3Dconnexion
| Joint-stock company | |
| Founded | September 2001 |
| Headquarters | Munich, DE |
| Website | 3Dconnexion.com |
3Dconnexion manufactures a line of human interface devices for manipulating and navigating computer-generated 3D imagery. These devices are often referred to as 3D motion controllers, 3D navigation devices, 6DOF devices (six degrees of freedom) or a 3D mouse.
Commonly utilized in CAD applications, 3D modeling, animation, 3D visualization and product visualization, users can manipulate the controller's pressure-sensitive handle (historically referred to as either a cap, ball, mouse or knob) to fly through 3D environments or manipulate 3D models within an application. The appeal of these devices over a mouse and keyboard is the ability to pan, zoom and rotate 3D imagery simultaneously, without stopping to change directions using keyboard shortcuts or a software interface. 3Dconnexion devices are compatible with over 100 applications including Autodesk Inventor, Solid Edge, Blender, Google Earth, Second Life, NASA World Wind, Virtual Earth 3D, Geomagic, Google SketchUp 6, Cinema4D, Maya, SolidWorks, T-FLEX CAD, Photoshop, and more [1]
Products
- SpaceMouse Enterprise
- SpacePilot Pro
- SpaceMouse Pro Wireless
- SpaceMouse Pro
- SpaceMouse Wireless
- SpaceNavigator for Notebooks
- SpaceNavigator
- CadMouse
- SpaceExplorer (Discontinued)
- SpaceTraveler (Discontinued)
- SpaceBall (Discontinued)
- SpaceMouse (Discontinued)
- SpacePilot (Discontinued)
History
3Dconnexion was formed in September 2001 by Logitech, combining LogiCAD3D, based in Europe, and Labtec’s 3D peripheral business, based in the United States. The two companies had together represented more than 20 years of experience in 3D input devices . LogiCAD3D's product, the Magellan controller, was used in fields such as automotive design and aerospace. A NASA project used a Magellan product to control a robot in space. Like Magellan, the SpaceBall also had a history in space, having been used to remotely drive the Sojourner robot on Mars.
