3Dconnection Space Navigator PE cheap
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I have a Space Navigator. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty intuitive and you can fly around both 3D space and 2D images (it replaces the Windows picture and fax viewer with its own version). The only trouble is that to use it properly you need you left hand pretty much permanently glued to it. This raises obvious conflicts with the fact that normally in SU you have your left hand almost permanently poised over the Shift and Ctrl keys.
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Alan & Coen -- the real question is do you think it could be useful to people like Meggy & Dylan who currently do all their SketchUpping with one hand?
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It might be useful. I tried it one-handed, just using my right hand...and it will enable you to fluently pan and orbit. Obviously, you have to let go of the mouse to do this. Whether or not this is actually more convenient than simply mouse-clicking the orbit or pan icons, would be a little difficult to say.
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I agree Alan. I do think it is worth a try for Meggy and Dylan. It could make things easier. Meggy might even find it works okay with the limited mobility of her left hand.
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You also can use the Space Navigator as a kind of mouse in Windows - look here for the drivers: http://rbc.duckinegg.com/ (and see the thread linked from the word "here"). But you will come in conflict with the Sketchup extension when using it together.
It's very fast when using as a mouse. Left and right click would be nice with the push and pull function. Scrolling is possible with turning (turning? hmm...). Because I'm using a Marble Mouse (trackball) with bad scroll function, it's nice to have such a large scroll "button", which also can be really fast.
azuby
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@ross macintosh said:
Juju -- Given you are having trouble obtaining one I'd be happy to give you one of mine. Contact me by PM and we can discuss how I can to get it to you.
Thanks Ross, very kind of you to offer.
I'm a bit of a gadget junkie, this sounds great. But I'm not sure if this will help / impede workflow. I think I'll take a rain-check if you don't mind. I would like to hear the feedback from users first before comitting. I've bought hardware in the past on the premise that it will increase workflow / productivity (even had a trackball at one stage) but 9/10 it ends up being in the way. I still have a graphics tablet around somewhere that I take out from time to time for the odd time that I require it's functionality.
Speaking of which, does anybody model using a graphics tablet and pen? If so, how does it work for you?
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As I told y'all, I have a trackball with 11 buttons and a wheel, so no, I do not need my left hand on the keyboard. For those shortcut key combinations that I'm not able to make on my trackball, I use a small USB numerical keypad with redefined keys. Num lock on/off switches between numbers and shortcuts.
For typing text of course I do need a keyboard, so I use a very small one with no numerical part. If nobody else would ever use this computer, it would have Dvorak RH layout. Unfortunately I do have to share it.
My navigator arrived yesterday. After installing the driver, the setup launched GE and I was able to fly over the landscape like a true aviator, both right and left handed. No need to reconfigure. It is very sensitive and even the slightest touch makes it go in the right direction... in GE.
In SU it's an entirely different matter. I've been fighting with it for hours, changing settings to more sensitive, less sensitive, switching zoom/pan directions and so on. At first it felt like I should be able to use it with my left hand but after just 15 minutes it hurt like hell. Touching the device has an immediate effect (zoom/pan/rotate) so I should hover over it with my hand.
By putting it next to my trackball I can even control part of the movements with my thumb while keeping my fingers on the trackball.
Two tips:
-start using the Navigator in SU in a cloudy sky dome with opaque ground.
-use the views toolbar and create scenes (view tabs). A lot. An accidental motion of the navigator can send you to outer space or deep down under.It'll take quite some fine tuning to get the same control in SU as it gives in GE. But it does give good control over zoom, pan and rotation without switching tools even for single handed sketching. I'll have to find a way to mount it to the desktop. It's heavy, but changing orientation can be a disaster. Someone who doesn't pay attention to the orientation of this very rounded object will probably never get used to it.
Fortunately the ugly blue led can be turned off.
My current settings in GE: default
in SU: reverse all directions, dominant on, pan fastest, zoom fast, other settings slower than default (some will probably change). Buttons zoom iso and zoom selected.It is as useful device for single handed SU, but it'll take some time to learn how to handle and optimise it.
poster-Maggy
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I had one. For a day. I sent it back - never could get the settings dialed in while using SU, and I switch between supported and unsupported software so often it was driving me nuts. It might be a different story if more software developers (like modo, Vectorworks, etc.) supported them, and if my brain wasn't hardwired for left-handed shortcuts at this point.
Hope it works out for you, though, Maggy.
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Maggy -- I realize this is a little odd but maybe you can try using the Navigator with your toes. The buttons on it could be ignored. I haven't tried it myself but I imagine it wouldn't be that hard to get used to. (Maybe I will try it one of these days, my toes are like fingers anyways
).One setting I've found critically important for me is to check the "dominant" option. I find the use far more intuitive when it is checked.
Regards, Ross
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Ross, I agree that "dominant" is essential in SU. It took me some time to figure that out.
Dominant turned off works much better in GE. I've never touched the controls of an airplane, not even a flight simulator, but in GE it feels like intuitive flight except for one control: I've never seen a plane fly backward.In SU our generation is used to the single action controls, pan OR zoom OR rotate. Maybe the next generation of SUers can get used to Navigator control with dominant turned off.
The toe stuff is a bit like what I have in mind. But I like to have my shoes on and my toes are not that well trained. They're probably able to push the puck down, left, right, forward and tilt front, back, left and right. But pulling back or up is much harder and rotating looks impossible to my toes.
I am thinking about a construction around it that would allow it's full use with one foot, with shoe on. If I succeed, I'll post the .skp.
poster-Maggy
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...erm please excuse me...
azuby
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????
poster-Maggy
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Well, that remembers me on the Ejakulator (excuse me for that word, it's not mine) of a famous German Rock(?) star, Udo Lindenberg.
Next thing would be working with a HMD ...
azuby
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People, please try to stick to the topic of the thread.
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