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3DConnexion Mouse


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6 minutes ago, zoomer said:

I think Target Mode is Helikopter.

 

Where do you get the option to switch between these ?

Depnding on current View Mode only or a menu ?

 

I set the one of the SpaceNavigator buttons to "Switch Navigation"  and the other to "Switch Projection"

 

This is allowing me to experiment with all the different permutations quickly.  All sorts of new modes ! LOL!

 

The switching from Ortho to Perspective seems to be key in getting the 3d to work happily?

Edited by Ethan R.
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  • 4 months later...
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
8 minutes ago, MRD Mark Ridgewell said:

Hi,

Looking to buy one of these...I see the thread is from a while back.....is it worth buying one?

 

SpaceMouse® Compact

https://www.3dconnexion.co.uk/spacemouse_compact/uk/

 


That's essentially the one I use, though I have an older model. I personally find the axis knob to be the most useful part so it's plenty for me, but I've spoken with others that like having the multiple mappable buttons on the more advanced models.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Only if you are serious about 3d.

I typically spend min 30hr per week on projects and at this point, I can't see myself without it. A couple of years back I started with the small navigator but now I use the space mouse enterprise. I need my shortcut buttons.

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I've used an old model of the "compact" SpaceMouse you linked to. I wasn't a huge fan, as it seemed too lightweight and would shift around as I tried using it.

 

Instead, I have the SpaceMouse Wireless which I love - the base is a bit heavier so it feels sturdier to use. Yet it's still fairly small and easy to toss in a bag. The battery lasts a very long time as well.

 

In general the SpaceMouse was one of the best investments I've made and I can't imagine navigating 3D interiors without it.

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  • 9 months later...
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

After migrating my super workspace and update it with all the cool new features in v2019, my 3d enterprise works as usual. Although, I assigned new macros to some of those buttons, for example, activate clip cube seems to be one of my new favorites.

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 Thanks Luis,

 

so it should work in VW 2019 without any special user interaction.

I also migrated my super Workspace from 2018 to 2019 - on my Mac,

without problems. But I copied that plus a few other settings from

Mac to PC recently. Maybe that destroyed something.

 

But the promised about 50 VW Commands are finally there for me too.

 

Are there any Tool VW icons delivered for Enterprise‘s Display ?

If there are, I have to go on trying to find them, if not,

everything is ok already.

Edited by zoomer
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Hi All

 

I have often read this thread but never had the need to post a question as all the answers I have ever needed have been in here which has always been so helpful. I do now have a question and I really hope that someone out of all the experienced people on here can help me with this.

 

Today I upgraded from 2017 to 2019 (Architect) previously in 2017 I had my Space Pilot Pro working like a dream thanks to the configurations that have been posted on here over time and also with a bit of programming of macros and buttons. 

Anyway today when I launched 2019 after using migration manager to bring over my workspaces and templates I  noticed that my settings that had worked with the Space Pilot weren't working as usual - I like to swap a lot between 2d plan views and open Gl perspectives and as such have the central Iso and top left roll view button programmed to Ortho / Perspective and Wireframe/ Open GL. The other thing that didn't work is that I have programmed the Menu button to switch between navigation modes - Target / camera/ object etc. This also wasn't working and instead just brought up the default 3d Connexion menu. No problem I thought that didn't migrate over I will go into the 3d connexion properties and reprogramme the relevant buttons.

 

So I decided in the 3d Connexion properties to reprogramme my buttons. and this is where it gets weird and dare I say it as a long term VW user - unsurprisingly frustrating!

When I tried to re assign the menu button or any other button and selected from the vectorworks drop down list there are only about 8 items in the list, all view related - when I do the same in 2017 there is a 20 plus long list of varied VW tools that can be assigned to the chosen button. 

Its like having switched to 2019 the 3d connexion driver doesn't recognise VW properly and can't offer all the options that were available in 2017. On my mac you could add an application to the list in the 3d Connexion properties on Windows it's just there

 

I have uninstalled and installed the latest windows driver from 3d connexion but this has not resolved the situation, I do hope that someone might have encountered this and have a solution, as it stands it means that after 3 years of using my Space Pilot it has now become unusable as without being able to switch between navigation options I just go back to flying around in 3d space.

 

 

 

 

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An update to my situation - I pressed 'restore defaults' in the 3d Connexion properties and now the long list of Vectorworks specific tools appears when I click on a button to reassign, however when I select for example Switch Navigations (or any other tool) to assign to a button, it initially appears as assigned to the button and then immediately the text disappears leaving the box next to the button blank. This is just weird and frustrating. As a question I have heard that migration manager has caused issues in other ways and I am wondering whether it might be causing this, I remember reading that you can delete something in the VW program folder that forces VW to create a fresh version of itself next time it's launched does this sound familiar to anyone.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

@Mattsaxon

Since you mentioned you had v2017, here is my troubleshooting first recommendation.

 

Plan A-

Download the latest 3dconnexion driver.

Migrate your custom workspace

Edit custom workspace, now, since you skipped two versions, plenty of new tools and menus are missing from your 2017 workspace.

 

Plan B - Start a new custom workspace from scratch but pay attention to those shortcuts that you are used to.

 

For me jumping from 2018 to 2019 was all about adjusting my workspace, from 2017 to 2018, I created a new and fresh custom workspace, typically for me is a copy of Architect.

 

Is it tedious? Well, I find it to be not an immediate task, but it is something I take care of only once a year. Is it worth it? totally.

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52 minutes ago, Mattsaxon said:

however when I select for example Switch Navigations (or any other tool) to assign to a button, it initially appears as assigned to the button and then immediately the text disappears leaving the box next to the button blank.

 

Perhaps that may help :

 

 

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15 hours ago, Luis M Ruiz said:

@Mattsaxon

Since you mentioned you had v2017, here is my troubleshooting first recommendation.

 

Plan A-

Download the latest 3dconnexion driver.

Migrate your custom workspace

Edit custom workspace, now, since you skipped two versions, plenty of new tools and menus are missing from your 2017 workspace.

 

Plan B - Start a new custom workspace from scratch but pay attention to those shortcuts that you are used to.

 

For me jumping from 2018 to 2019 was all about adjusting my workspace, from 2017 to 2018, I created a new and fresh custom workspace, typically for me is a copy of Architect.

 

Is it tedious? Well, I find it to be not an immediate task, but it is something I take care of only once a year. Is it worth it? totally.

Sorry Luiz I didn't see your reply last night I was busy pulling my hair out over this 3d mouse issue, yes I will build myself a new custom workspace as you say there are lots of new tools that I don't want to miss by simply migrating I also find a refresh of your workspaces is a good time to unlearn some bad habits and introduce new ways of working.

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Hi All I wanted to post here about my problems with my Space Pilot Pro and VW2019 so that if anyone else has been having difficulties this might help and full credit and thanks to Zoomer for this solution which he suggested in reply to my posts yesterday. 

 

This for me fixed the problems I was having - There were no Vectorworks specific tool options available to map to the Space Pilot Buttons and when there were I could not make them 'stick'. With this fix I now have a full list of tools supported by this mouse and they stay mapped to the buttons I assigned them to.

 

I am originally a Mac user so to me a computer was a shiny aluminium box with a nice apple logo on that just did what you wanted, then I turned to the dark side and bought a PC:) anyway the point is I am not comfortable playing around with system and program files so when I read Zoomers post suggesting the solution to my problem I wasn't very keen, but I had no other option to try it and it worked. I have posted a screenshot of the file I had to alter so others can see what is involved but I must stress please make sure you have a backed up hard drive etc. I am only showing what I did to fix this I am not an IT expert and do not recommend this to anyone unless they are confident they understand what they are doing. 

 

Step 1: follow this path - C:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\Cfg

Step 2: Locate a file named Vectorworks2018.xml

Step3: Copy and paste this file in the same location and rename as Vectorworks2019.xml

Step 4: Using Notepad open the file and edit it wherever it says Vectorworks2018 or Vectorworks2018.exe change this to Vectorworks2019 and Vectorworks2019.exe and save and close the file.

Step5: Launch VW2019 and then open the 3d Connexion properties. You should hopefully now have a full list of tools supported by your controller under the Vectorworks drop down and these tools should now assign correctly.

 

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2 hours ago, Mattsaxon said:

Step 1: follow this path - C:\Users\user name\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\Cfg

Step 2: Locate a file named Vectorworks2018.xml

Step3: Copy and paste this file in the same location and rename as Vectorworks2019.xml

Step 4: Using Notepad open the file and edit it wherever it says Vectorworks2018 or Vectorworks2018.exe change this to Vectorworks2019 and Vectorworks2019.exe and save and close the file.

Step5: Launch VW2019 and then open the 3d Connexion properties. You should hopefully now have a full list of tools supported by your controller under the Vectorworks drop down and these tools should now assign correctly.

 

Haha,

far more understandable than my redundant text wall.

Thanks

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A distilled version, did you have issues setting macros I found I had to write all my macros first and then assign them to buttons, otherwise each time I wrote a new macro for a button the buttons I had already assigned switched back to their defaults, not a big problem just another bit of odd behaviour. Thanks again for your help.

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I really really don't understand why the properties panel for 3d Connexion on a PC is so basic versus the Mac version - no options to load plugins or add applications, and the lists for macros etc are nothing like you have on your screenshot. When I first installed the 3d Connexion software on my PC I honestly thought I must have a lite version!

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Well, at least I can finally see nice colored Icons on my PC.

 

At least for Bricscad, which basically offers the whole Workspace Folders

with every Tools.

But what I think is also better is that Macros are saved by App. On Mac you

have to control their order by prefixes to be able to find them and as you

have text only that looks bad on your display.

 

Macro Features itself are very limited. And the need to have an open App,

to be able to edit the settings is just one more of these lacks in details that

Windows - and its Software - has on all ends.

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Something I have been meaning to ask on here is wether Enterprise is a significant improvement from say as space pilot pro? I mainly use keyboard shortcuts for tool selection and have an Elecom mouse with 8 programmable buttons that takes care of my most frequent commands. Does Enterprise offer any further benefits beyond the ability to access tools and commands - My use of the space pilot pro is almost completely focussed on its use to navigate and my use of the buttons is all about switching between custom views, projection and navigation modes and rendering modes, does the increased capabilities of Enterprise offer so much more functionality that it has made people step from keyboard shortcuts across to using the controllers buttons?

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Well.......When all is needed is to fly around and through models for presentation purposes, then my small bucket is cool enough.  If it's production at someone else's office then my middle companion does the job well. My big friend over here is my goto device for serious production, especially on any Friday before 5:00 pm.  🙂

 

navigators.jpg

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