Suggestion: Pie (Radial) Menus

[Sergey_Kritskiy]

Hi everyone,

I really wish that Pie Menus would appear in KM along with standard menus. They are much easier/faster to control that ordinary list menus. They appear under the cursor upon activation and their items are located in different zones of circle.
They are very popular in graphics software: they're easy to use, it's easy to remember location of particular functions so you don't need to waste time on reading labels or pressing keys on keyboard.

Here's an example from Wacom tablet driver:

Blender 3d package:

Modo 3d package

I hope this can be considered to be in the next updates!

Thanks,
Sergey

[peternlewis]

Pie menus have been on my list of things to look at for some time. Both as a trigger method, and in the editor as a method for selecting actions (for example). Exactly how or whether I will ever implement something like this I don't know.

You can make a facsimile using a macro palette, something like this:

[Mark]

I’d never before seen pie menus, so this topic from @Sergey_Kritskiy was certainly interesting.

And thank you, Sergey, for posting pictures.

For any graphics user, whose hand is welded to the mouse, no question it would be valuable.

A lot of people will be impressed by pie menus.
But not me.

My reason for using KM is to avoid mousing around.
To use the keyboard as close to 100% as I possibly can.

But, I know, I know, many will want pie menus for the “wow” factor.
The same people who want touch bar.

[Mark]

You can make a facsimile using a macro palette

@Sergey_Kritskiy may appreciate knowing it is available today (without any added development work).

• Works perfectly with: √ "Place palette under mouse".

• Palette preferences already allow select transparency.

• Option to include icons already built in.

Adding a grid, 3x3, would provide a finishing touch.
KM can already draw something like that.

Do try this at home.
I did with these results:

[Sergey_Kritskiy]

Oh thanks I didn’t know this exists! Can you please direct me where can I read about it or what should I look for on Google? Because I can’t seem to find this grid menu. That would be a nice substitute! Especially like the last one with an image on background

I understand it’s useless for some workflows, especially if you work with text I imagine, but as you correctly remarked, for someone who uses mouse (or graphic tablet pen in my case) a lot, it’s a nice way to decrease the load for the ‘keyboard hand’. And since Pie Menus work as gestures, using them is rapid.
Actually the most confortable/rapid menus work like this:

1. you press and hold the hotkey
2. you move cursor in a direction of the command you want
3. you release the hotkey and voilà
   (I hope this makes sense, English isn’t my first language, sorry!)

They also often used when you have several similar options and having every of them on a hotkey isn’t convenient. One example comes from 3d software: you can switch between front/back/right/left/top/bottom/perspective/ortho views from one menu, it’s easier than to have 8 dedicated hotkeys.

And a video example (from 12 second)

[Mark]

where can I read about ... Because I can't seem to find this grid menu.

Sergey -

Your questions make perfect sense.
And thank you for uploading that video -- helps to see action.

First example above -- light green color:
This is the place to begin.
You will get a functioning palette, but not so elegant.

Go to KM > Preferences > Palette Styles.
Select "Default Palette" and then customize options as you wish.
Most useful: columns = 3.
.

Second example above -- light gray with red grid lines -- is only a prototype, I made.
It's not a working function.

KM can draw lines and shapes.
I used KM action: "Draw a Line onto Image", with the image being an empty KM clipboard.
But no need to that, unless you desire to get fancy.

.

And since Pie Menus work as gestures, using them is rapid.

I didn't know pie menus work as gestures.
Thank you for mentioning it.

Searching this forum for "mouse gestures" will get more discussion.

[peternlewis]

Oh thanks I didn’t know this exists! Can you please direct me where can I read about it or what should I look for on Google? Because I can’t seem to find this grid menu. That would be a nice substitute! Especially like the last one with an image on background

Macro Groups can display as a palette, so start there.

https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Macro_Groups
https://wiki.keyboardmaestro.com/manual/Palettes

To get started:

Create a new Macro Group
Create some empty new Macros in the macro group
In the Macro Group configuration, adjust it to “Show a paletted until”, and leave the checkboxes off.
The palette will appear on the screen at that point.
Click the “Palette Style” button in the Macro Group configuration, and then adjust that whoever you want.

Tip: Use sorting characters: You can control the sorting order of macros by prefixing two characters and a closing parenthesis to the name, eg “01)My Macro”. The prefix will be removed before displaying in the macro palette or status menu, but will be used to control the order of the macros shown.

[Mark]

@Sergey_Kritskiy -

Here is a palette from KM (current version; no new features).

Option to [√] Place palette under mouse (center under under cursor position).

Would it meet your needs?

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