[loneengineer]

What kind of interfaces or controllers beyond just keyboard and mouse do you/have you used with CAD programs?

The 6DOF Spaceball and similar 3d Connexion controllers are one obvious but I was wondering if anyone else has worked out a scheme using joysticks, trackballs, hotkey pads, or any other types of controllers to speed up data input, in view camera manipulation and similar.

There's also the question of whether or not the software supports such controllers too of course. Please post/share experiences of enhanced controller setups and how well it worked for you..

[Treeline]

Nope. Tried a tablet once but the technology got in the way of the process (for me).

I got used to very fast KB entry along with trackball manipulation and will probably never use anything else.

I'm a longtime AutoCad user and am immersed with KB entry because it's so darn fast. I tweaked the MNU file so that my often used commands are just the way I want them.

I'm in the process of abandoning AutoCad and going whole hog with Rhino, so now I'm spending a bit of time attempting to emulate the same KB input I did before. I sure wish there was a way to "convert" the Acad MNU file into a file Rhino could use.

[jrm850]

lol, I still haven't found anything I like better than a 12 year old logitech marble+. It just has 3 programmable buttons, a scroll wheel, and a thumb marble. I've been using it pretty much 8 hours a day with solidworks since 2004 and I don't know what I will do when it finally dies. I've tried several other input devices and a lot of them are awesome but comfort is a big issue and this thing fits. It has a very low profile which keeps the hand and wrist in good alignment and it doesn't need any desk space. At one point I had the marble on my right hand a left handed frog pad on my left for kb commands and dimensions. if I purchased the corded frogpad instead of the wireless I would probably still be using it today.