(searched, but only came across one mention)
I’ve been debating on getting one for a while (my son has a Compact, but took it off to college)
Curious as to how many folks use them — if we could put together enough folks maybe we could get support added in the Carbide Create preview pane.
I have both the Pro and the wireless that I use for work. I use them some for some 3D Printing projects, but never felt the need for most of my 2D work.
As I do more 2.5D I could see it coming in handy.
I have one (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LB7G00) for home use… and love them. Started using them way back in 2k for 3d modeling at an Mech Engineering firm i worked at.
Definitely would come in handy and would be way more intuitive than the mouse navigation that exists today.
Yes. Using the smallest one at work and at home. Been using them for 10 plus years. 3d modeling is not the same without one.
I’m in the minority here and didn’t really like my 3D mouse. It was setup for me at work for my CAD workstation and we (the mouse and I) never got friendly. One factor though is that at the time we were transitioning from Catia V4 to V5, which are entirely different animals, and my IT guys could never get it to work seemlessly with both systems. Occasionally I’d roll an object and it would roll in reverse, IT would fix it and it would break in the other software. It sat on my desk for about 2-3 years until I finally stuffed it away in my desk drawer. I’m not an everyday designer though, and I will say that our actual designers seem to like them. So my opinion is very slanted, but I am quicker with a regular 3 button+scroll wheel and shortcut keys. Can you try one out then return it if you hate it? Might be a good option?
Dan
I’m trying to decide if I should get a compact like the one my son has, or a larger one.
Another problem is that I use pen computers by preference, with a stylus, and don’t usually have a mouse attached, nor a desk surface to place such a thing on (I only attach a mouse when I need it for Carbide Create) — I’d need to clear off my desk in the den and have some dedicated design time.
I suppose I should just get Moment of Inspiration or something. I just wish that there was a program which worked as I would like to: parameters easily adjusted, nice curves and free form modeling easily done with an option to draw with a stylus, and programmability/scripting for the heavy lifting. I guess I need to work out how to use a Bézier curve function in OpenSCAD. Apparently Grasshopper and Rhino3D are supposed to be quite nice, but that’s way out of my budget. I keep thinking I should try FreeCAD, but it’s kind of overwhelming, while Solvespace seems so limiting (for not having Bézier curves). I guess I should sign up for Solidworks again.
I’d definitely recommend going with the larger one. While the compact one is perfect for my 12" Macbook… I will eventually be moving design work back to a full sized desktop. At which time I will pick up the largest one… and likely wireless. I believe the extra action keys on the larger one would be perfect for macros and such.
Now… if only Cura would work properly with one.
Spacemouse with Wacom tablet is a fairly popular option I’ve seen with solidworks users. You’re basically using the stylus as mouse and you can program the buttons on the stylus to right click etc. With intuos pro you can also map the express keys etc. on the tablet to frequently used shortcuts. I’ve only played with it but the person I met that used it said it helped a lot w/ carpal tunnel.
Have you looked at the Wacom pro pen 3d? Think it gives you panning and spatial manipulation in addition to stylus functions.
For 3D modelling they are amazing. I for one would like to see functionality be incorporated into more apps as standard practice across the board, not just CC. So you definite get my vote. While you are at it use the same functionality for the MS Dial as well .