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Anyone use "3D mice"? Made for use with 3D apps...

adam
polycounter lvl 19
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adam polycounter lvl 19
http://www.3dconnexion.com/

Saw an add for these in a magazine and I am wondering if anyone's used them for modeling before. I reckon that they'd take over your mouse hand, but then how would you move the cursor and not the model it self?

I'm curious if anyone here has used them and how they found it. They're relatively cheap so if they're good enough I may grab one.
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  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    Yea I've used that thing before. They sent a lady to our school and had our 3d class try it out.

    Personally, not really worth it. I'd stick with a mouse. Obviously theres a learning curve and it'd take a little while to become natural and I definitely never got to that point, but it just wasn't that special. Not hard to hold a keyboard button as you orbit around....
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  • Davision3D
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    Davision3D polycounter
    Doing pan, zoom and rotate at once is very cool!
    Does it work with all 3d programms? I think it would be great for zbrush.
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  • SkullboX
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    SkullboX polycounter lvl 18
    One of my teachers got one of those, he wasn't impressed either.
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  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    just do a search here or on cgtalk and you will find some opinions and even a cgsociety review on it, if i recall right.
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  • Mark Dygert
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    Mark Dygert mod
    - A guy I work with raves about it but doesn't use one.
    - My Art Director received one as a trial and it went back.
    - I tried it out for 10 min and decided that max's Walk-Thru mode fits my needs just as well and it doesn't require additional hardware.
    - I know one person who uses it and says its great. But he doesn't use it for 3D app navigation. He uses it to control the camera when filming in game movies. It gives him nice smooth camera movement in his shots. Which I like to point out has it flaws. It's hard to get the exact same path, rotation and speed if you have to do the shot over again. You can achieve that same fluid motion if you have the camera follow a path.

    I think they stopped doing the 30 day trial, but if they still offer it and you're interested, take em up on it.
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  • Jesse Moody
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    Jesse Moody polycounter lvl 17
    I have a space pilot that I received for free.

    So far no zbrush / mudbox support but I hear that it is coming soon.

    For photoshop it's pretty nice as I can zoom in, change brush size, switch tools and set up custom scripts to run when i hit keys on the space pilot.

    It is usually used by your non-mouse hand. I'm right handed so I would use my wacom with my right hand and the space pilot with the left.

    In max I have used it for some fly through type stuff and just looking around a model.

    I didn't pay for it so i guess I would say it's pretty sweet to have. I use it whenever I paint textures and it makes my life easier so I guess in the end I would highly recommend it.
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  • Emil Mujanovic
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    Emil Mujanovic polycounter lvl 18
    I don't see this being handy at all for 3D modelling. I haven't used one so I can't say for sure, but it definitely looks like it would be aimed for companies that do architectural based 3D walk-throughs and the like.

    -caseyjones
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  • jgarland
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    jgarland
    It looks like a gimmick to be honest. It's an overpriced mouse that does what? Allows you to move your camera around with a fancy little knob instead of a keyboard and mouse. Gee, I need to get me one of those!
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  • doc rob
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    doc rob polycounter lvl 19
    I tried the trial. They sent it to me to try out. It's really nice to navigate the scene with. With these 3D navigators, the cool thing is you can zoom, pan and arc rotate simulaneously (takes a little getting used to). You can kind of imagine a viewpoint and then just go there. It's downfall is that it's not snappy. With a mouse I can rotate a model precisely where I want to with a quick flick.

    I tried it out a couple years ago, so it's possible they've improved them since then.
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  • Ferg
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    Ferg polycounter lvl 17
    I worked with an effects artist who swore by his space pilot. Always had a hand on it. Seemed to work pretty well for him.
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  • SubPablo
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    SubPablo polycounter lvl 17
    my impulse purchase gland went off and I grabbed one of these a few months ago. I liked being able to pan, rotate, and zoom all at once, but it's not very consistent. Sometimes movement slows to a crawl and I was never able to solve the problem. I didn't like Maxon's Bodypaint3d support either.
    For now, it's collecting dust until Maxon fixes their issues with it or mudbox and zbrush add support.
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  • hyrumark
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    hyrumark polycounter lvl 12
    The Spacepilot is most certainly not a gimmick. Build quality is great, and it has a nice weighty professional feel.

    It's been the best addition I could have ever made to my modelling. Sure it takes a little getting used to, but I honestly HATE using Max now without it. And it frustrates me watching tutorial videos where people have to zoom/pan/rotate all in separate movements, hearing their mouse clicking like crazy the whole while. I can zoom/pan/rotate simultatneously in one flick of the wrist and stop on a dime at any point in my scene, all without touching the mouse, which is freed up to do other things.

    Seriously, don't expect to take to it within 10 minutes, but give it a few hours, then a couple days, then TRY and go without it.
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  • doc rob
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    doc rob polycounter lvl 19
    There's also the appeal that if you've got wrist/hand problems with your right hand, this takes a huge load off by letting you navigate the scene with your left hand.
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  • sama.van
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    sama.van polycounter lvl 14
    I'm actually trying it at my workcompany, but for say right, I definitly don't need that think...

    But the blue light is so coooll XD.
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  • dUb
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    dUb polycounter lvl 18
    I just finished my thesis on 3D Input.

    I combined 2 Nintendo Wiimotes (used as infrared camera's) with an infrared emitting glove to make a finger-tracking setup.

    Several applications were made to explore the possibilities of this setup, one of them is "Edit3D" which allows you to manipulate the vertices of a 3D object.

    Here's an illustration to show you how that works:
    edit3D_illustratie.jpg

    I think that, when this setup is enhanced, it would work great with an application like ZBrush.
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  • Jeremy Wright
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    Jeremy Wright polycounter lvl 17
    I've been wondering about the Falcon: http://home.novint.com/products/novint_falcon.php ,but don't think it can be used as a 3D mouse in Max. Would be cool if it worked in zBrush, etc.
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  • Ninjas
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    Ninjas polycounter lvl 18
    Gauss got one of these and I had a chance to try it out-- even though the thing is heavy, it didn't seem heavy enough for the lifting input. You were always moving it around by accident. Also, the whole thing seemed like it did not work quite right. I tried using it for about 30 minutes, but it seemed very inconsistent. I had a very hard time getting it to do much in Max.
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  • Mark Dygert
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    Mark Dygert mod
    sewerzombieA.jpg
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  • Spacemanchuck
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    Spacemanchuck polycounter lvl 14
    I use a space navigator, and it's one of the best tools in my 3d tool box.

    Spend the money and buy one, every 3d artist should own one. Eventually all the apps will give you the choice to use these. It's a no brainer. It's just so increadably intuitive!

    It has sped up my workflow by an easy 50% not to mention the pain it saves your body. If you have carpletonle issues like I do, it helps a great deal by making clicking less.
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  • Spacemanchuck
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    Spacemanchuck polycounter lvl 14
    Hyrumak mentioned it would take more than 10 minutes, maybe a few hours...

    It literally took me an instant to be comforitable with it. the only change I made was in the sensitivity which I turned down greatly at first. I also played in Google earth for awhile before transitioning into Maya.

    But yeah, it took me no more than 10 minutes to be happily comforitable with it. Of course it will be different with each person. (:
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