Astrolabe Quick Wheel
The Astrolabe is Nephele's global quick-access entry point. No switching windows, no clicking around, no digging through menus—at any moment, one keypress summons a radial menu; move the mouse to pick, release to run.
It's designed so you can operate it blind. Once it becomes second nature, you won't need to read the on-screen labels—muscle memory alone lets you open any tool you use often.
How to Summon It
| Method | Action | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Double-tap Ctrl | Quickly press the left Ctrl key twice | Keyboard work, both hands on the keys |
| Mouse side button | Press the mouse's fourth button (XButton1) | One-handed work, while gripping a pen or mouse |
The full mouse-side-button gesture: hold the side button to pop up the wheel → move the mouse to pick an item → release the side button to run it directly. No keyboard needed at any point.
技巧
Tablet users can map their pen's barrel button to the Astrolabe's double-tap key (Ctrl by default) in the driver, then double-tap the pen button to summon the Astrolabe—smoother than freeing a hand to reach the keyboard.
Wheel Structure
The Astrolabe is a two-layer radial menu.
Layer One: 8 Categories
Arranged clockwise to follow an illustrator's workflow:
| Direction | Category | Default Contents |
|---|---|---|
| ↑ | Canvas | Photoshop, CSP, Blender, SAI |
| ↗ | Reference | Eagle, Library Index, Color Picker, Reverse Image Search, Clipboard Reverse Search, Pin Clipboard to Reference Board, Open Reference Board |
| → | Publish | Publish Packaging, Aggregate Upload |
| ↘ | Rights | Timestamp Proof, Infringement Evidence, AI Credential Check |
| ↓ | Platforms | Pixiv, ArtStation, Twitter, Xiaohongshu, Weibo |
| ↙ | Analysis | AI Evaluation, Style DNA |
| ← | System | File Explorer, Screenshot, Terminal |
| ↖ | Nephele | Main Window, Quick Input, Toolbox, Settings, Edit Astrolabe |
Layer Two: Specific Items
Move the mouse over a category and keep pushing outward past the edge of that category's button—the specific items under it fan out in an arc. Keep moving the mouse to pick a specific item, then release to run it. To step back up a level, just pull the mouse back toward the center area.
Customizing the Astrolabe
The Astrolabe isn't fixed. Right-click the center of the wheel to open the Astrolabe Editor.
What You Can Change
- Add or remove categories: any of the 8 directional slots can hold a category or a specific item
- Add or remove items: the sub-items under each category can be freely added or removed
- Change targets: each item can point to:
- Open a piece of software (such as Photoshop)
- Jump to one of Nephele's views (such as the Toolbox or Publish Packaging)
- Open a URL (such as the Pixiv homepage)
- Run a system command (such as opening a specific folder)
- A clipboard action (such as reverse-searching the image on the clipboard, or pinning it to a reference board)
Editing Tips
- Drag to reorder: hold and drag an item in the editor to change its position on the wheel
- App selector: when setting an item to "Open App," you can search and pick directly from the installed software Nephele has scanned—no need to type a path by hand
- Import / Export: your Astrolabe configuration can be exported to a JSON file and imported directly when you switch computers
提示
Your Astrolabe configuration is saved together with Nephele; when switching computers, just use the import/export buttons in the top-right corner of the editor to carry the JSON over.
Usage Tips
Training for Blind Operation
The most common beginner mistake is looking at the wheel every time. The Astrolabe's value lies in muscle memory—once it's second nature, double-tap Ctrl → push right to open the "Publish" category → land on "Publish Packaging" → release, and it opens directly, no visual confirmation needed along the way.
How to train:
- First three days: deliberately don't look at the wheel; pick by sense of direction, and start over if you miss
- After a week: lock your 3-4 most-used items to specific directions to form a reflex
- After a month: try operating fully blind, only glancing quickly when you need to expand the second layer
Suggestions for Naming Categories
The default 8 category names can be changed. We recommend naming them around your own workflow, for example:
- If you mostly take commissions, you can rename "Platforms" to "Clients" and put client folders or communication tools inside
- If you mostly draw fan art, you can rename "Platforms" to "Communities" and put the communities you frequent inside
- If you work primarily in 3D, you can rename "Canvas" to "Modeling" and add items like ZBrush and Maya
Handling Shortcut Conflicts
If double-tap Ctrl conflicts with another app's shortcut:
- Open Nephele → Settings → Astrolabe
- Click "Double-tap key" and press the new key you want to record it (single keys are supported, such as Alt, Shift, Space, letter/number keys, F1–F24, and more)
- The mouse side button is configured separately—choose button 4, button 5, or the middle button, unaffected by keyboard conflicts. If a keyboard shortcut keeps misfiring, we recommend switching to the side button
FAQ
Q: Why does nothing happen when I double-tap Ctrl?
Possible causes:
- Nephele's main window has been minimized to the tray—click the tray icon to wake it first
- A conflict with another app's shortcut (such as some IMEs using double-tap Shift to switch between Chinese and English)
- Check under Settings → Astrolabe whether the "Double-tap key" has been changed to another key
Q: Can I use the Astrolabe in fullscreen games?
No. Nephele's shortcuts are blocked by the system in most fullscreen games. If you need to summon the Astrolabe inside a game, we recommend windowed or borderless mode.
Q: I want fewer steps—how do I make my common items faster?
The first layer is always categories; what you actually run lives in the second-layer specific items. If you only want the fastest access to a few common items, group them under the same category in the editor, or trim the number of items in a given category—that way one push lets you land on them at a glance, and muscle memory stays more reliable.
Q: Does the Astrolabe support touchscreens?
No. The Astrolabe is an interaction designed for mouse / stylus / keyboard; touchscreen devices have no equivalent to the "hold, move to select, release to run" gesture.
Q: I have a lot of software—what if 8 categories aren't enough?
Two solutions:
- Put rarely-used software in the "System" category and your frequently-used software in dedicated categories
- Set an item to "Run system command" pointing at a folder (such as
explorer.exe "D:\\Common Software"), fill it with software shortcuts, and open the folder with one press to pick from it when needed
Design Intent
The Astrolabe's design draws inspiration from radial menus and HUDs (heads-up displays).
A traditional toolbar is linear—you have to find your target among a row of icons. The Astrolabe is spatial—you only have to remember a direction. Human spatial memory is far stronger than sequential memory, which is why you can reach the light switch in your own room with your eyes closed, yet can't remember which page of your phone's settings menu holds Wi-Fi.
Another design goal of the Astrolabe is to reduce context switching. When you're painting in Photoshop and suddenly want to search for a reference image, the traditional flow is: put down the pen → find the Nephele window → click the browser → type a URL → start searching. With the Astrolabe: press the pen button → move up and to the right → release → the browser opens automatically and the search begins. The pen never left your hand, and your train of thought was never broken.
That's why we call it the "Astrolabe"—it's like a constellation in the night sky: you're not "reading" it, you're "recognizing" it.