The company’s powerful, ergonomically designed SpaceMouse 3D, CadMouse, and Keyboard Pro are providing improved creative workflows and professional-grade comfort to artists in the animation and game industries.
It’s already a tall order, asking artists to spend long hours on low budgets to deliver unique, exciting work in competitive environments such as the animation and gaming industries. And it’s even more challenging when they don’t have the right tools.
“Our goal is to give 3D designers and creators the tools to skyrocket their creativity", says Antonio Pascucci, Chief Executive Officer at 3Dconnexion. “From improving the creation workflow and amplifying creativity, to offering professional-grade comfort, our tools give artists the competitive edge they need."
Having worked with car manufacturers like General Motors and high-tech leaders like Apple, 3Dconnexion has pivoted to invest in the worlds of animation, game development, and game design with a stated mission is to “provide peace of mind to the professionals who design the buildings, machines, and products that power our world.”
To help create the next big thing in innovative gameplay and animated storytelling, 3Dconnexion has designed powerful, research-based ergonomic hardware – from their SpaceMouse 3D and CadMouse mice to their keyboard Pro with detached numpad – and smart, easy-to-use software that combines to make working in the world’s most popular Computer Aided Design (CAD), DCC applications, and 3D environments fast, comfortable, and fun.
In addition to their CadMouse, which provides ideal sensitivity, reactivity, and precise control, 3Dconnexion’s SpaceMouse is what they’re widely known for. It allows users to navigate around models and scenes, while simultaneously activating application commands to speed up workflows. The smooth rotations on 6 axes cannot be replicated with a standard mouse and keyboard, opening up new possibilities for camera moves.
“Our engineering team has put considerable effort into enabling a great user experience inside a wide range of applications for game developers,” says Robert Stadie, Product Manager at 3Dconnexion. “Today, we are happy to have dedicated solutions for industry-standard software applications such as Unreal Engine, Cinema 4D, Autodesk 3ds Max, Unity, Adobe Substance 3D Painter, and more.”
Pascucci adds, “Once you let the SpaceMouse establish that almost tactile connection to what you see on your screen, you allow yourself a level of immersion equal to being inside your scene. Looking naturally around you inside a 3D space, maneuvering objects and characters like you were holding them in your hands – what better way to give your creativity free rein?"
In May, 3Dconnexion and Maxon – a software solutions company focused on 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects and visualization – teamed up on a new solution for Cinema 4D. The new integration, available for both Windows and Mac users, ensures the availability of all 3Dconnexion features on all devices and is included in the latest 3Dconnexion driver – 3DxWare. Through Cinema 4D, 3Dconnexion seeks to support creators throughout their entire workflow, with unified navigation and responsive features ranging across the entire application suite.
And, further expanding the company’s reach into the gaming industry, 3Dconnexion is currently partnering with Nick Romick of RetroPixel Digital on a new game, Green Hawk Platoon, which utilizes the 3DConnexion Space Mouse Enterprise for both game development and cinematics.
“It is a real game changer,” says Romick of the mouse. “I’ve tried some different peripherals before to help enhance my workflow, but end up not using a lot of them, since a lot of them are a bit gimmicky. I must admit, I thought that the Space Mouse was going to be a similar situation, but I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. The fact that it took me less than 15 minutes to really get the hang of how it worked, and how easy it was to navigate around Unreal Engine was a real shock.”
Developed with Unreal Engine 5, Green Hawk Platoon is a first-person/third-person shooter game with, as Romick describes, “a bit of a twist.” The players are four-inch-tall plastic toy green army men running around huge environments, from bedrooms and kitchens to backyards, garages, even classrooms. Players have to navigate these environments using special abilities and environmental objects to get around, such as using fans and vents to jump up to higher levels. There are also a lot of environmental hazards, like mouse traps, barbecues, stoves, cats, birds, and more that players have to watch out for while trying to take out the enemy team.
Players can play as different classes, such as Rifleman, Heavy Gunner or Medic, and more classes will be released as the game progresses. It will be released on Steam (date to-be-announced) as a Free-to-Play game.
“We decided to limit the violence as much as we can,” notes Romick. “We understand that this game is a shooter, but at the same time, we’ve removed any blood or gore, and focus on the fact that the soldiers are actually part of a child’s imagination. When players die, they revert to their solid plastic state and just fall over (rather than ragdoll). Soldiers will act the way a child THINKS soldiers act, so they will be just a bit less serious than real soldiers. The overall mood we hope to create is fun and a bit silly (similar to the LEGO video games).”
“Our company is excited to keep expanding its focus into the game development and animation community,” says Pascucci. “Our products offer designers a new, exciting and immersive navigation experience, allowing them to shift their attention towards creativity and reach greater artistic outputs, while keeping their workflow consistent across the different applications they use on a daily basis.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
