Wednesday, April 20, 2011

3D Connexion support

 

Its been a while since we received 3D connexion device. The idea was to give us device for free with expectations that we will implement direct support into Scia Engineer. This implementation never got the right priority, we were not sure how many users already own this device or are at least considering to buy toy like this.

Luckily 3D connexion is releasing new drivers, and even that they are still in beta version phase, the main advantage is that users can map 3D connexion control to any application. I tested this myself in Scia Engineer, and while it certainly has some points for improvements, the main interaction is working good. You simply need to define same controls as are used for manipulating with 3D scene.

I believe that this is step in good direction – developing drivers that can support all kinds of applications instead of drivers dedicated to specific application. Benefits for users are clear – if they already own this device they can simple use it in Scia Engineer, and if they are considering to buy one, they can be sure that they might use it in other applications as well.

pic_3dmouse

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