CAD Forum

CADNurd wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 10:46 am I have the SpaceMouse compact, and a much more regular mouse than yours, with no extra buttons.

I struggled with similar issues and settled on assigning CTRL to the right button on the SpaceMouse. For a long time I had the S-Key assigned to the left SpaceMouse button, which worked well; but I now use that button for toggling 3D rotation on/off.

I've moved the S-Key now to a 'mouse gesture' - specifically right-mouseclick-hold and swipe left. Escape, I've also put on the same mouse gesture but swiping right. I've assigned multiple segments of the 8 segment wheel to the same command so that I don't have to be so precise . . .

. . . SEE LABELLED IMAGE BELOW

Untitled drawing.jpg

It works for me, but with your 11 button mouse you'll probably settle on a different setup.

laukejas wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 11:17 am . . . Mouse wheel down: S-key

CADNurd wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 12:40 pm Didn't know you could do that - scroll down to activate something?

Anyway. Definitely have a look at SolidWorks 'mouse gestures' and also, something I only found out later, you can create your own 'custom radial menus' with up to 8 segments each in the 3Dconnexion software - in a clunky/roundabout way turning the 2 SpaceMouse buttons into as many as 16.

laukejas wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:15 am Hi,

After 11 years at SW, I finally wised up and got myself a SpaceMouse Compact (just the knob, with 2 programmable buttons). For my regular mouse, I am using Logitech G502, which has 11 programmable buttons. It has been just a few days, and I'm already much faster at navigating models than I ever was with a regular mouse. Problem is, I was a heavy keyboard user - I only ever used mouse for navigation and selections, as everything else was assigned to keyboard shortcuts. But that is very inconvenient with SpaceMouse, constantly having shift my hand from it to the keyboard.

To anyone riding SpaceMouse Compact + regular mouse, can you share some pro tips on customizing shortcut menus, toolbars, assigning programmable buttons on SpaceMouse and regular mouse, etc.? What's your customization setup? My end goal is to do away with keyboard completely except for entering dimensions. I am really struggling with things like multi-select (which requires CTRL and SHIFT), also lack of ESC, DEL, TAB and SHIFT-TAB (hiding/displaying), and so on. There's only so many programmable buttons I have before I have to start relying on shortcut menus and toolbars.

Would really appreciate some suggestions on how you solved this.

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 12:25 pm On Mouse:
Enter, ESC so you don't need to move to top right to click Check and X.
S for the other menu.
Delete if you're brave.

On 3D Mouse:
Shift and Ctrl.

MouseButtons-01.jpg

laukejas wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 1:06 pm How do you deal with not having Normal To bound to any of these mice keys?

Glenn Schroeder wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:52 am I've been using a 3d mouse for many years, and wouldn't want to have to work without it, and I didn't start with AutoCAD like many people of my generation, so I never got accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts.

I'd like to agree with @DanPihlaja about using keyboard shortcuts. I have mine set up with twelve in each of the four environments, and once you get used to it they're very fast.

Here is what mine look like, but of course for different industries and workflows different commands will likely make more sense. (Note that I have Escape in the same location for all four, and the one to open, close, or edit a sketch is the same in three of them.


image.png

laukejas wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 4:15 am Hi,

Problem is, I was a heavy keyboard user - I only ever used mouse for navigation and selections, as everything else was assigned to keyboard shortcuts. But that is very inconvenient with SpaceMouse, constantly having shift my hand from it to the keyboard.

XHawkeye wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:18 am This is the reason I quit using the SpaceMouse after trying it for a week. Too much to unlearn after using keyboard shortcuts since acad 10.

SPerman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 10:13 am When I was using NX, I found the spacemouse indispensable. When I started with Solidworks, I found my left hand on the keyboard so much that I got rid of it. Since then I am back to using the spacemouse, but mostly for panning and zooming. I still find my hand on the keyboard more than on the spacemouse. This time I bought the one with all of the buttons, but now I'm fighting muscle memory. I'm sure if I glued my left hand to the mouse, I would eventually break that habit. The problem is there are still lots of times the keyboard is needed, and my hand stays there instead of going back to the spacemouse. (I was a Autocad user back in the 90's, and was a fan of doing everything through the keyboard.)

Glenn Schroeder wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 8:52 am I've been using a 3d mouse for many years, and wouldn't want to have to work without it, and I didn't start with AutoCAD like many people of my generation, so I never got accustomed to using keyboard shortcuts.

dave.laban wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:20 am As far as Mouse Gestures go, having the S-key menu in the bottom-right location of the Gesture Wheel is definitively the best place for it, as when it pops up it's already underneath your cursor without having to change direction.

I've got a SpaceExplorer and I think the button I use most is to toggle Rotation On/Off to enable zooming and panning around a model without it rotating undesirably. I think I've also swapped the zoom axis from default which was a game changer for me, zooming in and out is controlled by moving the puck towards/away from my desk vertically, rather than towards/away from the screen.