Is the 3D mouse a good investment?
Characteristics of work
3D mouse are devices, that allows an intuitive navigation of the three-dimension models and work with both hands simultaneously.
The typical interface for the keyboard and mouse 2D offers a navigation of universal applications, such as web browsers, email and others, in which the scroll is a key tool for easy navigation.
The 3D CAD applications requires the possibility of rotation, move, zoom and zoom down 3D models at the same time. This condition of 6 degrees of freedom in movement is completely unavailable in the case of the mouse which uses only 2 degrees of freedom of movement.
For example, the user is able to move the first model. Then he needs to change the mode to zoom, and then switch the mode for the rotation. For comparison, all three elements - move, rotate and zoom - can be achieved in one, smooth movement of the 3D mouse.
The study
Technology Assessment Group (TAG) has conducted a survey among users of CAD. The study was intended to check whether users 3D mice recognize these factors in their work and whether the devices will contribute to the creation of high-quality projects, more efficient recognition of the errors and faster work.
Corporate and academic studies shows the two main factors, which enables 3D mouse improve achievements of persons working with 3D applications:
§ 6 degrees of freedom of movement, which enable quick positioning of 3D objects and scenes
§ opportunity to work with both hands (such as 3D mouse in one hand and traditional 2D mouse in the other)
The engineers of the CAD and companies, which adapted mouse in their 3D product design, finds out the unanimous increase in performance and productivity.
Conclusion
Main results:
- over 84% of all engineers of CAD applications, stated noticeable or significant improvement in the design of models and the ability to faster recognition of the errors, during designing by using 3D mouse,
- the average productivity increase, recorded by the user when working with CAD 3D mouse, is 21%,
- turnaround time from the investment of the purchase of 3D mice is very short - less than a month.
In general, almost all users (95%) says that 6 degrees of freedom of movement is "useful" or "very useful".
This report was prepared in order to verify the declarations, which tells that 3D mouse can significantly increase the productivity of CAD engineers.
Examination of the 190 active users of 3D mouse, proves that actually CAD engineers experiences visible, more than 20%, improvement of work through the use of 3D mouse for the 3D CAD applications.
Basic tests of user’s interface confirm that the navigation with 6 degrees of freedom of movement and work with both hands simultaneously are the prominent factors leading to the improvement of their work.
Finally, it has also been proved that the investment in the 3D mouse can turn very quickly - less than a month - which leads to the conclusion, that the purchase of 3D mouse is actually a smart investment.
Product summary
comments
2011.10.18
ohh...i forgot my specs:
HP Z600 650W 85 Efficient Chassis
HP No Floppy Disk Option
HP 1000GB SATA 7200 (1st)
HP 16X DVD+RW SuperMulti SATA 1st Drive
InteXeonE56452.4012MB13336CCPU1
InteXeonE56452.4012MB13336CCPU2
HP 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1333 ECC 2-CPU RAM
Windows 7 OS WW Recovery Media
HP Z600 RDIMM Workstation
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2.0GB Graphics
MS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OS EURO
2011.10.18
Hi guys!! Well here i come again!!! SOME EXTREMELY SERIOUS PROBLEMS are caused with this little "itsy bitsy" gadget!!..How..
At first i was so enthusiastic but now after lot of hours of everyday usage i must say..NO NO NO!! Why...
3D connection driver will block your workflow!! Here are my workstation specification and i was really ***sed off because i couldn't move any of my complex scene objects or work fast. In early stages of modeling it acts really OK but from, let say 2 mill. poly's up, it really blocks any workflow. I thought that my Nvidia driver was bad but i was wrong.. After i checked and uninstalled 3D navigator driver (which i really like to use) all my problems flew away..s*it!! I must admit that functionality and usage of this little gadget is really sweet but from this point it's going to be unplugged untill 3d connection guys figure out some "interoperability" between 3ds max and navigator driver!!..So, i hope this could help you guys to solve any issues with 3ds max viewports ... i know it helped me!!..
Cheers
ivo
2009.09.08
It's drivers are HUGE. Here, im just uninstaling former drivers on pc that don't use 3d navigator anymore, and it says uninstaling 122MB! And it has annoying habbit of popuping in Photoshop (some nonmapped functions blabla), and most of all - 3d navigator had, after mild use, only from sweat(nothing mechanical), peeled off the "rubber" paint from handle, so now it looks really cheap and ugly. For That expensive piece of mouse helper, it had to be done from real rubber. Logitech, their mother company, has way better materials and on their g9 mouse forinstance, you have two replaceable handles, variable weight, and memory. I have Space explorer also, but given the circumstances, I'm afraid that he could start peeling paint any moment...:( On the usage side of things: why on earth don't they finally make the drivers for zbrush, where it could really be helpful companion? I dont use Lightwave, but as I can comprehend, it has way bigger user community (and potentially financially healthy buyers) than some obscure "multiwinia" ???!?
2009.09.08
I have a space navigator and absolutly adore using it. it fast, acurate and gives you a lot of freedom in 3d space. the only thing they could make a bit better in a new version are the buttons, they are now too small and therefore pretty useless.
2009.09.02
I'd rather say its upto a person. If he doesnt utilize it properly or doesnt learn to use it then it isnt a very good investment.
But if hes dedicated then yes it is a good investment, though for the 1st 1-2 months he might face difficulty but that shall soon perish with practice :D
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