3d mice

[SonOfNimrod]

hmmm....i guess there's a reason why these devices haven't taken off..

[Blitterswitch]

I would say lack of patience to be honest! If you use it on Google Earth you will be hooked, and the skill you gain from that make it an amazingly productive tool in 3ds max.

[dbuchhofer]

Agreed.. it is pretty nice, its also hasn't really been very long since the 'cheap enough to be accessible' version came out

I dig it.. I find it great for modeling interior work without having to kill/hide too many objects. its quite helpful also for dealing with 'Other' peoples models that aren't necessarily clean about naming objects and layer management.

that, and the perspective view, and create camera from view rocks for picking viewpoints with a client quickly and I've found most of my architects can handle the viewpoint themselves with a few moments of instruction on how the 3d mouse works. (good conversation starter for ornery clients)

[ior=0]

I've got a space pilot. The drivers are nearly worthless and they changed it so it only works with 3d apps.
If i'm paying That much for a special mouse I want to have control over every aspect of it...

Just spotted this on the 3D connexion web site - they have a beta driver that lets you control any app
http://www.3dconnexion.com/supported.../anywhere.html
...only taken them 3 years :P (sorry for the necromancy)

[ChrisL]

I have the SpaceNavigator and I would really rate it and say get one, although I got mine over a year ago for under £50 and looking now there around £100 which would have probably put me off at the time.

Flying around the scene like a computer game is good fun, it's good for positioning cameras, visualising and recording camera animations, really precise when you need to get to an awkward vert as you can zoom really really close to what you want to select, its usefull when drawing splines as you can move/zoom/rotate the view as you draw, I can’t say enough about it.

I don’t use it all the time though, it isn’t as quick as using the mouse+keyboard in some cases, but for certain tasks it is excellent.
Also I have no problem with it lifting from the desk or slipping it is really heavy.

I haven’t used any of the other devices so don’t know how having the extra buttons helps but I don’t think there would be enough buttons for me. I use a Nostromo Speedpad rather than the keyboard. I think everyone should have a Speedpad they are really handy and for £10-£20 there a bargain.

[lukx]

can you combine spacePilot with wacom tablet?

[ChrisL]

Yes the 3d Mice as far as I know only control the view and movment of objects if you wish, it dosent control your mouse cursor so your free to move the view whilst moving your mouse/tablet at the same time.

[lukx]

hmm... so this might be perfect thing for tablet...

[ChrisL]

I think so, a decent tablet is my next purchase and I can see them working very well together especally in Zbrush and Mudbox if they are supported that is. You can also pan and zoom in photoshop too but on my computer its a bit cluncky not sure if thats my computer or the device. My computer most probably. I would say its well worth buying one, if mine was to break I would definatly replace it.

[bardo]

Finding infos about SpaceNavigator I've found that one of out supplier is a 3dconnexion reseller.

I've asked him to test SpaceNav and he told me it's possible but he informed me that Space Navigator is not compatible with Vray.
Searching into the official forum I've found some few issues with Vray/3dsmax and distribuited render.
http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/vie...highlight=vray

Anyone of you have had any problems with 3dsmax+vray??

Thanks in advance.

[ChrisL]

I have a space Navigator but It's only the host machine that have the drivers installed, I am using 3DS 2011, 2012 and distribute my renders without a problem. I did have the space navigatior when I had 2010 but didn't distribute any rendering then but it worked fine for me using 2010 & V-Ray 1.5

[bardo]

Thanks ChrisL for your comment.

Anyway when I'll give a test I'll check.

[Inaxis]

I agreed with ChrisL. It's a bit slow, the mouse and keyboard kombo is much more efficient. The driver is not as professional... I like to keep my hands on the keyboard for shortcuts but obviously it's impossible with a navigator+keyboard+mouse and with two hands If you are working with small, detailed models it can be helpful but in archviz it's unnecessary.

[bardo]

I'm looking for a device to help my right hand to have less pain.
At the moment I'm using a tablet (Wacom Bamboo) but it seems that viewport movements and the normal OS usage load too much my right arm.
Probably I hold the pen in a bad way but I think it's faster to use another tools that change my habit.