Does additional Wiresless Numpad + TKL Keyboard work?

Question

Hi all , I can't seems to find an answer from internet.
I had a TKL Keyboard without numpad, wonder if getting a cheap wireless numpad and using both together will cause any trouble ?Since in theory it's 2 device and I'm not sure it will work together.

Sorry for the silly question, replacing a new keyboard with numpad will cost a lot for me, and wish not to use Emulate Numpad.

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Reply
  • Omar Domenech replied

    If you don't have the Numpad on your keyboard, Blender has the functionalities of all those keys in the pie menu of the Tilde key:

    Tilde.png

    So in essence you could do without the Numpad and just use the pie menu. In fact I have a numpad and I don't use it much, I find the pie menu to be a faster way to work. But to answer your question, there was someone who was having trouble the other day, here:

    https://cgcookie.mavenseed.com/community/18448-numpad-frustrations

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  • Martin Bergwerf replied

    I haven't tried it, but I don't expect that would be a problem. I'm pretty sure though, that there are people here that have experience with that combination.

    What would be the point in selling a Numpad, if you can't use it in combination with a TKL Keyboard?

    Blender shouldn't have a problem with that either, I think; I often have a Mouse and Pen&Tablet connected at the same time.

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  • Donburi Frog(OshiKatsuFever) replied

    Thanks guys, actually my main problem are selecting vertices / edge / face when in Edit mode, 1/3/7 are for camera view with Emulate Numpad.
    I assigned new shortcut ALT + 1/2/3 for vertices / edge / face , does the shortcut conflict? Or if you can suggest a better shortcut would be nice !

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  • Adrian Bellworthy replied

    It should work fine!
    I used to have one when I used Blender on a laptop.

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  • Omar Domenech replied

    I would suggest not messing too much with the default behavior, muscle memory is a pain when you loose it. So it's better to have the muscle memory train as it should from the start. With the Tilde key you don't need to change any behavior.

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  • Dwayne Savage(dillenbata3) replied

    I agree with Omar pie menu is better. To answer your questions. 1. No there shouldn't be any problem as long as your OS key maps the numpad as a numpad and not an unknown device or game control. 2. In mesh edit mode, alt+ 1, 2, or 3 aren't currently mapped. I'm not sure if they are still mapped in object mode

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  • dfurlong replied

    My wireless Numpad works great. Mine is over 10 years old and no issues with Blender. The issue I had before was user error.

    I have used the emulate numpad without any issue, but I personally prefer to use the numpad over emulate. I do occasionally use the tilde key and pie menu. It just happened to be that my husband had the wireless he wasn't using and it's my preference.

    It shouldn't matter if you use a wireless keyboard and a wireless numpad or wired/attached devices. Blender interprets these through the system. 

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  • Dwayne Savage(dillenbata3) replied

    Just to note there are 7 methods to switch views in Vanilla Blender.

    1. View Menu->Viewpoint

    2. The navigation gizmo. The thing on the right hand side of the viewport with the colored axis. Each sphere on the ends of the axis corresponds to a view. The camera icon is the camera view. 

    3. The tilde key pie menu. The real power to using pie menus in Blender is holding the key down and drag until option is highlighted and let go of the key to make the selection instead of having to go all the way and click on the option. Note: I turn on pie on drag(Just check the box) and remap it to the D key. This was a change that was planned by the developers, but in the community there was more votes to leave it on the tilde key.

    4. Thru the addon 3D Navigation. This gives you the views as buttons on the N-panel.(Technically called the sidebar)

    5. Thru the addon 3D Viewport Pie Menus. The hotkey is alt+Q. This includes a lot more options than the tilde key. 

    6. The Numpad of course.

    7. This last one doesn't have an option for the camera view. So you would need to use one of the other 6 for camera view. This is the Alt+Middle Mouse button drag. The direction you drag will go to the view relative to your current view. This can be change in preferences keymap under 3D View options you can change Alt Middle mouse drag from relative to Absolute. I prefer absolute. It is the same view directions as the pie menu. Up is top. Down is bottom. Left is left side. Right is right side. Diagonal up left is Front. Diagonal up right is Back.

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  • Donburi Frog(OshiKatsuFever) replied

    Thanks for the overwhelming response,  I will get a cheap numpad and experiment around pie menu too.

    It's funny to see how Blender had 10 solutions for 1 problem.

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  • Dwayne Savage(dillenbata3) replied

    One of the developers guiding policies is accessibility. This includes some physical and mental hardships that people have. Plus a large amount of different hardware. It may seem random and pieced together, but there is actually a reason behind most option in Blender. There are a few cases where it's just the community saying we don't care we want it this way. That's why Right click select is no longer the default. 

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