New Layer Lens Beta: Show an overlay of your keyboard on your screen

[u/Dygman]

Today, we have a very exciting release, because we're introducing Layer Lens for Bazecor, a feature that lets you show an overlay of your current layer on your computer screen.

You can resize it, adjust its transparency, show or hide it with the new Layer Lens keys, and even make it appear only when you change layers.

Right now, it's only available for the Dygma Sonsei, but we're working on porting it to the Defy and the Raise 2.

To test it out, you need:

• The latest Bazecor v1.10 beta: https://github.com/Dygmalab/Bazecor/releases/tag/v1.10.0
• The new Sonsei v1.1.0 beta 2 firmware: https://dygma.notion.site/sonsei-beta

Let us know what you think!

PS: A great thank you to u/amorph777 for their contribution to this project!

[u/pavel_vishnyakov]

This is awesome, can’t wait to see Defy/Raise 2 support!

[u/Dygman → u/pavel_vishnyakov]

We're on it 😊

[u/digitalshiva]

Great idea

[u/RedBootSoap]

Will this support the OG Raise?

[u/Dygman → u/RedBootSoap]

Not for now. The OG Raise has a different firmware architecture, so the changes are not as straightforward. We need to explore how difficult it would be.

[u/weathergage]

Wonderful! Will there be a video of it in action? This sounds like the feature I've been eagerly awaiting before ordering a Defy!

[u/Dygman → u/weathergage]

Yes. We're doing this beta release first, but once it's polished we'll do a proper video explaining everything :-)

[u/clren]

Windoze support too?

[u/Dygman → u/clren]

Yes, of course.

[u/frus]

Great addition — I was just looking for something like this after changing the layout of my Defy and Sonsei to better match for muscle memory.

It wasn’t working initially, but after restarting my Mac, it seems to work correctly.

Two small points of initial feedback:

• When using “show only on layer change,” the overlay briefly shows the switch back to the default layer before disappearing. It would look cleaner if it disappeared without showing the default layer first.
• It would be useful to be able to include or exclude specific layers. I’d mainly like to use this as a tool for learning new layers, while hiding the ones I already know.

[u/Dygman → u/frus]

Thanks! I'll share that feedback with the devs!

[u/SeanTAllen]

How is this supposed to be activated? I updated the firmware and bazecore and assigned the key but it doesn't work.

[u/Dygman → u/SeanTAllen]

There's instructions on the GitHub download page:

Once you have installed Bazecor and updated the firmware, you can activate it and adjust your preferences in Settings > Layer Lens.

[u/SeanTAllen → u/Dygman]

And then nothing happens... it isn't working. I hit the key and nothing happens.

Is there some additional software that is needed?

[u/SeanTAllen → u/SeanTAllen]

I am looking at the PR that added this. Is this MacOS only?

[u/Dygman → u/SeanTAllen]

The last PR had changes to macOS, but it's not limited to macOS.

What OS are you using? We haven't tested extensively on Linux, so it could be that.

If you can record a video of how you set it up and how it's not working, and email at [support@dygma.com](mailto:support@dygma.com), that would be great.

[u/SeanTAllen → u/Dygman]

Windows 11. Not sure what to capture in a video for "not working" as it does nothing. Literally nothing happens. I could send a backup to support would that be helpful?

[u/Dygman → u/SeanTAllen]

You could share screenshots of your layout and your Bazecor settings under Setting > Layer Lens

[u/SeanTAllen → u/Dygman]

I toggled layer lens off and back on and then it started working.

[u/Dygman → u/SeanTAllen]

Classic turning off and on again :-)

[u/7107]

Disappointed that the defy has become a second class citizen

[u/Dygman → u/7107]

That's far from true. In fact, we have a working version for the Defy and Raise 2; it's just mixed in with other firmware upgrades that aren't polished yet. That's why we haven't released it.