3Dconnexion 3DX-700028 SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse

Update: I recently had to re-install this on a new computer, and the current software install, 3.16.3 is packaged properly and installs fine right from the download, so my -1 is mooted.It is indispensable in the programs where I use it. I just wish more supported it.---The Mouse came nicely packaged, but of course, it needs its drivers installed before you can do anything with it in the few programs that can take advantage of it. This was to prove the most frustrating part of installing it, but I found a solution which I will share.As of this writing, the driver version is 3.16.1. The CD in the package was version 3.7.18, which dates back to 2009. This isn't too horrible a problem, because the first thing the installer does is prompt you to check for a newer driver. Does it download the driver? No, it sends you to the web page. Does it send you to the driver download page? No, just the home page. But again, not a big deal, it's easy enough to navigate to the appropriate download link. This is fairly standard.Where it goes terribly wrong is after you download the file. The download, "3DxSoftware32_v3-16-1_r1342 . exe" will extract the installer, put it in your temp files, and run it. The big problem there is the installer it extracts, "3DxSoftware32 . exe" is part installer, part archive, but it doesn't know that. Immediately the installer will ask you to insert a disk because it can't find "layout.bin". Since you don't have that disk or that file, you're stuck. Installation fails. The one previous installer available suffers the same problem.After considerable poking around, trying to open a few stray .cab files that appeared, I found out about a free program called PeaZip on SourceForge. It does things that 7-Zip doesn't. And aside from opening .cab files, it did the one thing I needed to make this install work. I was able to select "3DxSoftware32 . exe" and choose "Open as archive" and then I did "Extract all files" into the same directory, and THERE was everything I needed to do the install. Run the setup file that appears and the install proceeds just as it would from the CD. Keep these files, because you might need to re-install if you add new 3d software that needs specific plugins.Having successfully slain the installer dragon, everything else from there was smooth sailing. I ran through the Demos, played the Puzzle game, and then set off into Second Life to try the Flycam. That was tremendously cool, but clearly I need a better video card. Next I went into Google Sketchup, apparently now owned by Trimble, and navigation was so much easier than trying to remember what chord of modifier keys would make things move the way I wanted. I have yet to use it with Blender, but that's next on the agenda.It is not a substitute for the mouse. It won't control the arrow cursor (although apparently there is a beta driver out there that might) but for 3D programs that support it, it is the perfect thing for moving your view around and manipulating selected objects along and around all three axes. So it's an adjunct to your regular mouse. It is delicately sensitive, a feather touch is all that is needed to fly your viewpoint around. So once you get past the terrible driver install issues, it works precisely as advertized. I can see it as an essential tool for anyone who works with 3D models.

This was an easy 5-star to give. The SpaceNavigator gets as much use as my mouse. Yeah, really. You wouldn't think so until you get one to go along with 3D development environments (SecondLife, Maya, Google Earth, others). If I had to summarize what it's like to use, it's like a complete flight-simulator in your left hand. Push down, you go down; pull up, you go up; twist it and you turn; push left right back and forth and you go those directions. You can even control the rate of motion. After using it for a day in a 3D environment it's almost like thinking and you see the motion happen in front of you.For SecondLife users, you can move your avatar naturally. None of that "bumping into doorways" thing. Click the side button and you start moving the in-world camera like you've got it in the nose of a helicopter. For users of 3D modeling systems, you gain that same easy camera motion for looking at your models and scenarios. Google Earth is a fun free thing that uses SpaceNavigator and you just fly yourself around.What's crazy fun is to use the mouse and the SpaceNavigator simultaneously.I've used it with photoshop, but frankly it's a bit robust a tool to use with Photoshop. Perhaps a bit like getting a swiss army knife when the only thing you really need is a screwdriver.There are games available that take advantage of the SpaceNavigator, but they aren't any that I own currently, so I can't comment on how it works with them yet. Maybe later I can come back and add a video review that shows the SpaceNavigator in action.[followup]I returned to edit my review. It was quite nice of Amazon to let me know that I convinced another person to get one of these. The manufacturer officially owes me one *grin*. Since I originally reviewed space navigator, Blender (the free 3D modeling program) went through a life-changing revision and this is a great too for that application.So, the groove is there. Those of us fans of FPS games need to get game makers to support the 3D mouse. Imagine playing Half-life or Bioshock (sure... version 3 of both) where your left hand fluently moves your character via 3D mouse and your right hand uses the conventional mouse to aim and shoot. How more real is that? The future is at our fingertips: does anyone besides me see it?