Broken Handed Enviro Artist

eyo · Feb 2012

Hey there Polycount!

As an environment artist who has recently broken his hand snowboarding (my keyboard hand) i was wondering if you guys would have thoughts on how to work best with just one hand, Ie UI tweaks or whatever for 3dsMax, photoshop and Zbrush. I have started using "Modlock" to help out with some modifier keys (alt, ctr, shift) and I kick up the On Screen keyboard here and there but I am finding things pretty slow.

fearian · Feb 2012

Max wise, list out all your favourite shortcuts and stick them in quad menus. You can fit alot of stuff in the quad menus and sub menus - even more if you delve into context sensitive stuff.

Grab a mouse with extra buttons and stick ctrl and alt on the thumb buttons?

MainManiac · Feb 2012

Get a razer naga and hotkey the side buttons

ae. · Feb 2012

my poor evan ill will nurse you back to health :P

MadnessImport · Feb 2012

On screen Keyboard? Just throwing that out there

I would attach a stick to my Elbow/Arm and use that on the keyboard.

sprunghunt · Feb 2012

Did you break your fingers? Or your palm/wrist?

I once broke my scaphoid bone and I had no issues with still using a keyboard or mouse

You could also try using a Wacom with lots of custom marking menus or quad menus

eyo · Feb 2012

thanks for the ideas guys!

Fearian I think you are on the right track with the multi button mouse idea in 3dsMax. Also I forgot to mention that my main display is a cintiq so i could dive deep into some custom menus.

AE. I WILL take you up on that offer ;-)

Madnessimport, I just can't seem to find the right size of stick!

Sprunghunt, I am not sure the name of it but it is the bone below the thumb, so my hand aches when i try and use any of the fingers :-(

More ideas? please keep'em coming

Frankie · Feb 2012

how about getting some of these

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/input/008/usbfootswitch_detail.html

Bad luck breaking you hand. Every time I've done it it's not stopped me from typing, must be really frustrating.

JacqueChoi · Feb 2012

Man, if I broke my hand I'd have to get a girlfriend.

neigan · Feb 2012

Can you move the wrist fine? Tape a hook-like object on top of the cast (are you casted), that way you can use it like a finger.
Then bind ctrl, alt, shift to the mouse and you should be able to use almost all keycombinations necessary

Alberto Rdrgz · Feb 2012

JacqueChoi wrote: »

Man, if I broke my hand I'd have to get a girlfriend.

oh you nasssty!:poly136:

conte · Feb 2012

I hope you'll get your hand back soon

Autocon · Feb 2012

sucks to hear, hope your hand heals quickly.

and at least its just your keyboard hand, idk what the fuck i would do if i broke my wacom/mouse hand, probably be fired within the week

eyo · Feb 2012

hey guys, ya i am rocking a full on cast, thumb included :-) i cringed as i watched it getting wrapped up. Couldn't imagine if it had been my drawing hand, then i would be off for sure. Until i can use a few fingers i am going to try and keep things in photoshop and Zb for a bit. 6 weeks is not forever or at least that is what i keep telling myself.

Broken Handed Enviro Artist

Replies