Michael Lord

It’s been a busy couple of months!

First with 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024, where I presented my “How I Customised My SOLIDWORKS User Interface & Why you should do so.” That presentation, along with all the other presentations were recorded & are now available in the World Community section of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. You can log in with your SOLIDWORKS ID, to view any of the Breakout sessions.

I had made a very late decision, just before heading across to the USA, for World, to buy a new computer. I ended up purchasing a Dell Precision 3480 Mobile Workstation, much more on that, the reasoning & a full review in a later post. The decision to purchase a new computer has conveniently coincided nicely with 3dconnexion providing me with their latest product, the SpaceMouse Pro Wireless BlueTooth Edition.

I have always had a fondness for 3dconnexion products! They are beautiful engineered & I do love a wonderfully designed & manufactured product! There is a certain weightiness to the SpaceMouse range of products, matched only by the slightly understated, fingerprint-resistant, low lustre satin black on high gloss black surround, with just the right amount of machined stainless steel detail!
I would have 3dconnexion products on my desk, just sitting there, to appreciate, without even needing to use them! Although that might say much more about me, than it does about the SpaceMouse Pro Wireless!

The arrival of the SpaceMouse Pro Wireless BlueTooth Edition could not have been more timely. It has allowed me to have a think about how I should setup the Dell Precision 3480 or should I say more correctly, how I go about setting up my interactions with SOLIDWORKS, instead of just loading my existing settings, which have evolved over many years. However, it does provide a slight quandary, for a few reasons. To start I’m a big advocate of Trackballs, I’ve been using the various Logitech versions, Trackman, M570 and now Ergo, for well over fifteen years and have found it suits my needs with SOLIDWORKS Add to that, I’ve spent the past twenty year working in SOLIDWORKS. In that time I’ve evolved the customisation of my interface, along with modelling techniques, to minimise my mouse movement & the number of mouse clicks! Which just so happens to be the topic of my presentation at 3DEXPERIENCE World!

Now in saying that, it doesn’t mean that I’m not open to exploring other productive methods. I also see the 3dconnexion products as a complimentary tool, to your customisation in SOLIDWORKS, not as an alternative tool.

Personally I think the SpaceMouse Pro Wireless BlueTooth Edition is the perfect companion for a laptop! I say that because I believe that using a laptop keyboard is vastly different than using a desktop keyboard. The way that most laptop keyboards are positioned offset in from the sides & end, positions your hand, especially your left hand differently, (or your right hand if you are using a left hand mouse) in regards to using keyboard shortcuts. I personally, & Microsoft by default configures a majority of the keyboard shortcuts towards the leftside of the keyboard, for left hand use. This is one of the reasons why I think the 3dconnexion products are particularly suited for use with a laptop, as it better suits how your hands sit.

To go with the mobility of a laptop, 3dconnexion supplies the SpaceMouse Pro BlueTooth Edition with a very nice protective, semi-hardshell carry case for transporting. Whilst for some that might not be too important, but for some, like me, who may be described as particular (or fussy, fanatical, rabid and the list goes on) when it comes to keeping things in a “as new condition” for the life of the product, it’s high on the list!

3dconnexion also provides three options on how to connect the SpaceMouse Pro Wireless BlueTooth Edition to your computer. There is a USB-A (computer) to USB-C (SpaceMouse) cable which provides both connection & charging. There is connection via wireless using a provided Universal Receiver.

To free up your USB-A port there is also a connection (as the name of the product suggests) via Bluetooth which is both simple to connect & the most convient and the option that I am using.

The SpaceMouse Pro interfaces via the 3dconnexion 3DxWare software, which allows for customisation of the numerous buttons on the device. It very cleverly allows for those buttons to be programmed differently with the use of different software. You can review those functions when scrolling through opened applications with the 3dconnexion software running, as shown in the video below.

Most would know 3dconnexion products for their ability to rotate & control a 3D CAD model via the controller cap. The SpaceMouse Pro comes with four view buttons along with a toggle key to disable the rotation axes, to the right of the controller cap. You can see some of its functionality with SOLIDWORKS in the below video.

I’m still exploring the standard setup and use of all the buttons, at this stage, so I’m not quite ready to go charging in and customising how the buttons function.

I do particularly like how the top row of buttons that are labeled 1 to 4 function. As standard Button 1 opens the File Manager, Button 2 opens a browser and Button 4 the Task Manager. Button 3 opens 3dconnexions own CAD viewer, which is a subject for another day. A simple operation that reduces mouse movement! The below video shows the top-row buttons in operation.

Whilst 3dconnexion products are best known for their use with CAD, design and creative software, personally, I think their ability and use in all software is greatly underestimated. I for many years have had a 3dconnexion SpaceNavigator (similar product to the now SpaceMouse Compact) & very early on, I discovered its use with all applications. Like the ability to scroll columns & emails in Outlook.

Or when reading and scrolling pages in a browser.

Or for those never ending pages and columns in speadsheets.

Whilst I’m not ready to give up on my keyboard shortcuts or mouse gestures in SOLDWORKS yet, I am starting to look at the vast range of customisation and functionality of the programmable buttons that are part of SpaceMouse Pro Wireless BlueTooth Edition. That is going to take a little time, a little experimentation and the subject of another post, a little further down the track!