The Mouse Insider
In this article I will introduce you to the computer mouse, its history, how it works, accessoiries and ergonomics of it. Let the atopsy begin!
The computer mouse allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on the computer screen. There are several types of mice around but I'll only touch on the two most commonly known and used throughout the ages.
The first and oldest of course is the mechanical mouse
Although it was invented for military purposes around 1946 by Ralph Benjamin and a further developed version served a part of the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR using a five-pin bowling ball; the Trackball device is the ancestor of the computer mouse. The first ball-based computer mouse called Rollkugel (rolling ball) was released by the German company Telefunken in 1968. They "turned" the trackball device used earlier upside down and downsized it -to 2 3/4 in H x 4 3/4 in D- thus making it a movable, rather than static and bulky, pointing device.The Rollkugel's operation did not change from trackball pointers, utilizing a ball enbeded between chopper wheels on the axis Y and X. It had only one button at the top and ironicly for its size it was considered too small to apply for a patent. In 1973 the grandfather of personal computer (PC) -Xerox Alto- that utilized a mouse was built by Xerox PARC and from 1981 an itegrated mouse was shipped to the consumer as a part of the computer system. After making Microsoft World a mouse compatible MS-DOS program in 1982, Microsoft developed the first PC compatible mouse. The most common mouse had two buttons and a scrolling wheel. They worked (and still do) using two freely rotating perpendicular rollers that are 90 degrees apart. One of the rollers detects foward-backward motion, the other the left-right motion. At the opposing side there is a third roller that is spring loaded to push the ball against the other two. Each roller shaft has an encoder wheel attached to it, that has a slotted edge. The slots interrupt infrared light beams to generate electrical pulses that represent wheel movement. The mouse sends these signals to the computer system via the mouse cable, directly as logic signals in very old mice such as the Xerox mice, and via a data-formatting IC in modern mice. The driver software in the system converts the signals into motion of the mouse cursor along X and Y axes on the computer screen.
The other and more commonly used nowadays is the optical mouse
The early optical mouse invented by Steve Krisch in 1980 used an infrared LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a four-quadrant infrared sensor to detect grid lines that was printed on a metalic surface with an infrared absorbing ink. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the mouse calculated the speed and direction of the movement. The other significiant invention in 1980 was by Richard F. Lyon and sold by Xerox. This one used a 16 pixel visible-light image sensor with an integrated motion detection on the same chip. It tracked the motion of light dots in a dark field of a printed paper or similar mouse pad. The major difference between these two mice is that the Steve Krisch type used x-y coordinate system embedded in the pad, and would not work correctly when the pad was rotated. In contrast the Lyon mouse used the x-y coordinate system of the mouse body, as mechanical mice do. A modern optical mouse works by using an optoelectronic sensor (essentially, a tiny low-resolution video camera) to take successive images of the surface on which the mouse operates. This enabled the mouse to detect relative motion on a wide variety of surfaces, translating the movement of the mouse into the movement of the cursor and eliminating the need for a special mouse-pad. The first modern optical computer mice were the Microsoft IntelliMouse with IntelliEye and IntelliMouse Explorer, introduced in 1999 using technology developed by Hewlett-Packard. The modern optical mouse's technology -digital image correlation- is based on the Lyon mouse and pioneered by the defense industry for tracking military targets. To understand how optical mice work, imagine two photographs of the same object except slightly offset from each other. Place both photographs on a light table to make them transparent, and slide one across the other until their images line up. The amount that the edges of one photograph overhang the other represents the offset between the images, and in the case of an optical computer mouse the distance it has moved. As red diodes are inexpensive and silicon photodetectors are very sensitive to red light, red LED is used most commonly in optical mice to illuminate the surface beneath their sensor. The laser mouse uses an infrared laser diode (ILD) instead of a LED to illuminate the surface beneath their sensor. Laser mice did not enter the mainstream market until 2004 -even though Sun Microsystems provided a laser mouse with their Sun SPARCstation servers and workstations as early as 1998-, when Paul Machin at Logitech, in partnership with Avago Technologies, introduced its MX 1000 laser mouse. This mouse uses a small infrared laser instead of an LED and has significantly increased the resolution of the image taken by the mouse. The laser illumination enables superior surface tracking compared to LED-illuminated optical mice, while introducing a health risk if pointed directly at one's eye. Optical models outperform mechanical mice on uneven, slick, soft, sticky, or loose surfaces, and generally in mobile situations lacking mouse pads. Because optical mice render movement based on an image which the LED illuminates, used with multicolored mouse pads may result in unreliable performance; however, laser mice do not suffer these problems and will track on such surfaces.
Mouse pads
A mousepad enhances the usability of the mouse compared to using a mouse directly on a table by providing a surface to allow the tracking LED or ball to measure movement accurately and without jitter. During a 1968 presentation by Douglas Engelbart marking the public debut of a mouse, Engelbart used a control console designed by Jack Kelley of Herman Miller that included a keyboard and an inset portion used as a support area for the mouse. According to Kelley and also stated by Alex Pang, Kelley designed the first mousepad a year later, in 1969.
"CRT CURSER CONTROL MECHANISM PAD
To assist the operation of a cathode ray tube pointer wherein a metal ball is rolled on a hard surface, the disclosed pad may be utilized. A resilient, rubber-like material is bonded or otherwise attached to a hard base material which keeps the rubber-like material flat. The base has four rubber-like pads on the opposite side from the resilient material to refrain the pad from sliding on the surface of a table, for instance.—Xerox Disclosure Journal, Volume 4, Number 6, November/December 1979By 1982"
Most users of the Xerox ball mouse were using "special pads" to increase the friction of the ball. The three most important benefits of the introduction of the mousepad were higher speed, more precision, and comfort for the user. A secondary benefit was keeping the desk or table surface from being scratched and worn by continuous hand and mouse rubbing motion. Another benefit was reduction of the collection of debris under the mouse, which resulted in reduced jitter of the pointer on the display. Modern optical mice can function to an acceptable degree of accuracy on plain paper and other surfaces. However, some optical mouse users (especially gamers, designers, and other heavy users) may prefer a mousepad for comfort, speed and accuracy, and to prevent wear to the desk or table surface.
Mouse DPI and Polling Rate
Dots per inch (DPI) is a measurement of how sensitive a mouse is. The higher a mouse’s DPI, the farther the cursor on your screen will move when you move the mouse with shorter moves. A mouse with a higher DPI setting detects and reacts to smaller movements. A higher DPI isn’t always better. You don’t want your mouse cursor to fly all the way across the screen when you move your mouse a little bit. On the other hand, a higher DPI setting helps your mouse detect and respond to smaller movements so you can point at things more accurately. For example, let’s say you’re playing a first-person shooter game. When zooming in with a sniper rifle and trying to precisely aim at small targets, a high DPI could be valuable by allowing you to smoothly aim with small mouse movements. When playing the game normally without a zoomed in sniper rifle, this high DPI may be too sensitive. DPI is the actual sensitivity of the hardware. For example, let’s say you have a very cheap mouse with low DPI and you crank up the sensitivity in the game's option and you tried to aim at small targets, you’ll see the mouse cursor jump around as you move it. The mouse hardware isn’t as sensitive, so it doesn’t detect the smaller movements, your operating system just compensates by moving your cursor farther when it does detect a movement, so the movement isn’t as smooth.On the other hand a high DPI mouse can be paired with low sensitivity settings so the cursor won’t fly across the screen when you move it, but will stay smooth. Simply said DPI is the mouse's preciseness rather than its sensitivity. So how high DPI should be you ask? It really depends on personal style, the resolution of your screen and the task you do, gaming will always need higher DPI than desktop usage. A 1000 DPI may be ligh-speed fast on a 1366×768 laptop screen, but if you’re playing a game on a 3840×2160 4K monitor, 2000 DPI lets you move your mouse cursor across -on around an inch surface movement- the screen smoothly without having to drag your mouse across your entire desk. I personally like quick and small moves -probably because of my grip on the mouse- so I have mine set to 2000 DPI on a 1900x900 monitor. It is worth mentioning that many mice's DPI is fixed, but most of the gaming mice have the option of setting up several "steps" of DPI levels like my Razor Orochi and others however, the Logitech M215 wireless mouse that came with my keyboard has a fixed 1000 DPI, which I find sufficient enough for an "avarage" user. I would recommend a minimum 1000 DPI mouse, but around 2000 is preferable, higher than that needs some getting-used-to.
Polling Rate aka respons time is how often the mouse reports its position to the computer. Polling rate is measured in Hz(Hertz), if a mouse has a 125 Hz polling rate, it reports it's position to the computer 125 times every second. In other words, 125 Hz polling rate means the mouse is reporting it's position to the computer every 8 milliseconds. A 500 Hz rate would mean that the mouse is reporting every 2 milliseconds. A higher polling rate could decrease the lag that occurs between when you move your mouse and when the movement shows up on your screen. On the downside, a higher polling rate will use more CPU resources as the CPU has to query the mouse for its position more often. A higher polling rate could be useful, but the difference between 500 Hz and 1000 Hz will be hard to notice. For instance my Razer Orochi has 250 Hz polling rate so its respons time is at 4 ms, my Logitech M215 is at 125 Hz(8ms). Given that the avarage human hand-eye reaction time is 100-150 ms this difference between the Orochi and M215 mice's polling rate is almost insignificant.
Ergonomics
There are three major types of grips known: the Palm grip, the Claw grip and the Fingertip grip.
The Palm grip is the most commonly used way of holding a PC mouse. It involves the user placing his/her entire hand on top of the mouse resting the palm and the pit of the hand on the rear of the mouse's shell. The mouse is held and controlled by the user pinching his hand together to hold the mouse between his thumb, the heel of his palm and his ring or pinkie fingers. The index and middle fingers are usually placed fully on the left and right mouse buttons respectively. A slight variation of the palm grip style is where the pinkie finger is used as the right side stabilizer to hold the mouse, with the index, middle and ring fingers placed on the left button, scroll wheel and right button respectively. The palm grip is defined by the fact that the entire surface of the user’s fingers and palm make contact with the surface of the mouse and the contact points on the mouse are large and undefined.
Advantage of this style: With the palm grip, the user will primarily move the mouse by exerting force with his forearm and wrist to “push” the mouse around the mousing surface. By using this method, the user is able to move the mouse at higher speeds, and achieve higher Inches Per Second (IPS) ratings by doing so. Some gamers fine-tune their movements by rotating and pivoting their wrists, but gross speed is still the primary advantage that palm grip users experience.The palm grip is also considered one of the most comfortable grip styles for gaming where the gamer is able to continue playing for extended hours without experiencing fatigue.
Disadvantage of it: As previously noted, palm grip users have a natural tendency to move the mouse with their forearm and wrist. However, in order to keep the point of contact with their palm and the back of the mouse intact, users will find it difficult to perform fine tuning with their fingers.The number of articulation points to manipulate the mouse is also less than what the claw grip offers. This in turn means that palm grip users are unable to make as many precise movements as they can when using a claw grip.
The Claw grip is another style that requires a user to arch his hand and form a claw shape, pulling the mouse in so the rear end of the mouse is stabilized by barely touching the pit of the user’s hand. The claw grip is characterized by the arching fingers required to hold the mouse and press each mouse button. The formation of the user’s fingers and the retracted stance of the hand over the mouse make this grip vaguely resemble the claw of a bird, which is where the style draws its moniker. The mouse is held and controlled by the tips of the user’s index and ring or pinkie fingers and stabilized by the pit of the user’s hand so the mouse does not sway when it is lifted. The main difference between the claw grip and the palm grip is that in the claw grip, only the fingertips and the pit of the palm come into contact with the mouse whereas in the palm grip, the entire length of the fingers and the whole palm rests on the mouse surface.
Advantages of this style: The claw grip is preferred by users who require quick, precise movements, while having the rear of the mouse stabilized by the sixth contact point in the pit of the hand when lifting the mouse off the mousing surface. A claw grip user will manipulate the mouse primarily by “pulling” the mouse around the mousing surface as the user’s hand is positioned above the mouse,and fine-tuning can be made by making minor adjustments with the user’s fingertips by either slightly rotating the mouse like a dial or pushing the mouse in and out of the pit of the user’s hand. A final point to note with regards to the claw grip is that the primary and secondary mouse buttons can be actuated faster than when actuated with the palm grip. The pressure exerted by the tips of the user’s fingers positioned in the claw grip can result in quicker button actuation than fingers positioned in a palm grip. This is because fingers positioned in the palm grip require the user to use more force to actuate the mouse button due to the increased surface area each finger has to press down on.
Disadvantages of it: Because most users have a natural tendency to palm their mouse, using the claw grip does not feel as natural to certain users and a learning curve is required to adjust to the claw grip. Additionally, since the user is moving the mouse with his fingertips, fatigue can set in faster if the user does not possess refined fine motor skills with their fingertips and wrist. Because of this, the user will experience fatigue sooner and fine motor control will deteriorate quickly, affecting the user’s ability to move his mouse accurately.
The third -and the one I use- style would be the Fingertip grip: The fingertip grip is considered to be a subset of the claw grip, where the user grips the mouse solely with the tips of his fingers. While this grip style strictly speaking falls within the ambit of the claw grip subset, it is a popular grip, particularly amongst proponents of certain genres of games, thus elevating it to the status of a primary grip style for gameplay. Unlike the conventional claw grip, the base of the palm is moved away from the rear of the mouse as the user is not concerned with stabilizing the rear of the mouse in his hand and wants increased precision and control of the mouse on the mousing surface instead.The fingertip grip is defined by the fact that there are five contact points made on the surface of the mouse. Note that the sixth contact point found in the claw grip is no longer present (i.e. contact with the pit of the hand), which is a defining factor of the fingertip grip.The fingertip grip is usually used only with small, low profile mice such as the Razer Orochi. This style promotes the most amount of precision and agility, but can cause a high amount of fatigue due to the fact that the user’s fingertips will need to make more adjustments during gameplay.
Advantages of this style: The fingertip grip is similar to the claw grip, in the fact that users prefer quick, precise movements, but differs because the user wants increased agility. A fingertip grip user will also “pull” the mouse along a mousing surface, but since the rear of the mouse no longer makes contact with the pit of the user’s hand, the user can make further adjustments and tweak the mouse with his fingertips when compared to the claw grip. Also like the claw grip, the primary and secondary mouse buttons can be actuated faster with the fingertip grip when compared to the palm grip.
Disadvantages of it: With the fingertip grip, users will experience the most amount of hand fatigue as there are now only five points of contact with the mouse, and the user will be required to use more effort in controlling the stability and precise movements of the mouse.The fingertip grip also requires the highest learning curve for most users, as the exaggerated arched fingers and increased amount of control over the mouse needs to be practised.
Mouse options in SC2
There isn't many options to tweek in Starcraft regarding mice, but there are some. To access them go to Menu->Options->Controls.
There are four to be precise: mouse sensitivity, wheel zoom, mouse lag and mouse coursor.
Sensitivity is how fast your coursor will move through the screen. In my opinion speed is as important in SC2 as resource management, so crank that up to around 63 (at 73 for me).
The Wheel Zoom lets you use the mouse whell to zoom in and out. You must decide this option for yourself, I do have it enabled.
Reduc(e)ing Mouse Lag is kind of adding extra Polling Rate to your mouse making it more responsive, but enable only if you have a good video card, since it will reduce frame rate.
The Confine Mouse Cursor will determine whether the cursor should be confined in both, either or in one of the display modes or not. I have it on Automatic, since usually I have the game fullscreened and I need my cursor in the game. If there is a time when I have it windowed, I probably want to be able to use my mouse in- and outside of the game display.
Train! Strain! Innovate!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Materials to check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_mouse,
http://www.razerzone.com/mouseguide/ergonomic,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mousepad,
http://www.howtogeek.com/182702/mouse-dpi-and-polling-rates-explained-do-they-matter-for-gaming/,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_(compuying),