Navigating your space

Written by Al Dean

Published Tue 20 May 2008

When Doug Engelbart invented the mouse in 1967, few would have anticipated that it would become the standard tool for human/computer interaction. But while it has evolved over the years–think scroll wheels, infra red and wireless–the fact remains that it was designed to navigate a 2D environment and not the 3D world generated by most modern CAD systems.

Rather than trying to use a hammer to drive a screw, 3Dconnexion has developed a dedicated 3D motion controller since the late nineties and now has a range of devices that offer the user direct 3D interaction. The core concept is a small hand manipulated device that allows users to rotate, pan and zoom in 3D more intuitively. Using the dominant hand to interact with the 3D geometry with a mouse as per normal, the other hand simultaneously manipulates the 3D model with the 3Dconnexion device. Twisting the cap rotates the model while pushing and pulling it parallel with your desk will make it pan and zoom–essentially, you do with the cap what you want the model to do on screen. This might sound confusing, but consider peeling an orange; you manipulate the orange with your left hand, while your dominant hand removes the skin.

There are four products in the range, to suit different needs and budgets. The high-end SpacePilot (€399/£275) has the core motion control cap, surrounded with standard keyboard modifiers (ESC, CTRL, SHIFT and ALT) to save recourse to the keyboard. It also has a context sensitive LCD display and corresponding series of six buttons. When used alongside Inventor these react to the current workflow and present the commonly used commands for Part, Assembly, 2D Sketch, Sheet Metal, Drawing, Tube & Pipe and all other environments. It also features a 3D lock button, sensitivity control, fit to window and standard view hot keys.

Next in the range is the SpaceExplorer (€299/£199). This has the same basic controls as the SpacePilot with keyboard short-cuts, 3D lock, standard view controls and such, but foregoes the context sensitive LCD/hotkeys.

The entry level Desktop product is the SpaceNavigator (€99/£69). It has two customisable buttons. While this is a smaller form factor product, for the road warriors out there the new SpaceNavigator for Notebooks (€129/£90) is brand new off the production line this month. Considering the fact that many designers and engineers rarely sit still at a desk anymore, the new product is a smaller form factor of the SpaceNavigator, has two customisable hotkeys to each side of the cap, but the major difference is that the new ‘for notebooks’ version is slightly smaller and more importantly half the weight, making it an ideal companion to your desktop set-up.

While most users feel comfortable using a standard mouse to interact with their CAD system 3Dconnexion’s devices offer a much more powerful and efficient way of manipulating 3D models. And while users will need to invest time to get up to speed, the devices are not hard to get to grips with (my four year old picked it up instantly).

The fact that you have a range of dedicated devices for working in 3D that can provide real productivity benefits is a huge draw for any CAD user, and with the new lightweight SpaceNavigator for Notebooks you can take full control over your 3D model wherever you may be. 

www.3dconnexion.com