|
Software
As I mentioned before, the guts and core of the ID-75 lie in its control application. The ID-75 has the ability to monitor what the active application is in Windows, and switch its layouts accordingly. Thus, if you're using Winamp to listen to some MP3s while playing Quake II, you'll have the Quake II layout loaded, but once you close Quake II, the Winamp controls should become active. This is, of course, dependent on how Windows decides what application is now going to be active, since it will sometimes defer to the desktop.
The ID-75 wouldn't have any of its useful controls without any tools to design those controls, so the ID-75 also comes with the layout design software. Basically, with the layout design software, you paint a picture of what you want to appear on the ID-75, and then assign target zones that perform keystrokes, macros, mouse movements, or even load whole new layouts! If you were masochistic, you could program the thing and run your entire OS with it - It's that powerful.
At any rate, the layout designer software is a powerful application that lets you design a whole slew of functions and macros to assign to your ID-75 pad. My only problem with it is that it seems kinda cumbersome to use at first, but later on, with the help of Jason Hoy at Massworks, I was able to figure out how to yoke the layout designer and make some layouts with ease. If you can't figure it out right away, don't sweat it. Lots of ID-75 fans out there are already designing some pretty good layouts for some of your favorite games.
When they say it's a snap to learn, they mean "snapping your neck".
The secret in getting your layouts to work properly lies in ordering your screen elements properly. The easiest way I found to do this is to insert all your pictures, and then draw target zones over each area. When you've finished them all, right-click on each one and send it to the back. This means that it'll be drawn with first priority, and that the image on top of it will overwrite the gray box that normally represents a function pad.
Personally, I think it'd have worked better if the software would keep the target zones separately from the images in the rendering process. Granted, it might look messy in the layout manager if your target zones are all over the place and covering up your screen, but it won't render that way on the ID-75 itself, so it should be well and good.
>> Multi-Monitor Action
|
