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using the mac trackpad for replicating gestures

by David Helmer · in iTorque 2D · 05/18/2012 (8:34 pm) · 6 replies

Since the mac track pad has multitouch and allows you to pinch and everything. I was wondering what would be involved in replicating that for testing on a mac.
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Community Manager Michael Perry
ZombieShortbus
#1
05/19/2012 (9:24 am)
I've certainly considered it, but I just haven't had the time to implement it myself. I think it would be a great solution. The API has been available since Snow Leopard, so I would probably create a new device type (trackPad) and implement the callbacks. Because it's Cocoa, an official implementation probably won't happen until we replace all Carbon code with Cocoa.

Torque 3D Owner Marc Dreamora Schaerer
Gayasoft
#2
05/19/2012 (1:51 pm)
Would likely not be that easy, otherwise apple would at least support it on the iOS simulator which they as a matter of facts don't do although they push for the multitouch even on the iMac by making the default including the pad

you must not forget that apple has 2 and 3 fingure gestures on the desktop that are global enforced which seriously would mess in here

Community Manager Michael Perry
ZombieShortbus
#3
05/19/2012 (2:13 pm)
@Marc - You can simulate gestures on the simulator, but unfortunately it doesn't make use of the track pad. That indeed is strange, but I guess there are reasons. All of it requires holding down the option key and using a single mouse click.

The touch API for Cocoa on OS X looks clean enough, but the tricky part is implementing it well in Torque's platform. I don't want to hack something in when so much is still tied up in Carbon. Again, with a full conversion to Cocoa, simulating iOS multi-touch on a desktop app would be more feasible. Then again, there's quite a few higher priority things we are taking care of right now.

Torque 3D Owner Marc Dreamora Schaerer
Gayasoft
#4
05/19/2012 (6:14 pm)
You can simulate gestures yes but thats 'simulator force' not input driven, thats still limited to the laughable 'single mouse position + fictive 2nd touch' at best which is as close to the experience as basically not testing it, for anything gaming and interactive media heavy its absolutely useless, apple only designed it for UIKit usage if at all

Apple needs to adopt MS WP7 work here a bit which supports the Win7 Multitouch layer completely on the simulator

Community Manager Michael Perry
ZombieShortbus
#5
05/19/2012 (8:07 pm)
@Marc - I don't disagree with a single thing in your last post. I too liked the WP7 approach to input.

Torque Owner David Helmer
The Kids
#6
05/19/2012 (9:26 pm)
Great, i'm glad it's on your mind and if I had to prioritize it, it would still be low.

Just nice to be able to get a glimpse of what's going on in your heads though!