Navigation with 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse

[hollister design Studio]

Just got a SpaceMouse  -  I've used these before with other 3D programs and liked them for their smooth navigation.

 

I'm not quite getting how to set the origin point for the flyover tool with the Spacemouse.

 

Currently I use a wacom to get around - very fast and accurate with second button set to MMB.

This allows for ctrl+MMB to temporarily activate flyover - Zooming into objects with crt+spacebar (would be nice if  Alt+MMB was an option) - Panning with MMB

I use Interactive Origin mode and set origin with a "shift+c" and click on new origin then 'double x' to get back to selection tool and the 'temporary flyover' with ctrl+MMB

 

With 3D mouse I can't seem to figure out how to set the origin.

 

Video:

• 00:00 I'm setting the interactive origin and using wacom with ctrl+MMB to temporarily activate flyover. Zooming into objects with crt+spacebar. Panning with MMB
• 00:25  I'm using Spacemouse - it does NOT use the interactive origin - even though it's activating the flyover tool and the interactive origin is selected. You can see where the interactive origin symbol is, but that is obviously not the origin point Spacemouse is using.
• 00:42 I try zooming into object with wacom and ctrl-spacebar and ctrl+MMB.
• 00:45 try navigating with Spacemouse again- no idea where the origin is! - somewhere off screen.
• 01:00 back to using Wacom and flyover rotates just fine right around the interactive origin.

 

 

 

I'm at a loss.

Any SpaceMouse veterans out there?

[markdd]

As far as I am aware you can’t set an origin for use with the space mouse and the Flyover tool. But I haven’t  tried that hard!  

SpaceMouse only really comes into its own when in a perspective view. It replaces (for me anyway) all the slightly cumbersome navigation tools in the visualisation toolset. It’s more useful for navigation as opposed to rotating around a model. 

 

it would be interesting to hear what other folk have tried, but as far as I am aware, that is the extent of its usefulness in VectorWorks.

 

Currently my old Space Navigator is not compatible with Big Sur (OS11) and I seriously miss it.
 

 

[zoomer]

17 minutes ago, hollister design Studio said:

I'm not quite getting how to set the origin point for the flyover tool with the Spacemouse.

 

Pity, yes.

 

It works in any other App I have the same way as by Mouse cursor.

I am not sure why it does not work in VW, it always uses the file origin.

(Maybe a selected Element in the best case ?)

 

Every now and then I re-try all Fly Over Tool options but they will not work

for Space Navigators. AFAIK the problem is to find the "View Center" in an

orthographic, non perspective view Window.

No clue how others do it.

 

Also I don't like the difference (switching rotation axis directions) between

orthographic and perspective Views for Space Navigators.

 

And I don't like that I lose VW's App specific Commands, Tools and Enterprise

display Icon presets with each new VW version.

[zoomer]

24 minutes ago, hollister design Studio said:

Currently I use a wacom to get around - very fast and accurate with second button set to MMB.

 

Yes,

I also often work with Wacom Cintiq Display and Pen Input.

Again, in VW, it works great for Panning and Rotation,

like with a Mouse, with Pen Input and MMB set to Pen button 2.

 

But I hardly miss a way, without a scroll wheel, to comfortably Zoom !

Any other CAD/3D App i use offers a way to also use any kind of standard

mouse button + key combination to do all View Navigation, including Zoom.

Not so with VW.

[halfcoupler]

I'm using this workaround:

 

- activate the flyover tool

- use Object center mode

- select an object and move it a bit via the flyover tool.

After that, the space mouse will use this object as center.

 

Not really a smooth working process, but it helps with big drawings when the space mouse bumps the plan uncontrollably around because the rotation center is somewhere at the other end of the drawing.

 

Worked in VW 2020 and 2021, with the last two 3D connection drivers.

 

Edited December 24, 2020 by halfcoupler

[hollister design Studio]

@halfcoupler I'll give this a try.

 

I'll be using my wacom for most navigation anyway, wanted space mouse more for sreenshare meetings.

 

...which may not work if I can't specify origin.

[hollister design Studio]

@zoomer 

Yeah the zoom function is sketchy at best.

 

If you hit crtl just a moment to soon after spacebar it doesnt register.

 

Super frustrating.

 

Everytime I open Maya or 3dmax (less and less often as I get more comfortable with VW) I just let out a sigh at how smooth and seamless the navigation is.