Multi-Touch Issues on MacBook Pro Trackpad

MountainAir

MountainAir

Member
Trying to use PixInsight on a modern MacBook Pro with the large multi-touch trackpad is highly frustrating. Unlike every other app I have ever used on these machines, PixInsight doesn't seem to support palm rejection and other advanced multi-touch gestures. The result is I am constantly zooming in and out on my images, even when I consciously try to keep my palm off the trackpad. This happens many times a minute, every minute that I am editing. I normally get around it by doing my editing on the iMac, but when I'm on the road and in inconvenient work quarters where a mouse isn't practical, I just hate the user experience.

Is there a way to turn on/enable better trackpad input management in PixInsight? I have never had any similar issues in any other app.
 
I also use MacBook Pro laptops regularly and have never had those issues with Apple trackpads. I suppose this depends on how one uses his/her hands on the machine. Anyway:
  • From the main menu: Edit > Global Preferences
  • On the Preferences window, select the Miscellaneous Image Window Settings section on the left side.
  • Uncheck Touch events
  • Click Apply Global, or press F6 to execute.
This will disable touch events. You can still use your track pad as a mouse and use it combined with keyboard combinations to activate working modes such as Pan, Zoom In, Zoom Out, etc. For example:
  • Press Space Bar to activate the Pan mode, then click and drag anywhere on the image to pan.
  • Press Option + Space Bar to activate the Zoom In mode, then click to zoom in, or click and drag to define a zoom region.
 
Thank you for your response, Juan. I did try disabling touch events last year, and again this year. It does improve the situation, but as I switch between my many open applications it is somewhat irritating that the trackpad behaves differently and that coordinating keystrokes are required. I still think here is something going on with your implementation of touch events/palm rejection on these over-sized Apple trackpads. When I take my images into Pixelmator or Lightroom or Photoshop I don't seem to have these difficulties. You're right, it has everything to do with how my hand interacts with the trackpad (the situation was much better on an older laptop with a 1/3-size trackpad), but somehow these other applications have found a way to work around it. I don't think I'm any less adept at trackpad usage than the normal Joe.

This may be a larger problem than you are aware of. I never heard anyone else complain about it, but when I asked three of my astro buddies earlier the weekend they all told me they use mice because the trackpad is so irritating. Unfortunately I'm often working only laptop in a cramped car under dark desert skies, so using a mouse isn't terribly practical.
 
I am having same issue as MountainAir, only since purchasing an M1 MacBook Pro. Running Monterey 12.5.1, and Pixinsight 1.8.9-1 Ripley 64 bit. I have no trackpad issues with any other program, but, agree, that having to constantly resize my image screen in PixInsight is very annoying. For now, I'm going to purchase a separate mouse...but, for me, that is a less than satisfactory solution. I have to believe that there is a compatibility issue between either the M1 architecture (vs Intel) or Monterey OS. Thanks very much for looking into this, Juan. Still love PI.

Add: I disabled the "touch events" box in Preferences, per your recommendation to MountainAir, and that has cured the resizing issue when using the trackpad on the new M1 MacBook Pro. Thanks.
 
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