)
adding: touchview/lib/Operators.py (deflated 80%)
adding: touchview/lib/Overlay.py (deflated 73%)
adding: touchview/lib/Panel.py (deflated 69%)
adding: touchview/lib/touch_input.py (deflated 69%)
adding: touchview/lib/__init__.py (deflated 70%)
adding: touchview/Settings.py (deflated 76%)
adding: touchview/__init__.py (deflated 51%)
The final ZIP can be found in:
./bin/touchview.zip
In Blender, open Edit
> Preferences...
.
Navigate to the Add-ons
tab.
Click Install...
and navigate to the touchview.zip
file.
Select it and click Install Add-on
.
v2.6.0
UPDATED
: code spec now based on flake8UPDATED
: added alternative action for TransferMode when used in OBJECT modeUPDATED
: fixed desktop scaling issue with radial gizmo menuUPDATED
: fixed toggle touch gizmo and RC/DC actionUPDATED
: fixed error message when rotation locked and pan/rotate swapped
v2.5.0
ADDED
: Gizmo size controlUPDATED
: moved operators into folder
v2.4.0
UPDATED
: preferences access simplified with utility functionADDED
: single-input mode now activates large floating toggle button
v2.3.0
ADDED
: Input Mode selection (for devices with only touch or pen support)
v2.2.0
ADDED
: Toggle control gizmo (translate, rotate, scale, none)UPDATED
: Added Brush dynamics (from sculpt mode) to paint modes- NOTE: some paint/sculpt modes when in 2D/Draw canvas mode aren't yet hooked up to brush dynamics
v2.1.0
ADDED
: Right Click ActionsUPDATED
: Preferences and N-Panel restructure
v2.0.0
UPDATED
: Gizmos-related code simplified and reorganized for easier managementADDED
: floating gizmo bar and floating gizmo radial menu modesADDED
: customizable gizmo menu spacingUPDATED
: viewport safe area calculationUPDATED
: floating action menu to use same move/access functionality as floating radial menuADDED
: 8th custom action for floating action menu
v1.2.4
ADDED
: Toggle Double-tap action on/off
v1.2.3
ADDED
: Sculpt Brush DynamicsUPDATED
: Viewport rotation in sculpt mode automatically sets pivot to mesh under touch point
v1.2.2
UPDATED
: Gizmo panel layout split
v1.2.1
REMOVED
: Middle Mouse keybindREMOVED
: viewport rotation lock when using the Grease Pencil
v1.2.0
BREAKING
: This version requires previous version to be disabled before installUPDATED
: Improved Pen detection and simplified key configsADDED
: Support for various 2D and 2D-like views (Image Editor, UV Editor, 2D Animation, Compositing, etc)
v1.1.2
ADDED
: Support for Node Editor
v1.1.1
ADDED
: minor fix to pen detection
v1.1.0
ADDED
: Independent toggle for entire gizmo barADDED
: Customizable double-tap actionsADDED
: Multi-resolution level limiter and gizmo status color
v1.0.1
ADDED
: Optional include for MIDDLEMOUSE when disabling/enabling touch controlsFIXED
: Preferences bug preventing toggle of floating Gizmo
v1.0.0
ADDED
: Toggle swap pan/rotate regionsADDED
: Toggle floating menu button to N PanelUPDATED
: Disabling touch controls no longer removes overlay (hot regions still work with custom keybinds and MIDDLEMOUSE)UPDATED
: Disabling touch controls restores default LEFTMOUSE functionality
v0.9.6
ADDED
: undo/redo gizmoADDED
: overlay color selectionADDED
: touch control toggle in settingsADDED
: Alt+T to toggle touch controlsUPDATED
: N Panel now includes extra settings from addon menuUPDATED
: Lock Rotation now addresses quadview data replication bugUPDATED
: Limited floating gizmo to viewport areaUPDATED
: code cleanup and additional structure tweaksREMOVED
: Gizmo Tooltips
v0.9.5
ADDED
: multires modifier support to gizmo bar (shows retopology tools when no modifier is present)FIXED
: Gizmos now properly follow mode visibility rulesFIXED
: Double-tap selection now only runs in appropriate viewport modes
v0.9.4
ADDED
: Support for menus in floating gizmoADDED
: Mode-specific options for floating gizmoUPDATED
: Dependence on active_object for mode detectionUPDATED
: Classes to follow Blender naming conventionsUPDATED
: Keymaps for touchview in all contextUPDATED
: Keymaps for context action assigned to pen
v0.9.3
ADDED
: Sculpt pivot mode gizmoADDED
: Customizable floating menu
v0.9.2
FIXED
: Issue delaying overlay viewport bindingFIXED
: Gizmo tools/panel overlap issue when "Region Overlap" enabledREMOVED
: Viewport manager classREMOVED
: Default keymap causing Move Operator to trigger when dragging over non-modal gizmos
v0.9.1
ADDED
: Tap for menu scroll
v0.9
ADDED
: N-Panel gizmoUPDATED
: Code restructureFIXED
: Dragging over gizmo moves selected object
v0.8
ADDED
: Gizmo to toggle fullscreen modeUPDATED
: Settings to addon preferences to save across projects and scenesFIXED
: Bugs impacting user experienceFIXED
: Doubletap now selects/activates tapped object instead of triggering fullscreen
v0.7
ADDED
: Gizmos for key featuresADDED
: Hide/show Gizmo and layout optionsADDED
: Locked viewport rotation for isometric viewports in quadview to address lock/unlock inconsistenciesFIXED
: Fullscreen Toggle no longer maximizes the window, only expands the View3D region
v0.6
UPDATED
: Scale of viewport overlay settings for more precisionFIXED
: Issues with determining locked state with quadviews
v0.5
ADDED
: Camera rotation lock in N-panelFIXED
: Quad-view overlay compatibilityFIXED
: Rotation with panning when rotation is lockedFIXED
: Issue when locking view to Object or 3D Cursor
v0.4
ADDED
: Double-tap to toggle "focus" modeADDED
: Toggle Tools LEFT/RIGHT in UI
v0.3
FIXED
: Incorrect viewport calculation when N-panel is openFIXED
: Refactored screen/area management code (additional major refactor needed)
v0.2
FIXED
: Minor bug fixes and code cleanup
v0.1
ADDED
: Camera dolly on left and right of viewportADDED
: Camera pan from center of viewportADDED
: Camera rotate in any other area of viewportADDED
: Toggleable overlay to simplify resizing controls
Please report any issues you find and I'll do my best to address them.
The add-on is free, but if it helps you, please consider supporting me.