Category: News

SpacePilot PRO (overreaching? a short Part II)

I recently wrote a review questioning the fact that the SpacePilot PRO is a control device with an LCD screen.  As noted by my fellow blogger Jeff Mirisola of Jeff’s Tool Shed, 3D Connexion recently updated their drivers and software for the SpacePilot PRO.  This update fixed a few bugs in the software related to the saving of settings.  It should be noted that the problem I had with saving settings does not seem to be the same as others, and was minor by comparison.  The problem I found was with my programmable key maps being saved.  This issue was not fixed with the recent upgrade, but I’m not concerned because the workaround is already built-in.  The possible cause of all this is the strange fact that there are more than one program used to control the key mappings. Since I know which program to use to save my key maps, I’m not terribly concerned with it not working in their second program.  The second program doesn’t allow for as many functions to be assigned to the buttons too, which I find odd.

OK, back to the point.  As said, I criticized the existence of an LCD screen on the SpacePilot PRO.  I wondered why the device had one.  It didn’t seem to be of much use.  Well, with the recent update of the 3DConnexion drivers, I take this back.  The LCD screen is now very useful to display key mapping in a very clear and much better organized method.  Now obvious is the function programmed for a particular button.  With this, I’m now able to get use out of the LCD screen, and I am more comfortable with the use of the programmable buttons too.  It really expands the device’s user-friendliness.  So, the only question left (besides making the secondary key mapping program work 100% as expected) is whether this device is worth the $500 price tag.  The price does seem to be pushing the upper limit of what one might expect to pay for a control device, particularly one that doesn’t replace any other control devices (you’ll still need a mouse).

OK, I think I beat this dead horse long enough.  I’ll just close with saying, if you have the need for a 3D mouse, then this is certainly the king of them all!

May Contest becomes a battle

May Contest has grown into a bit of a battle between Deepak Gupta and Frank Dijkstra. I must say the response is a bit more than I expected.  There are certainly a lot of SolidWorks related online forums.  The winner is a long way from being determined.  Even with all of their combined contributions (many of which has surprized me), I can comfortably say there are forums they haven’t found yet.  Who will come out on top?  Sitting on the sidelines is Matt West who has shown interest in submitting many of his own links.  I have to wonder if the uniqueness his list has been diminished as a result of Deepak’s and Frank’s efforts.  I guess we’ll soon see.

Create the Future Design Contest

Create the Future Design Contest is an annual contest from NASA Tech Briefs and Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp.  Sigh.  Why is SolidWorks Corp still saddled with that crazy name that in no way represents it.  Anyway, this contest recognizes product design innovation in several categories.  This year’s winners represent quite an impressive collection of inventions.  The grand prize this year was certainly deserving.

LifeBelt CPRThe grand prize is the LifeBelt CPR of Deca-Medics, Inc.  It is a compact and lightweight device designed to be attached quickly to someone who is having a Sudden Cardiac Arrest.  It enables a rescuer to start CPR about 15 seconds or less.  It is even equipped with an intuitive readout that helps the rescuer determine correct CPR compression.

I recently saw a news story that stated that average person doesn’t have enough expertise or stamina to conduct CPR long enough to be effective.  It was stated that most people tire out after two minutes, and that CPR could require up to 8 minutes of constant compressions.  Unfortunately, not long after I found that report, a sad incident occurred locally.  Recently the San Francisco Bay Area, a school nurse died of exhaustion minutes after conducting CPR on a coach who mysteriously collapsed. A device like the LifeBelt CPR would prevent this kind of ironic sad news.

DS SolidWorks Surpasses One Million Licenses

As predicted for 2009, SolidWorks Corp has exceeded 1 million software licenses.  It has taken 14 years to come to this achievement.  In the press release today, SolidWorks Corp stated that the 1 millionth sale was by OGIO International, a Utah-based company “that is working on a new line of motorcross racing accessories.”  They have been a SolidWorks customer for 4 years.

“We are excited to reach the million mark and very grateful for each customer that has trusted SolidWorks software to help drive his or her organization’s success”, said SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray.

Press release is available here.

3DConnexion SpacePilot PRO (Tinkering with buttons and views)

I’ve been tinkering with the SpacePilot PRO.  I love customization.  The SpacePilot PRO offers a high level of customization.  I will discuss different facets of the device in future articles.  This time I am writing about the programmable buttons.

SpacePilot PROThe SpacePilot PRO has 21 programmable buttons.  Additionally, 10 of those buttons have dual mappings for a total of 31 mapped commands.  That is a lot!  On top of that, each of the buttons are mapped differently for each program or mode supported by the device.  Within SolidWorks itself, there are three different mappings: Drawing, Part and Assembly modes.  (There is no mapping just for sketches, but there should be.)

Many of the buttons are directly related to functionality of the device or specific commands that are defined by intuitive icons.  Ultimately, I only recommend changing the mapping for the five buttons.  These are the dual mapped buttons labelled 1/6, 2/7, 3/8, 4/9, and 5/10.  When holding the left hand over the navigation knob, these buttons fall under the pinky finger. Giving the dual mapped button a single quick press initiates the first command.  To choose the second command instead, press and hold the button down for a second.  These buttons are a little awkward at first (being under the pinky), but I got used to it pretty quickly.

The 5 dual mapped buttons to the right of the knob (accessed with the thumb or index finger) provide quick access to standard model views.  For example, one button jumps to the front or back views of the model.  Most of the standard model views are covered by this set of buttons.  However, one thing that is missing is the ability to save a named view and to return to it at any time.  Given the level of detail that has gone into the SpacePilot PRO, it surprizes me that this ability is missing.  I think this is one of the points I mentioned to 3Dconnexion back in February.

So, you know what I did?  I made up for this missing functionality by writing a pair of macros that do just that.  One saves the current model view as a named view.  The other returns to that named view.  I then programmed these two functions to button 1/6.  (I’ve already uploaded these to my resources site here: Quick View Save and Restore.  These macros can actually be used with any device with programmable functions, or even just as icons on a toolbar.) Let’s hope that 3Dconnexion covers this basic function in future iterations of their 3D mice.

Hint: for users of SolidWorks 2008 and 2009, I would recommend programming one of the buttons to the letter “S” for the shortcut toolbar.  This would practically eliminate the need to touch the keyboard except for typing notes and numbers.

Overall, I have found that the plentiful number of buttons is a big plus for the SpacePilot PRO.  These buttons extend the functionality of the device beyond just being a 3D mouse.