im sorry but is that necessary...?

This must be for the person who has everything...

At the heart of the SpacePilot PRO is its support for 3D applications, whether its 3DS Max or Maya. The mouse can actually move in all three dimensions (X,Y,Z) simultaneously, using 3Dconnexion's "six-degrees-of-freedom" technology. By lifting, pressing, and turning the controller cap, designers can easily pan, zoom and rotate without stopping to select commands.

I'm sure some 3d designers will use it just for that. I know I would. 500 is not a massive amount if you consider it from a workstation point of view. If something like this will improve your productivity then I'm sure you'll consider buying it.

From a home consumers point of view its defo expensive and mostly useless.

I could see this being a good mouse for some things.. Hell if I was constantly making maps for games.. I would damn near consider getting this mouse..

uhh...that's not a mouse. it's just a spacepilot with a screen. duh tom?

Add the functionality of their uber-expensive (but very good) universal remotes, and I'm sold.

You know how much booze one could buy with 500 bux?? A LOT!

maybe something I actually will buy in 15 years or so,when it somewhat proves necessary... By then they probably will cost an acceptable $50.

$500 for something that will last all of 3 years, what a good investment....

THIS IS NOT A MOUSE. This is a 3d Controller for CAD/Digital Content Creation. You can't game with this, and frankly, no-one should be writing articles about this unless they understand the benefits of Quadro/FirePro graphic cards. Come-on Kevin...

The LCD screen on the mouse is cool,,,, if I had eyes on my fingertips

My Wacom tablet cost around 500 dollars. Of course it could be considered a "mouse" device. I need it for all the Adobe software, Zbrush and it improves my productivity by not making my carpal tunnel flare up...which can be crippling, (I got it from being a welder believe it or not.)

This being said, I consider it well worth the money and would have paid well over 1k if I had to. It's worth it if you do it for a living.

How do you read the LCD when your hand is over the mouse?

id rather have a small screen on a stand below my monitor, looking over your mouse would be incredibly anoying. even as a game designer point of view, i would much rather have a small 2.5-5 in screen to have the same effects.

Why not displaying the information where I'm looking at, on my monitor?

Actually, this looks far less like a mouse and far more like a joystick/keyboard replacement. It looks like you're meant to use this with your left hand (if you're right handed) and use a mouse in your right hand, moving the object you're working with in 3D around with the control knob with your left hand, accessing the functions you want to use with the keyboard replacement macros/buttons with your left hand and doing the actual editing with the mouse in your right hand. In this way you could think of it more like holding an object in your left hand while sculpting it with a knife in your right hand.

This is definitely not a mouse but looks like a superb 3D editing tool.

I'll take 2, please.

So its ok to spend $100 on a custom-weighted lazer gaming mouse, but $500 is too much for a mouse specifically designed for 3D designing/engineering? I've seen a much more expensive mouse for a Sun development workstation.

This is Tom's Hardware, not Tom's Crysis-Capable Hardware.

Having done 3D modeling (not professionally) I can see why someone would spring for a mouse that is able to control all 3 axis, but I think the LCD is overkill. This is definetly a niche item, to the point that even the guy who has everything has no need for this mouse. This is one gadget you would have to need to want.

i saw them use this to control the starship enterprise!

I was initially thinking that an LCD on a pointing device is a waste... but since the product is really a CAD tool - such a screen could be pretty useful (especially if it was a touchscreen or better yet multitouch). You could use it for dynamic templates... which if supported by cad and graphics apps would be pretty powerful.

Again as others who actually have professional CAD experience, this is not a mouse. This is a supplement to a mouse. It's a 3D input device for manipulating solid models, etc. You use this with your left hand, and a mouse in addition with your right hand. It's amazing how much faster you can get things done using one versus not. It's worth at least $500 to a business. The LCD screen with email however seems a bit excessive if already using multiple monitors.

Yes, but can the LCD display Crysis?

I was thinking that you can actually use the darn thing to sort of move the object freely (or maybe I watched too much sci-fi movies) but from the video demo, it's nothing more than just providing shortcuts, nothing more than that. Unless there is more beyond that, then it's not worth crap even to people who make 3D designs.

Instead of making bone-headed comments about the product please check out the actual web site (might want to add this one to the article):

http://www.3dconnexion.com/spp/details.php#comfort

cheers,
r

I use Max a lot but can this thing game???

A competent 3d designer can manipulate a model very quickly with a traditional mouse or tablet. You should see a video of some of these guys at work, you'll see that there is no need for this at all.