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.
Contrary to what we learned in high school, a decrease in motion can lead to higher levels of productivity. “By using the SpaceMouse, you limit the need for repetitive mouse and keyboard movement,” says Antonio Pascucci, Chief Executive Officer at 3Dconnexion. “This not only allows you to move faster but, by reducing unnecessary movements, also reduces the risk of overworking your joints.”
3Dconnexion’s SpaceMouse – with 12 programmable application command buttons, an LCD display, custom view keys, and more – provides precise 3D navigation with up to a 28 percent increase in productivity in some cases. And, since SpaceMouse is designed to be used alongside a conventional computer mouse, with the user utilizing one hand for each, this method reduces finger movements by, yet again, up to 28 percent.
3Dconnexion is known for designing powerful, research-based ergonomic hardware – from their CadMouse to their Keyboard Pro with detached numpad – but SpaceMouse and its six-axis rotation capabilities is one of the most popular 3Dconnexion products. Instead of using the same finger to click and operate one mouse wheel to control all the functions on-screen, which can cause functional impairment known as RSI syndrome or “mouse arm,” SpaceMouse distributes the job to both hands and encourages an upright posture and straight wrists, giving creatives the chance of less stress on the job and greater longevity in their careers.
SpaceMouse comes in five varieties: SpaceMouse Compact, SpaceMouse Wireless, SpaceMouse Pro, SpaceMouse Enterprise, and, most recently, SpaceMouse Pro Wireless Bluetooth edition. This month, 3Dconnexion will have a Black Friday Sale on their mice, with the CadMouse Pro Wireless and CadMouse Compact Wireless each at 50% off, as well as the SpaceMouse Enterprise Kit 2 and SpaceMouse Wireless Kit 2 each at 30% off. The promotion will run from Monday, November 20 through Monday, November 27.
“The 6 degrees of freedom with our SpaceMouse allows for a fun and exciting experience,” notes Pascucci. “You can move to different applications and have a consistent navigation experience across them all. This enhances your creativity by allowing you to fly seamlessly through your environment.”
The mouse allows users a level of immersion equal to being inside an animated scene, maneuvering objects and characters like they were holding them in their own hands. Utilized for animation and gaming projects, the SpaceMouse has most recently been used in RetroPixel Digital’s Green Hawk Platoon, a first-person/third-person shooter game developed with Unreal Engine 5, where players are four-inch-tall plastic toy green army men running around huge environments.
“When working in Unreal Engine, the SpaceMouse provides a level of consistency and efficiency that you can’t get with a normal mouse and keyboard,” says Jonathan Winbush, a multi-award-winning motion graphics artist with over 15 years of experience working in a wide arrange of mediums from television, movies, to virtual and augmented reality. "My main industry weapons of choice are Cinema 4D and Unreal Engine in which I can flawlessly go between the two softwares and still use my SpaceMouse with no problems at all."
Check out Winbush’s YouTube video on the SpaceMouse here.
Robert Stadie, product manager at 3Dconnexion, confirms, “With our integrations in most of the major 3D animation softwares, you can switch between different applications without missing a beat.”
SpaceMouse Pro Wireless offers that same professional 3D navigation with advanced ergonomic design, reliable connectivity via Bluetooth, a high-performance Universal Receiver, or cable, providing up to one month of battery life, purpose-built for engineers, architects, 3D artists, and designers on the move. With up to one month of use before the need to recharge via USB-C and a tailored travel case, SpaceMouse Pro Wireless is always available, wherever and whenever it is needed.
The new SpaceMouse Pro Wireless is available for purchase on 3Dconnexion’s website.
Source: 3Dconnexion
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.
