What is Reddit's opinion of 3Dconnexion 3DX-700028 SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

You can get a new spaceball controller from 3Dconnexion.

https://www.amazon.com/3Dconnexion-3DX-700028-SpaceNavigator-3D-Mouse/dp/B000LB7G00

They are actually really nice. I use one at work occasionally (CAD stuff) and brought one home with me to try using it for controlling building in Kerbal Space Program and it worked really nicely.

I love it! It really shows off how beautiful the in-game assets look, you usually don't get a great view of the ship models from the cockpit. One minor suggestion - the camera movements sometimes look a bit jerky since it's hard to do smooth changes with a joystick. I'd be curious if it would work to run the video through an auto stabilizer to smooth this out, i.e. YouTube's built-in one or a separate tool.

Or a different input method? I'll try hooking up my Space Navigator 6DOF input controller to see if that works for smooth motion, though I have no film making skills myself :-/

I mapped the Galaxy Map controls to my HOTAS. Between that and utilizing bookmarks, I'm making due there.

If you've got some extra disposable income, you can get a 3D "mouse" which is pretty handy for navigating 3D space.

and yet that mouse knob thing in the background costs about $100

There are other options for 6 DoF on one hand as well, for example a SpaceNavigator. The general problem with these devices for something like Star Citizen is that you invariably get inputs bleeding across axes due to how small the range of motion is.

The huion tablets have pretty poor drivers. I have one.. It's now sitting in it's box, basically to never be used again.

I also have real wacom tablets, and have used real wacoms for years. The driver does a lot of the function for the buttons on the newer wacom tablets, such as precision movement, command ring control, and some other key bindings.

My only suggestion if you're going to use a pen set up, is to look into getting a ~~cheap~~ 3d mouse. (I said cheap, but if you're looking for sub $30, this isn't cheap. This is the cheaper of their models, but is a professional tool.)

http://www.amazon.com/3Dconnexion-3DX-700028-SpaceNavigator-3D-Mouse/dp/B000LB7G00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447539539&sr=8-1&keywords=3d+mouse

3d mice can be used with blender (NDOF) to control your view on the scene or object, and with things like photoshop for simple movement and zoom of the canvas. Use the 3d mouse to move the canvas, or the scene, and use the pen to control the tools itself.

This combo of devices gives you a more natural two handed feel to working digitally. Pen in one hand, puck in the other. Rarely touching the keyboard.

Also, please note, though it's called a 3d mouse it is not a mouse at all! It's meant to control the scene, or the canvas, or rotate an object... not control the pointer.

I just switched to a 3Dconnexion 3d mouse, all 6 axes on one device, use the mouse in the other hand for gimbals, it's pretty sweet. Does take a 3rd party app to get it going, and takes a while to get used to, but amazing control, analog in 6 axes. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LB7G00

Only down side is that there are only 2 buttons, but, that's what the other hand is for, right?

Just the base model 3DSpace Naviagator, The buttons seem to be a little useless, but the ability to maneuver is like nothing else.

Got it for just a hair over $100 USD shipped. Was a bit of an impulse buy, but was so worth it the first time I used it in orbit!

The roci's control stick is a CAD drawing input device. Pretty sure it's this one, but I'm not looking at a screen grab or anything.

Yes, it works perfectly with Inventor. I use this 3D Connection mouse.

https://www.amazon.com/3Dconnexion-3DX-700028-SpaceNavigator-3D-Mouse/dp/B000LB7G00

You are talking about something like this amazon listing?

I just started using F360 - coming from OnShape. I'm not convinced the pen is a viable approach for real CAD for engineering purposes, but it does work and I can do sketches with it in the 2D plane. And it navigates the dense F360 UI menus pretty well.

I don't think it handles the eraser properly and I'm not quite sure how to program the buttons to be middle click vs right-click so there may be some limitations when compared to a real mouse. I think its probably better than a trackpad though - IMHO trackpad is crap for CAD work.

I've been having a lot of fun learning how to use a 6-axis-of-freedom 3D mouse. Way more versatile than the Surface Dial and about the same price. I think a real mouse plus the 3D mouse is the way to go. With that combo you don't really need a keyboard any more. On-screen keyboard or voice can be used to enter in numbers if you need that. If you have F360 running smoothly on your Mac (I know it has issues with older Intel GPUs), see if adding the 3D mouse improves your workflow.

I'm quite a novice at CAD so sorry this isn't comprehensive. If you've got specific questions, I can try something and let you know. I posted some of the work I did up on Thingiverse

Yes it requires explicit dev support for advanced features beyond scrolling. See this guide: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/uwp/api/Windows.UI.Input.RadialController

Only a handful of apps are supported today: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/apps-and-windows-store/surface-dial-and-apps

As far as Microsoft stimulating developers - that tactic did not work out so well for Windows Phone so not sure how well it would work for a limited market Surface-specific branded product like this.

Support for more general devices like "3d-mice" is much broader but you don't get the fancy on-screen circular context menu. Here is one of the most popular "3d-mice" on the market for CAD: https://www.amazon.com/3Dconnexion-3DX-700028-SpaceNavigator-3D-Mouse/dp/B000LB7G00/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491590176&sr=8-2&keywords=3d+mouse

And if you just want a scroll/volume wheel there are much less expensive options than the Surface Dial such as: https://www.amazon.com/Griffin-Technology-NA16029-Multimedia-Controller/dp/B003VWU2WA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1491667970&sr=1-1&keywords=multimedia+control+knob

If you're working in 3D, you might be interested in something like this.

Does FS2015 support a 6DOF joystick/mouse, like Space Navigator? It's compact and gives you an extra axis to assign. Not many games support them, but some do.

Something like this?

I have a tablet and mostly use a mouse in Maya. These are super cool though: http://www.amazon.com/3Dconnexion-3DX-700028-SpaceNavigator-3D-Mouse/dp/B000LB7G00

I know it's not exactly what you want to hear, but I wouldn't even say it's worth it at that point. If you can, splurge and get a 3d mouse. Unless you can cough up $1,000+ I wouldn't get a tablet yet.

Now, if you can cough up $1,000+, I would definitely get a Cintiq. I use one all the time and they're phenomenal. Totally worth the money IMO.

Happy sculpting!

I have a SpaceNavigator but as of yet have not been able to get it working in AC. To be honest, the drivers for it are pretty bad.