3Dconnexion Powers up SpacePilot PRO

Aiming to help engineers streamline CAD operations andreduce interruptions to their work flow, 3Dconnexionhas released what it claims is its most powerful 3-D mouse yet - the SpacePilotPRO.

SpacePilot PRO, now the flagship offering in 3Dconnexion'smice fleet, was designed to address three top concerns among 3Dconnexioncustomers, according to Froi Lomotan, an engineer on the SpacePilot PRO team.The unit, aimed at the core engineer who spends at least four hours a day workingwith an MCAD tool, makes it easier to access the power of professional 3-Dapplications, helps minimize interruptions in the design workflow and has beenretooled to deliver improved comfort.

Unlike traditional mice, which are confined to motion on aflat plane, 3-D mice enable engineers to move in all three dimensionssimultaneously, taking advantage of 3Dconnexion's six-degrees-of-freedom sensortechnology. As a result, engineers are able to easily pan, zoom and rotate modelsas one integrated movement, unlike traditional mice, which require them toselect and initiate the operations as separate commands.

"With 3-D mice, engineers don't have to think about thesteps involved in panning, rotating or doing edits on a model," Lomotan says. "It makes for a much more seamless and productive workflow."

One of the primary new features of the new unit is the LCDWorkflow Assistant, an additional color LCD, which lists function-keyassignments and provides at-a-glance access to traditional office data andtools, including email, calendars and task lists. 3Dconnexion delivers thiscapability within an open software architecture, so developers can furtherextend the capability with additional applets, Lomotan says. The LCD WorkflowAssistant lets engineers integrate their regular business workflows with theirengineering workflows, allowing them, for example, to view emails in the LCDpanel. In this way, they could determine whether or not something is importantenough to interrupt their design work. The LCD Workflow Assistant can also beleveraged for improved communications with a design team, using the window toreach out with Twitter or othercollaboration tools, he adds.

In addition to the LCD Workflow Assistant, the SpacePilotPRO offers advanced MCAD navigation via five new dual-function QuickView keys.The QuickView keys deliver quick access to 32 standard views, including top andbottom, right and left, front and back and 90-degree view rotations. By easily beingable to look at a design from multiple angles, engineers can more easily detecterrors and conduct more effective design reviews, Lomotan says. There are alsofive new fully customizable, dual-function keys offered on the new model (upfrom two on older units), which offer immediate, one-touch access to 10frequently used commands within any of the supported CAD programs. TheSpacePilot PRO will automatically detect the active CAD application and assignthe appropriate function keys accordingly.

In the area of improved comfort, the SpacePilot PROhas a new symmetrical layout for its function keys so the device can be usedwith either hand. There is also a new sculpted, soft-coated wrist rest andimproved fingertip control. The unit, which is supported by over 130 leading3-D applications, is available now for $499.

3Dconnexion Powers Up SpacePilot PRO A