▼SpacePilot Intelligent Motion Controller USB

I've been putting off buying a motion controller for years due to the cost. If you are a serious user bite the bullet and buy the 3D-Connexion SpacePilot 3d Controller. It is easy to use and my productivity has increased already. This is a great product.

Posted: Friday, November 17, 2006

3D used to be a very diffuicult to control with a traditional mouse or joystick. Now with the new SpacePilot everything is so easy and all the movements are natural and come almost spantaneous. Recommended.

Posted: Sunday, September 03, 2006

After my previous review, which was negative to say the least, I was contacted by 3D Connexion to address my issues. A representative from 3D Connexion flew up and spent an afternoon with me to go over the problems that I was having a discuss possible solutions. The problems that I was having were all specific to Maxon’s Cinema4D, so 3D Connexion was able to work together with Maxon, and I am happy to report that in the latest update to Cinema4D (release 9.6), all of the problems have been resolved. In addition, information regarding the usage of the device in Cinema4D has been included in the addendum to the manual.

In my view, this is a great example of a company listening to their users and proving solutions to the problems that come up. All that I can say about the SpacePilot now is that if you do any significant amount of 3D work, you have to have one.

David de Yarza

PS. 3D Connexion did not give me any freebies or paid me off, honest.


The original review
posted by David De Yarza - Monday, December 12, 2005

The Space Pilot from 3D Connexion makes a great first impression, which makes it just the more difficult to discover that it really falls short of the company’s statements about increased productivity and reduced fatigue.

In my particular case, I purchased the Space Pilot to be used with Maxon’s Cinema4D as well as some occasional Maya. My purchase was greatly influenced by claims by the manufacturer of support for both these applications, there is even a great endorsement by Maxon’s CEO, who highly recommends the product to all users of Cinema4D.

With that being the case, I was very surprised to find out that there is no support for Cinema4D in the installation of the Space Pilot. The application does not get found by the installer and a call to 3D Connexion’s tech support only reveals that they (at least this particular tech) do not know of Cinema4D.

Some more digging around revealed that the functionality for the device is built into an undocumented plug-in within Cinema4D, but at least it works. That is when the real disappointment begins. You immediately fall in love with the controller. 3D navigation is fast and intuitive. Moving around in 3D space in any other way will no longer do. The problem is that if you are orbiting the view from a distance everything is great, but as soon as you zoom in tight to work on your model you discover the problem. As you come in close, the movement becomes exaggerated and you can not accurately place your view or objects. It is as if with each unit of movement of the 3D controller the view pans a predetermined distance, and as you come in tighter that distance does not get smaller.

Of course I assumed it was a setting problem and I went to work on the control panel for the device and started messing with the sensitivity, which only seems to affect how much pressure you have to give the controller to move one step. Once it does move, however, it is always the same distance.

I believe this to be a problem with the plug-in, and although I believe that Maxon should be responsible for most of the development on the plug-in to support this device, 3D Connexion might want to re-think it’s marketing strategy.

The same problem, by the way, occurs with Maya. Installation is straight forward and it is documented, but the same thing happens with the motion as you get in close to geometry that you might want to edit.

By the way, I tried the device in AutoCAD and it works like a charm. The farther you zoom in, the smaller the movement gets and you can accurately place your view as needed. So that confirms that this is a software issue. I imagine that Solid Works and Inventor have similarly functional plug-ins.

The last let down was to find out via user forums, that there are not many people using this kind of device with Cinema4D so there is no support from the user community. Few people have ever tied it and it seems that they probably abandoned it for the same reasons.

When Novedge invited me to rate this product, I decided to contact 3D Connexion’s tech support to give them a chance to at least acknowledge the problem before I wrote in. That was two weeks ago and I have not heard a thing back, so we can add lousy client support to the profile.

I would really like for this to work. I can see how productive an useful it would be if it worked right. Unfortunately for my application I spent $500 on a paperweight. If you want to use a 3D controller with Cinema4D, Maya, or 3D Studio Max (same issue there) I would suggest buying the under $200 Space Traveler instead. Same device with a few less bells and whistles, but I would imagine it to work the same way for a lot less. At least that way I would feel like I threw away a lot less money.

Posted: Tuesday, May 09, 2006

I have been modeling 3D for over 10 years, and swiftly kicked my self for not purchasing a 3D input device like this Space Pilot years ago. This nifty device has made modeling fun again. As a mechanical engineer I am constantly challenged to come up with ways to improve workspace efficiency and reduce overhead associated with labor, and yet overlooked my own workspace and things like this Space Pilot that can drastically improve thru put and enhance 3D comprehension. I would strongly recommend this product to anyone that is working in a 3D design space.

Aaron Noble

Design and Tooling Engineer
Porex Surgical Inc.

Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2006

This next generation of the "space" controllers returns the button layout to a layout similar to the original space ball. This, along with the LED. display are tremendous improvements to the interim space ball designs. The motion control is becoming smoother and more widely integrated in the PC based CAD software as well.

Posted: Monday, November 28, 2005