SpaceNavigator

Reviewed by Robert Pritchett

What They Say

This is a beta driver for both SpaceNavigator PE and SE products. For feedback or questions, please visit www.3dconnexion.com/forum, login and post under the Mac OS X Beta Feedback forum. All feedback or questions will be handled via the forum. This software will work with Google SketchUp (version 6), Maya (versions 6 and 7) and Form Z (tested on 6.1). For Maya and Form Z, you will need to download additional plug-ins: For Maya, download and install the Maya mel script software available from this site. For Form Z, visit www.autodessys.com and visit the Download section of their website. For users who would like to try the Mac OS X driver, but do not have a SpaceNavigator, you can purchase from many online sites, including our webstore, for the low price of $59! The driver will be released after completion of the beta program in the next few weeks.

This was written back in December, 2006.

What I Say

This unit is so beta it is alpha. If it were just the hardware and not the software this would get an excellent rating. But because this is a Windows-first and Mac-afterthought-after unit, the software essentially sucks for the Mac, while it is getting rave reviews for the Windows environments.

Now remember, this company was acquired by Logitech, so expect the software issues we are currently dealing with to change for the better.

Supposedly you can use this stainless-steel hockey-puck hefty device for such things as virtual flight navigation using fboweb.com’s Google Earth plugin at http://www.fboweb.com/fb40/pu/info/gep.aspx.

However, the beta so far only allows me to run Google’s SketchUp! Revision 6 http://sketchup.google.com/download.html – which in true 3D navigation, was incredible.

Ziva Nissan at 3DConnexion has been busy managing the beta forum and wrote that the SpaceNavigator is the only device that is supported on the Mac out of the 5 devices they sell.

There are possible workarounds such as the ControllerMate, by OrderedBytes at http://orderedbytes.com/controllermate, but 3DConnexion is still experimenting with the Windows-based mentality of creating a separate driver for each app, instead of creating a universal driver for all Mac-based apps. They really need to rethink that strategy. Perhaps by the time you read this they will have?

Adding a macro in the software is still is not possible and the process is a placebo at this time. Google Maps functionality does not work yet even though they advertise that it does.

Yes, you can twiddle the knob with 6-degrees of motion and there are two buttons on either side for programming for special functions. And no, this is designed to be stationary device that sits on a provided whiteboard and not moved around like a mouse. Think of it more as a cross between a mouse and a joystick.

And if you try and find SpaceNavigator in the Applications folder, you won’t. Access for configuration is located in the Apple Preferences as 3Dconnexion under “Other”.

Presumably we can use this device with any application to pan, zoom, tilt, spin or roll.

The Left/Right buttons also can be set to bring up the Preference Pane for 3Dconnexion, Pan/Zoom Only, Tilt/Spin/Roll Only, Pan Only, Zoom Only or Calibrate.

Calibrate is also a function under “Device”, along with Zoom direction and Speed.

To customize the unit, there is a “Custom Functions…” button under Buttons that is a place for those who have the programming chops to create their own macros to make this device work with other apps.

The Forum tends to get rather geeky with regards to making this puck play with other packages. Apparently someone took the time to get it to play nice with Maya and Form Z. There is an “Install Plug-ins…” function back on the main Preferences Pane as a drop-down menu item under the Configure: button that allows these two apps to work with SpaceNavigator.

I gave this a “Work-in-Progress” rating because it is not ready for prime time. It holds a lot of promise, but it most definitely need a universal app like Alassandro Levi Montalcini’s USB OverDrive http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html I was not able to make that app work with this one.

Besides the “Beta 0.1 there are also downloads for Maya 6 and 7 for Mac OS X.

There is also a MIDI Navigator v1.1 for MIDI control change messages. See http://www.bbox.tv/snmidi.html how sound can be generated from the device and the software to make it happen - http://web.mac.com/keindesign/iWeb/Site/MIDI%20Navigator.html

If you are into experimentation and programming, you can “play” with this device. The hardware is rock-solid. The software is a work-in-progress.

3DxMacWare 1.0.1 Release

Hello: The first release of 3DxMacWare is now available from the download section of our website! This release includes support for Google SketchUp 6, Maya (8.5 is required for Mac Intel systems), formZ and also available, plug-in and demo for QuickTime QTVR formats for your QT viewer. We have supplied a panorama with the driver -- please visit the 3Dconnexion Preference Pane and select Demos, and you can move around the panoramic scene!

Ziva Nissan

3Dconnexion, Inc.