Mouse

[michael john williams]

Anyone used the Logitech Master 3S mouse? Can the buttons be customised to VW? Trying to decide where to get the Logitech Master 3S or the 3D Connexion cad mouse. Any thoughts appreciated.

[_James]

I use the previous generation Logitech Master MX2 and have the buttons customised to VW through their Logitech Options app. I use the 'forward' and 'back' thumb buttons as "Layer Up" and "Layer Down" and the scrolling toggle button as "Fit to Page" - it works very well.

[Christiaan]

I went down that route and then sent it back, realising my Apple Magic Mouse is superior to these clunky things.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Christiaan

[Tom W.]

49 minutes ago, Christiaan said:

I went down that route and then sent back, realising my Apple Magic Mouse is superior to these clunky things.

 

I switched from a Magic Mouse to a 3DC CadMouse Pro a couple of years ago + wouldn't be without it! I totally rely on all the commands/macros I have mapped to the buttons/menus. I have no idea how it compares to the Logitech Master 3S though.

[Christiaan]

1 hour ago, Tom W. said:

 

I switched from a Magic Mouse to a 3DC CadMouse Pro a couple of years ago + wouldn't be without it! I totally rely on all the commands/macros I have mapped to the buttons/menus. I have no idea how it compares to the Logitech Master 3S though.

The main thing I hated was the clicky imprecise zoom wheel. Magic Mouse is infinitely precise and smooth in comparison.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Christiaan

[line-weight]

I just use one of these

 

https://www.logitech.com/en-gb/products/mice/m705-wireless-mouse.910-001949.html

 

I like the weighted scroll wheel, the scrolling is smooth and you can scroll rapidly by sending it spinning.

 

Only thing I don't like so much is the two buttons in the thumb position, they are a bit awkward because where my thumb naturally sits, it presses both of them at the same time. But I have the VW "quick actions" menu mapped to come up when I press those.

 

I find there are only so many macros and mapped buttons that I can keep in my head at once so a mouse with a zillion buttons isn't that attractive to me.

[Christiaan]

22 minutes ago, line-weight said:

I like the weighted scroll wheel, the scrolling is smooth and you can scroll rapidly by sending it spinning.

Sounds more like it.

[Tom W.]

1 hour ago, line-weight said:

But I have the VW "quick actions" menu mapped to come up when I press those.

 

Do you mean the Smart Options Display? If so, the radial menus on the CadMouse are essentially the same thing so not a case of having to remember lots of mappings:

 

   

 

 

Except unlike Smart Options they appear instantaneously + don't disappear the instant your cursor strays off the edge!!!!

 

But perhaps you mean Quick Search instead.

 

(PS When are we going to be able to resize images attached to posts again?)

 

 

[line-weight]

I mean this thing, (smart options display?)

 

 

It works for me because I just press one button and all the options are there visually for me with icons my brain has already learnt to recognise.

[zoomer]

2 hours ago, line-weight said:

But I have the VW "quick actions" menu mapped to come up when I press those.

 

Good idea.

Especially as I rarely use it.

 

I think my forward/back buttons, for VW, are "X" and "Zoom Elements".

(Similar to all my other CAD/3D Apps)

But CADMouse has that other extra button on top, which I never use or

forgot what I have mapped to. "Quick Actions would be a good mapping.

[Tom W.]

39 minutes ago, line-weight said:

I mean this thing, (smart options display?)

 

 

It works for me because I just press one button and all the options are there visually for me with icons my brain has already learnt to recognise.

 

I use Smart Options Display too all the time. Triggered by hitting Space. I love it but hate the animation (slight delay) on activation + general timidity (prone to disappearing at slightest thing). There are other threads complaining about this...

 

 

 

[line-weight]

25 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

 

I use Smart Options Display too all the time. Triggered by hitting Space. I love it but hate the animation (slight delay) on activation + general timidity (prone to disappearing at slightest thing). There are other threads complaining about this...

 

 

 

I'm too lazy to use the space bar - I'd have to move my left hand several centimeters. Moving my right thumb a few millimeters is just about an acceptable amount of effort.

 

Also - space bar is so commonly used for panning, in all sorts of applications, I'd be worried I'd confuse my brain/muscle memory if I started using it for something else in VW.

Edited February 2, 2023 by line-weight

[line-weight]

This has just reminded me I was going to give this app a try as recommended by @E|FA

 

 

 

[michael john williams]

In the end, after much thought, went for the 3D connexion CadMouse Pro Wireless. It was expensive and I am now not sure if I made the correct decision. Struggling to set it up:

 

Quick Zoom we understand as being simply the mouse wheel to zoom in and out the same as on a standard mouse.

 

Views we have set up on the as pushing down the mouse wheel as 3 standard views top [not plan view], right and left. Also fit [although not used much] But is this the right button? How do you set up other views such as front, back and top/plan view? Also isometrics? Plan view is essential to work on plans.

 

The middle button is set up as the Vectorworks application but nothing happens.

 

The radial button is set up with NumPad. Presumably you change and assign different shortcuts to each number? Shortcuts such as: undo, redo, line, mirror, trim, text, dimension, etc. If so how do you do this?

 

Any help appreciated.

[Tom W.]

You can map literally anything you want to any of the 5 buttons + the radial menus. Either by choosing commands from the drop-downs or creating your own macros + mapping them.

 

BUT there are issues with VW2023 + 3DC. On a two-versions old driver + VW2022 everything worked fine for me but using the latest driver on VW2023 was a disaster. I am still on VW2023 but reverted to the 2-versions old driver + things are better but I still have a couple of things which aren't working as they should...

 

So first question: what version VW are you on + which 3DC driver?

 

I loved my mouse until VW2023 came along...

[michael john williams]

Tom, thanks for your help.

 

My VW is 2020 SP6

3DC driver: 10 for windows version 10.8.12

[Tom W.]

27 minutes ago, michael john williams said:

Tom, thanks for your help.

 

My VW is 2020 SP6

3DC driver: 10 for windows version 10.8.12

 

Ok so at least you're not on VW2023... I'm on a Mac so I don't know about Windows but if my experience is anything to go by you might benefit from going onto the 3DC website + downloading one of the archived drivers. However that would only be necessary if you have mapped commands to your mouse + they are doing something different. See this post for what I'm experiencing:

 

 

From your post I can't tell whether you're mapping commands to the buttons + they're not working or you're having trouble doing the mapping in the first place:

 

3 hours ago, michael john williams said:

Views we have set up on the as pushing down the mouse wheel as 3 standard views top [not plan view], right and left. Also fit [although not used much] But is this the right button? How do you set up other views such as front, back and top/plan view? Also isometrics? Plan view is essential to work on plans.

 

The middle button is set up as the Vectorworks application but nothing happens.

 

The radial button is set up with NumPad. Presumably you change and assign different shortcuts to each number? Shortcuts such as: undo, redo, line, mirror, trim, text, dimension, etc. If so how do you do this?

 

If the latter let me know + I'll talk you through it as I didn't understand how to do it the first time either + came here for help...

[Jesse Cogswell]

I love my CADmouse and really can't draft without it.  I use it to primarily drive views, which all have shortcuts built in to the 3DConnexion software.  What I currently have set, and am very happy with, is to have the mouse wheel be my "Fit View" button, my forward button launch a radial menu with views, and my back button to mimic the Ctrl key (makes Ctrl dragging and clicking to copy objects super simple, and gives me a one hand flyover view by using it in conjunction with the dedicated middle mouse button).

 

My radial menu looks like this:

All of the standard views are found in a category named Views, except for Top/Plan.  For this, I just typed in a shortcut with numpad 0.

 

Undo and Redo commands can be found in the Macros category, but for dedicated Vectorworks tools you will need to do them as keyboard shortcuts (by default 1 for text, 2 for line, = for mirror, etc).

 

I also recognize that you are working with a different version than I am, I am on 10.7.4.3350 and won't be upgrading until it forces me to since it currently works between versions 2019 and 2023.

 

@Tom W. There is a slight bug which I don't know ever got patched where XML files were missing for some versions of Vectorworks, causing 3DConnexion devices to use a generic Vectorworks profile (no year number listed), which would wreak havoc in doing setup and jumping between versions of software.  I remember this being the issue with 2023 when I first downloaded it.  If you launch the editor and it DOESN'T list a year number after Vectorworks, then you need to add a new profile by following the directions below:

1. In an explorer/finder window, navigate to C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\3DxWinCore\Cfg (on Windows, no idea where it is on Mac but it's likely a similar file structure), this is the location of all of the XML files.
2. Find a "numbered" version of a Vectorworks profile (like Vectorworks2022.xml) and make a copy of it in the same directory, renamed to match the version number you need.
3. In a text editor, open the XML file and change any listing of the Vectorworks year to match the one you need.
4. Your device should now properly be able to create and edit profiles for that version of Vectorworks.

[Tom W.]

Thanks for that tip @Jesse Cogswell but all VW year numbers are present + correct in my 3DC settings so I don't think that's the problem... 

 

3DC have told me there is a specific issue with VW2023 to do with navigation modes which is one of the issues I have.

 

Anyway I realise from your screenshots that the Windows settings for 3DC are completely different to Mac so better @michael john williams takes advice from you on configuring it! For example my radial menus are 4-section only, I don't get an 8-section option! For what it's worth, I have both my radial menus set to my most commonly used commands + my backward button set to Flyover Tool. I use a separate numeric keypad for views. I also have SpaceMouse so have other commands mapped there, including 'Fit View' which is indispensable, until it stopped working that is (that's another one of the VW2023 issues: Fit View instead activates Top view...)

 

That's a good tip about the back button/Ctrl key (assuming that's the Option key on a Mac)

[setdesigner]

Great tips @Jesse Cogswell.

Would you mind sharing your 3DC profile ?

Thanks

Simon

[Jesse Cogswell]

@setdesigner Let's see if this works, I've exported the settings I have for VW 2019-2023 as a file.  You would import them by More then Import Settings.  I've never done this so I don't know how well it will work, but it's worth a shot.  I can't attach the file directly since it's not a forum-supported file type, so I've zipped the file.  Let me know if you have a hard time getting this to work.

JNC VW 3Dx Profiles.zip

[E|FA]

On 2/1/2023 at 11:40 PM, michael john williams said:

Anyone used the Logitech Master 3S mouse? Can the buttons be customised to VW? Trying to decide where to get the Logitech Master 3S or the 3D Connexion cad mouse. Any thoughts appreciated.

I recently got the MX Master 3S for Mac and the MX Keys for Mac keyboard, and have been customizing both successfully.  I could not get the hang of the 3D Connexion SpaceMouse Compact and didn't like the feel of the CadMouse.  I understand other people love them, so if anyone wants to make an offer on a barely used set, DM me.

[Kevin K]

Mice, mice, mouse….the problem is you have to MOVE the mouse. Move it, pick it up, move it back on your mousepad…

I always hated that…so I became a devout Kensington trackball guy and never looked back. The accuracy and smoothness while moving the cursor is like butter. The model I have has a large trackball, which makes a huge difference.

It does take a couple days to get used to it, but then it is all second nature.

Personally, other than a left click button and a right click button, I never saw the reason to set up buttons for other operations, when shortcut keys on the keyboard do the same thing.

I know…you are all thinking, “ man, Kev is really old school”! 🙂

Bottom line..whatever works for you is great!

[Jeff Prince]

I’m with @Kevin K, once you go track, you never go back.

 

 

I used to laugh at the thought of using one of these, but it was the best change  in computing I have ever made.  Logitech MX Ergo.

[Pat Stanford]

I like the trackball, but my thumb can't take the work.  😞

 

As Kevin says, try different things and use what works for you.