I've never been so disappointed with a FREE gadget before.

[shibby]

I don't want to be overly negative, but I also don't want to sugar-coat the reality of how horrible your product is. Not because it is inherently bad... I think it is a beautiful product with a lot of potential... but the method in which you guys are going about supporting applications is ridiculously inefficient.

I had so many hopes of using this thing only to find that it barely supports anything on my mac.

When I come to the forums, all I see is people from 3DConnexion passing the buck and blaming "API" issues with the program.

My question: Why do you need to rely on 3rd parties to support your hardware?

That in itself should have been a redflag while you were developing this, as it is impossible to expect ever major software developer to care about your single piece of hardware.

What you should have done (and SHOULD do if you want to make your product actually useful to the masses) is create software that lets *me* bind various axis' and movements to controls.

I have an amazing mouse from logitech with a whole bunch of buttons that works with *EVERY* piece of software I use. Why? Well, instead of requiring every software manufacturer to support it, it allows me to make certain buttons and movements of buttons correspond to keys and other macros.

Why don't you have this? This would allow your product to be used in literally every scenario. It would be a huge improvement to your currently lagging support.

And again, I'm not trying to be negative of your product, I am just putting out there that I am a huge gadget lover and recently (a few hours ago) was ecstatic to get one for free (from a friend who could find no use for it)... but now I realize that I too have no real use for it because of how stubborn the software is. I have never been so disappointed *ever*.

So please, if you actually care about your product being more than a joke/novelty item, *please* listen to my (and many others I've read on this forum) feedback and add some sort of user-side customization.

It's not hard. Literally every multi-buttoned mouse and even Wacom tablet have the ability to customize each key press and slider. Why can't you?

Please give me a reason to keep this thing. Please give me a reason to give it a spot on my desk instead of taking it apart for entertainment.

[shibby]

Just to give some examples of uses I would have if it allowed me to do proper binding/hotkeying:

-Binding the "twist" motion to let me scrub through Final Cut video.
-Binding various keys and mouse movements to let me use the camera panning in After Effects (what I had originally hoped to use it for).

Again... if I can do it with my mouse and keyboard, I should be able to do it with your product. Period. No excuses for waiting for "API support".

[JeronCoolman]

Shibby it is pretty sad and I was shocked to find that my SpacePilot, which was definitely not "free" didn't support ANY of the 3D applications I use.

They are working on new versions of the software that will let you map the controls to keystrokes in any application. As you can see in the forums MANY people are shocked and disappointed with this driver/application support policy/paradigm/philosophy.

I have a huge collection of controllers and a couple 3D mice ALL of which support ANY application. The SpacePilot is the best of all of the 3D controllers as far as hardware goes, but the absolute worse as far as support for applications goes.

Heck my video editing keyboard with a shuttle jog wheel gives me better support in my 3D applications than the SpacePilot

They'll get the support there eventually. They will have to in order to survive...

[aeirt]

They'll get the support there eventually. They will have to in order to survive...

I only wish I believed this. I'm a Linux user, and the supported software list is 5 items long, two of which are different parts of the same software: Blender, Maya, NX, SIMULIA Abaqus/CAE, SIMULIA Abaqus/Viewer. But the simple truth is that there's no one else who makes similar devices - just google for "3d mice" or "3d motion controller" and you'll see that all those other competitor products are no longer manufactured. 3DConnexion clearly don't care about their users - they've got our money already, why bother trying to keep us happy? It's not as if we've got any other alternatives; and as long as they have a monopoly, they can continue putting out utterly unsupported devices and they'll still survive.

I just wish they'd stop and think about how many more of these damned things they'd sell if you could actually use them in all of the different CAD packages and various 3D modelling software. As far as linux goes, all they have to do is make it properly standards compliant (i.e. make it work as a proper HID device should) and the open source community would do the rest - but they've not realised this, even though we users have been telling them this for years now.

I love the hardware, but I'm sure as hell telling everyone I know that it's a pointless waste of money now. I just wish someone had told me that before I'd bought one.

[Phil999]

I love the hardware, but I'm sure as hell telling everyone I know that it's a pointless waste of money now. I just wish someone had told me that before I'd bought one.

strange, I tell people the exact opposite - as long as they work with 3D applications and Windows OS. If people don't work with 3D and occasionally use video editors and media players, I don't recommend 3dx devices. There are other controllers that suit better for these tasks. Mac and Linux I don't know.

In Windows OS, there are alternative drivers (Universal Cosmonaut, RBC9) that enhance the usability of 3dx devices. Very useful for video editing and common tasks, while preserving the functionality in 3D-applications.

[jwick]

We have released 3DxWare 10 open beta.

This release includes keyboard, mouse and joystick emulation.

Please try it out and let us know what you think. There is a new 3DxWare 10 Beta Forum for discussion.

I'm locking this thread so users who get informed about changes to the thread won't miss this announcement. Feel free to start a new thread to continue this discussion, if you wish.