#Winner SpaceMouse Pro Review
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Hey Kristoff, John from 3Dconnexion here! Thanks for the really detailed review, we are glad to hear you are enjoying the SpaceMouse Pro
Thanks for pointing out a few things about the installation process, I will ask the product team to look at those.
Related to the software side of the product, I wanted to suggest you taking a look at our brand new driver (called 3DxWare 10). It's got a much simpler / more intuitive interface and introduces a cool new feature called "radial menus".
Radial menus are basically four-section, on-screen menus that can be created / assigned to any of your 3D mouse buttons. There are a couple of default radial menus (as seen in the pictures), but it's easy to create your own. As an example, the four dedicated function keys on your SpaceMouse Pro can provide access to 16 of your favorite commands (SketchUp, 3D Mouse, Keyboard, Macro etc).
IMPORTANT: 3DxWare 10 is not "officially" available for SpaceMouse Pro yet so you won't see it if you search by SpaceMouse Pro on our driver page: http://www.3dconnexion.com/service/drivers.html but if you search by SpaceNavigator or SpaceMouse Wireless, you will find 3DxWare 10 version 10.0.22 and this should work fine with your SpaceMouse Pro. We plan to officially roll the driver out to SpaceMouse Pro and SpacePilot Pro users very soon but advanced users like you can try it already (as explained above).
Here are some screenshots (showing how the driver looks when you have a SpaceNavigator connected).
Once again, thanks for the great review and we hope to hear your thoughts on 3DxWare 10 and the ongoing use of your SpaceMouse Pro
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Just trying it now... I like it a lot... Thanks.
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Oh this is awesome. love the radial menus. The software recognition. Very nice.
What is the number of combinations possible with the radials? 15x4=60?
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@krisidious said:
Oh this is awesome. love the radial menus. The software recognition. Very nice.
What is the number of combinations possible with the radials? 15x4=60?
Great to hear you are liking it! Yes, in practical terms a 15 button device could have 15 different radial menus assigned (i.e. 60 different commands). However, you can actually assign a radial menu within a radial menu so the theoretical possibilities are endless...
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I'll stick with 60 for now, my brain to finger synapses are already trying to carry enough information...
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Thanks for this very informative and well written review Kristoff.
You certainly are able to bring your experiences to paper (screen text) and delve into the ins and outs of a product
Well done.
Mike
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Very nice write up Kristoff
I have the 3Dx Spacemouse Pro's little brother.....3DX SpaceNavigator.
(I voted "I have one"....I know...what a rebel)After having it for 6 years or so, It's like not having my left arm if I am without it.
(Edit: actually I have 2 of them...one for laptop/one for desktop)Charlie
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Thanks Kris. I haven't read it all but will... so far thanks for convincing me to buy another gadget. And it will look so impressive whether I figure out how to use it or not!
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Make sure you grab the 20% discount
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Can we all take a second to appreciate Krisidious wrote #Winner
haha
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Thought I would add a few notes.
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Some people may have issues with shortcuts and button configuration. If shortcuts are not sticking you may need to run 3DxWare as 'Administrator'. I think most people will not have this issue, my permissions in Sketchup were messed up so I gave it super access.
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SpaceMouse Pro allows you to move the model while in a dialog window that would normally lock you out of 3D navigation. example you can rotate your view etc. while in the Preferences Window.
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Using the Fit button is some kind of anchor for rotation. If you come into sketchup and find the center point of rotation seems to be aligned out of view. hitting "Fit" will not only fit the view to the screen but it will also recalibrates the center point of rotation, making it more relevant to the object. Get used to using this fit button early.
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A nice bonus is the ability to be in mid command and change your view. You can be making a copy and moving it to a new position and have free movement at the same time. It's some what challenging, but you'll get the hang of it and it's surprisingly helpful.
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I have not been able to do this, not sure if I'm just not seeing the path or what. Shift and Ctrl need to have alternate control over the other buttons on the SpaceMouse Pro. This would multiply the number of functions that could be added by at least 3, if each button had this power of changing the "Mode" of the controller when used in conjunction with another button it would substantially increase the usability of the device.
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Layout doesn't seem to recognize SpaceMouse Pro or 3Dconnexion doesn't work in Layout. One way or the other someone needs to talk to someone.
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As Rich mentioned... 20% off right now from SketchUcation. Here's the link.
SketchUcation
SketchUp, 3D Connexxion and SketchUcation resources that lists helpful links and explanations to important SketchUp related topics.
(sketchucation.com)
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Thanks Kris you did a great job here.
Hadn't used mine much until I read your review and got into mapping the buttons the way I wanted with shortcut keys now my hands hardly on the keyboard I think thats the whole key to using it just messing around with the radial menus after earlier mention of them by mo53ley. The only thing was "undo" command wasn't working so I actually made a macro for it and works just a few more buttons and would be totally confused.
Heres what I came up with so far, for button 1,2,3 for macros and used the ESC for one RM Tools and CTRL for RM Views and ALT for RM Pro and the View buttons on the right left default. Now I got make a cheat sheet to remember what they all do.
Again Thanks to SCF and 3d Connection and Kris
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Glad you liked it Walt. I think the new driver really increased the usability of the device.
I think SU doesn't allow some shortcuts to be changed. Like Ctrl V can't be reassigned to Paste in Place.
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