Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not for Maya Users BUT a very handy $$ paperweight., September 2, 2007
I recently purchased the Space Navagater and was impressed by it's sleek style and response BUT if you're using it in Maya 3D it will grind even the most powerful CPU to a halt.I have a quad core G5 with 6 gigs of RAM. I work in Maya as a CG artist and instead of drivers this thing uses mel scripting to function and will choke your system full of callback info and become useless and unuseable after about 2 minutes of use. The company claims on the box it works well with Maya well it simply doesn't. Someday when they write a good driver perhaps I will be back in business, BUT for now it is a paperweight at my workstation.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a job specific tool, April 29, 2008
1st make sure you read all other reviews. They all have pertinent information. I'm a mechanical product developer for the aerospace industry. Using Solidworks for 3D modeling and Mastercam for programming CNC machining centers, I find the Space Navigator priceless. I do own the Space Pilot, and the Space Traveller and the Space Navigator. All are worthy of their intended capability. So if you need to design/model intriquete parts where you need to explore inside cavities to confirm interaction of mating parts, this is the tool that does make it easier and faster than any other tool in the CAD industry. If you want to play with one for anything other serious CAD modeling, buy the cheapest one and get it out of your system. There's no need for this device unless you're needing 3D solid model control. As far as the differing prices, I'm equally satisfied with my $59 Navigator as I am with my $499 Space Pilot. If you need this tool and don't need the customizable features, spend the $50+.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Revolutionary, Must-Have 3D Device for Architecture and More, September 15, 2008
Anyone doing 3D modeling, particularly in architecture, really has to have one of these devices if their software supports it.
The SpaceNavigator supports several products that I use on a daily basis: Graphisoft ArchiCAD, Abvent Artlantis Studio, Google SketchUp and Google Earth. [Right-handed user assumed here...] It is placed to the left of the keyboard, so that you have you right hand still on your mouse. It is not a selection device, but a navigation device.
Navigating in 3D in many 3D applications is a jerky process - smooth pan, rotate, etc followed by moving your mouse to a new position (causing a pause in the action) and start moving again.
With the SpaceNavigator, movement is fluid and (if you change the preferences to high speed) - fast (and fun)!
The SpaceNavigator can be set up to work in your model in either a fly-through mode or in 'object' mode. I prefer 'object' mode. If I am looking at a building, the movement of my hand on the SpaceNavigator is identical to if I was holding a physical model of that building in my hand. If I rotate away from me, the building rotates away. Push to the left, the building pans to the left. Lift on the knob, the building rises on the screen. Etc. Extremely intuitive and slightly immersive.
In ArchiCAD or Artlantis, I can work much faster than with mouse alone... and in perspective mode, so the views are more realistic. I can instantly get to the back side of the building, looking up at the fascia to deal with a rafter issue there, for example.
I'm a heavy user of keyboard shortcuts, and do not find that it interferes at all with that, as suggested by another reviewer. The device is immediately to the left of my Cap Lock key, so it is milliseconds to get my hand back over the keyboard.
With clients, there is almost no need to generate animations (movies) since you can move accurately and fluidly in OpenGL to walk through a building in real time. But, even for animations, the SpaceNavigator lets you quickly set up camera positions.
Google Earth is pretty fun with it, too - again, completely fluid navigation, vs the move, pause, jerk kind of navigation achieved with a mouse.
Note that this review is on the SE page, but applies to the PE model as well. The license is the only thing I hate about this thing. The SE and PE models are identical, differing only in their license details. The SE is for non-commercial work, the PE for commercial (for profit). You can 'upgrade' an SE to a PE on the manufacturer web site - although it is cheaper to buy a PE here at Amazon in the first place.
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