Spacemouse is awesome, support please.

[Ollie]

I did do a search for this and only came up with quite old replies all of which were to the effect that there was no support because it was not important enough.
Just wondering if anyone has managed to get anywhere with it.

I have just got a 3DConnexions spacemouse wireless and the CADMouse wireless. Wow. I only got it today and can say I am in love with it already. I use it for 3d modelling in Fusion (I am trying to get really good at it for making furniture etc).

https://www.3dconnexion.co.uk/spacemous ... ss_kit/uk/

The spacemouse is a controller with 6 axis movement for your non mouse hand, you can use it to position the model precisely whilst simultaniously using your mouse hand to draw or move objects parts etc, it is so intuitive and saves so many mouse clicks it is fantastic.
The CadMouse is great too if you need a really good mouse.

Anyway I understand that for vcarve the 3d movement is not so useful but imagine if you could just control zoom, pan left and right and up and down with it how convenient this would be.

So even if there is no official support perhaps someone has made it work through their own ingenious methods etc. I would love to be able to do this myself but my programming skills are non existant.

Official support would be fantastic of course. 3dConnexions have a link for software developers on their website. https://www.3dconnexion.co.uk/service/s ... loper.html

Heres hoping.

Ollie

[Adrian]

I used to have one years ago but after the initial love of using it I stopped using it primarily because there were so few applications that I used that supported it at the time. It really is a very niche product.

It is useful for true 3D modelling but for something like VCarve I've never seen any real need for it. It's not like you're constantly revolving and tweaking in 3D as you would be in SolidWorks etc.

Anyway back when I used it there was a pretty simple program that they offered from their website that let you program all the different movements with macros. That was pretty useful and in the end I replaced it with a multi-keypad that did the same thing but with more keys to hand. That didn't require any programming it was simply a matter of mapping the movements and keys on the SpaceMouse to whichever sequence of keys you wanted.

[Ollie]

Hi Adrian

Thanks for sharing your experience. I agree that its primary function is for proper 3d like inventor, fusion which I use and 3ds, maya and other stuff for animation studios.

I know it wont really be adding functionality to vcarve but having removed those mouse clicks from fusion then going into vcarve it is like stepping backwards again.

I was hoping I could find a simple programme as you mention to add functions.

That didn't require any programming it was simply a matter of mapping the movements and keys on the SpaceMouse to whichever sequence of keys you wanted.

Just for zoom and pan really.
I am going to see if I can find something on flight sim forums or something, I know some people use the spacemouse for that and they might know how to do it.

Its fun on google earth too.

Ollie

[Adrian]

Doing some research it looks like 3DConnexion withdrew the program I mentioned back in 2018. Unless some 3rd party has recreated it I think you'll be out of luck.

EDIT: Do you have 3DXware installed (https://www.3dconnexion.co.uk/index.php ... xion.co.uk)? From what I can remember the setup screens look very similar to the old program and maybe that's why it was withdrawn because it became part of the main program instead.

[Ollie]

Hi Adrian

I have the 3dxware. It is interesting that when I open vcarve desktop and am in a drawing I can click a button on the mouse or the 3d mouse which brings up a menu.
It knows it is in vcarve 10 so I click on the advanced setting and it gives the normal options for each axis of movement.
I can turn these off or on as normal so I put it to pan and zoom only (no rotation). So left/right is left pan left right and forward back is zoom in and out.
It all looks promising but if you come out of the menu the 3d mouse does nothing. It is frustrating because it looks like it should work from this point.

I will keep fiddling with it.

Ollie

[adze_cnc]

It is useful for true 3D modelling but for something like VCarve I've never seen any real need for it.

It's exceedingly useful for SketchUp (Rhinoceros and Solidworks not so much) mainly because of the quick push-pull sketching nature of SketchUp. Use two-handed wtih the SpaceMouse to rotate and zoom around and a regular mouse to draw. Easy for us left-handers.

I've also never really seen the need for it in Vectric products.

[Ollie]

Hi Adze_cnc

You are correct there is no "need" for it in order for it to work perfectly well.
Its just that now my left hand automatically thinks it can pan and zoom with it, it feels slow after using Fusion.
Its like when you first drive an automatic car after years in a manual and your clutch leg just automatically moves until you remember not to.

Ollie.

[ken.gentry]

I totally agree. Once you get used to pan and zoom with your left hand you realize how backward spinning a mouse wheel is.

I'm a software engineer and understand prioritizing development effort. That said there has been many requests to support 3DConnexion devices for several years. 3DConnexion supplies all the needed resources to do the integration work. This couldn't possibly take an experienced Vectric developer more than a few weeks to sort out. SketchUp, Fusion, SolidWorks, etc. have had support for years.

If we can't get full support can someone post if they were at least able to get basic "mouse" support with the 3DConnexion device?

Thanks,
Ken

[jimandi5000]

I love my 3DConnexions spacemouse and I wish it worked in VCarve!