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Space Mouse

HaroldL

Alibre Super User
I've been using the, now discontinued, Space Navigator, which is similar to and bit larger than the Space Mouse Compact, for years. It still works great and I wouldn't be without it. Although I am considering updating to the Space Mouse.

1648784878397.png
 

IonSteve

Member
It's the only way to fly, in my opinion. With a minimal amount of farting around/low learning curve, it makes interacting with your model fast, smooth, intuitive, and, dare I say it, fun. I've had mine for well over 10 years. Spend a few minutes setting the speeds and sensitivities to your liking, and you're off. I have the predecessor to the Compact--it's a little puck that takes up very little desk space and is worth every penny.
 

DavidJ

Administrator
Staff member
There have been cases of weird behaviour - mainly I think when users have updates the 3DConnexion software. Newer may not be better!
 

simonb65

Alibre Super User
There have been cases of weird behaviour - mainly I think when users have updates the 3DConnexion software. Newer may not be better!
I haven't used my Space Navigator on my desktop recently, I've recently uninstalled the 3DConnexion software on it because it's causing endless issues on my PC. May install an earlier version and see when the issues started! (2014) 3DxWare64_v10-1-4_r1818.exe was on my PC until I first updated it in (2020) 3DxWare64_v10-6-4_r3119.exe. Have been updating it ever since then, so not sure where things started going pear shaped!

Newer may not be better!
+1
 

OTE_TheMissile

Alibre Super User
I've had a wireless SpaceMouse set up on my system at work for...gosh, I couldn't even tell you how long at this point. Wouldn't trade it for the world, although I might trade it for a wired version. At the time I bought it I still had aspirations of doing CAD at home (and also, the idea of using it as a 6DoF docking joystick for space simulator Star Citizen) so I went wit the wireless version to take it back and forth between home and work.

It took some fiddling to get the speeds dialed-in to where I was comfortable with them, but once I had those set I haven't touched anything internal since. Every once in a while the connection between the SpaceMouse and it's USB dongle will crap out, but removing/inserting the dongle and restarting the 3Dconnexion software fixes it. Not a huge headache as I keep the dongle on a front-panel port, and like I said in hindsight I should've got the wired one so that's on me.
 

MilesH

Alibre Super User
Clearing out my study, last week, I found this manual. So, haven't been without one for more than 20 years.


Magellan 3D mouse manual.jpg
 
I've been using them at work since the Magellan days as well. They're great. I find it hard to work 3D without one anymore. I have the SpaceMouse Pro Wireless and about the only thing I see is that I don't think Alibre is fully supported with some of the custom button configurations. The standard bottons shown under the Alibre Design drop down (shown below) have never worked for me. These can usually be fixed by creating a keyboard shortcut macro and using that instead. Other than that I love it.

SpaceMouse-Buttons.png

 

Mika

Senior Member
22years of mechanical designing and just couple of years ago started to use space mouse…now I cannot live without it anymore. NX, Solidworks, Fusion360, Alibre works fine with all them what I have used in my work…
 

Acara

Member
I use one of the older HP models but I notice that the speed is CRAZY fast so I have to turn it way down for some reason. When I switch to another software I have to crank it back up but I've been using one for a few years now. They're freaking sweet.
 

Acara

Member
I'll have to take a look at that, I believe it's a space pilot manufactured by HP but licensed by 3DConnexion.
 

HaroldL

Alibre Super User
Just so you know, the 3DConnexion Space Mouse will switch automatically to the active application.
 

beastro

Senior Member
Sure enough, with the latest update from 3dconnexion my Space mouse stopped working entirely. I also never got the buttons to respond to keyboard macros in Alibre. It is a great tools, but I don't understand why they don't make it fully compatible with Alibre after so many years. I complained to them, but they said it was Alibre who would have to implement support..??
 

HaroldL

Alibre Super User
Which version of the Space Mouse quit on you? Be careful with updates from 3DConnexion, some of them are only adding support for other programs and sometimes can have negative effects on your current use. Back a couple of versions of Alibre I had to roll back the driver to a previous version to keep it working.

I currently have 3DXWare v10.8.7 with a notification for v10.8.7. Some of the issues I have may be related to the fact that my Space Navigator is a discontinued device so support is not a high priority for 3DConnexion.

I also never got the buttons to respond to keyboard macros in Alibre.
How did you set up the macros?
 

beastro

Senior Member
Which version of the Space Mouse quit on you? Be careful with updates from 3DConnexion, some of them are only adding support for other programs and sometimes can have negative effects on your current use. Back a couple of versions of Alibre I had to roll back the driver to a previous version to keep it working.

I currently have 3DXWare v10.8.7 with a notification for v10.8.7. Some of the issues I have may be related to the fact that my Space Navigator is a discontinued device so support is not a high priority for 3DConnexion.


How did you set up the macros?

I have the latest 10.8.7. I sent a support request to 3Dconnexion and reinstalled the drivers. It seems to work again, but lost all my settings..
I create the macros in the macro section of the 3d configuration utility.
 

beastro

Senior Member
I have been in touch with 3dconnexion support and followed their instructions to completely remove the drivers and reinstall. I can assign keyboard macros now and Space mouse works again as well.
Here are the instructions: 3Dconnexion instructions

Still, radial menus don't display correctly on my Microsoft Surface, but that is probably not related to Alibre but rather to the handling of HiRes graphics screens by the 3dconnexion drivers.
 

jasonmburns

Member
Sure enough, with the latest update from 3dconnexion my Space mouse stopped working entirely. I also never got the buttons to respond to keyboard macros in Alibre. It is a great tools, but I don't understand why they don't make it fully compatible with Alibre after so many years. I complained to them, but they said it was Alibre who would have to implement support..??
They told me the same thing.
 

HaroldL

Alibre Super User
I have been in touch with 3dconnexion support and followed their instructions to completely remove the drivers and reinstall. I can assign keyboard macros now and Space mouse works again as well.
Here are the instructions: 3Dconnexion instructions

Still, radial menus don't display correctly on my Microsoft Surface, but that is probably not related to Alibre but rather to the handling of HiRes graphics screens by the 3dconnexion drivers.
After reading the 3DConnexion instructions I think it odd that they, 3DConnexion, don't make that part of the driver update routine. Why can't a BAT file be could created to run and take care of all the "clean up" that is needed for a clean install.
 

simonb65

Alibre Super User
Why can't a BAT file be could created to run and take care of all the "clean up" that is needed for a clean install.
+1, this is where software companies can really make life so much easier for their 'non-tech minded' customers! Better still, as you say, it should be part of the installer update process.
 
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