27 replies to this topic

[Joseph Smith]

Has anyone ever used the 3dConnexion mouse?  If so, which one and give pros & cons with it if you would.

 

http://www.3dconnexion.com/index.php

[Chris Stewart]

I think it is fairly common among SketchUp users because SketchUp is a bit clunky to move around in -SoftPlan on the other hand is easy to move around in -so I don't see an advantage.

 

2016 is supposed to support touch screens which may be more useful (particularly for those who have repetitive motion stress) if it supports the Wacom drawing pads also.

[Joseph Smith]

I commonly rotate 3d models in SP with the center mouse button pressed, however at times have unintended consequences doing it this way....things sometimes get erased or textures change.  We'll see if any actual users chime in.  Thanks Chris!

 

FYI to those who don't have it yet.......my V2016+ upgrade arrives tomorrow.

[Jim Crook]

Joe, Bill Wimberley over at SoftplanTuts has used one. 

 

JimC

[Joseph Smith]

Bill appears to be a fan...however movement speed is slow he said. I'll get one and post back soon.

[Fred Russell]

I have one waiting for the alleged UPS email. I'm thinking it will be able to do a walk thru on it's own.

[Greg Cherry]

I have 2016 installed and have been using the 3dConnexion mouse. I purchased the mouse a few weeks back and began practicing with it using Google earth and got real smooth with it. But in 2016 it seems to have a much lower speed/responsiveness to it. Tech support said they were aware of this and did not indicate that it was normal. If they can get it to respond like it did in Google earth then I think I am going to love it. The smoothness and control over where you want to go is amazing.

[Greg Cherry]

Update to the 3D "mouse" , I prefer the term joystick. I have discovered that holding down the Alt. key allows the mouse to accelerate much like the responsiveness I had practicing with Google earth. However, this causes me to have to remove my other hand from my main mouse and seems very awkward and time consuming. So I have suspended the use of my 3D Connexion mouse until it is more user friendly.

[Joseph Smith]

I got the 3dConnexion last week, works great.  Awesome tool for creating a fluid 3d walkthru.  The speed seemed slow initially but after using for awhile, they have the speed set perfectly.  Its not a drawing tool, its a 3d viewing tool.  I recommend for those on the fence.  They offer 4 models I believe, I got the cheaper wired mouse, you shouldn't need the expensive one for 3d viewing purposes.

 

here is a quick fly thru I did using 3dConnexion

 

http://youtu.be/P-QlfA6-jM4

[Fred Russell]

that's pretty smooth, what do you use to make the actual recording, program,

 

Of course I don't have 2016 yet  waiting my turn.

[Joseph Smith]

All done with SP, you have control over many settings for edit.  I suggest getting one of these 3dConnexion mice...walkthru creation is very easy.  Better have fast internet upload speed!  This the rest of the house walk thru.

 

http://youtu.be/YwMengxKSBw

[Gary Hood]

That looks great Joseph! Did it take long to do?

[Chris Stewart]

What was the file size?

[Joseph Smith]

Very easy to create.  46.6MB

[Keith Almond]

At that size, I much prefer to use Review.

 

Nice house, and nice work Joseph.

[Thomas Davis]

You could create the same animation that Joseph did without the 3D connexion mouse, but it would not be as smooth and fluid. The benefit to the 3D mouse is that you can move in all directions, up, down, forward, reverse, etc. all at the same time, making for a very fluid animation.

 

If you use your regular mouse, it would be much harder to stay on the same plane smoothly. You may get some vertical "jumps" in your hand / mouse movements.

 

In my opinion, if you are going to do any exporting of animations, the mouse is a necessity!

 

I am ordering one asap!

[Warren Ducote]

I ordered one today from Newegg.

[Fred Russell]

damn joe that is nice,  I have a 3D connexion ready for the day in the future I get the 2016. I bought it hoping 2014 would have the ability.   I sent in a suggestion the softplan guys about it and they said they would look into it.   

And here it is.

 

That is really a smooth display, I've been giving customers a look of this but this appears to be really ultra smooth

[Joseph Smith]

You guys won't be disappointed, makes it super easy to create walk thru paths, if you don't like the path...redo it.  Once satisfied with your path, you then create your WMA file and can set your frames/second.  You can save multiple paths per model.

 

Newegg is where I got mine also...love that site!