Hi,

I'm curious, do any of you guys ever use joysticks, gamepads or even 3D controllers of any kind when modeling? In your experience do these accessories, especially those with programmable features, really bring some confort or speed of use in 3D CG ? And of course, if you think so, would you have any specific model to recommand?

I use a graphics tablet and a mouse with a scroll wheel at the same time. I think it's the best combination. I doubt more that sophisticated devices may offer an advantage.

Same here. Wacom and a Razer... all an aspiring artist needs :D

Razer looks like an awesome mouse. I use a Hewlet Packard of 1080 ppi, but before that it was a cheap mouse, but always look for one that is big (my hand is wide) and has a wheel that scrolls smoothly, because that is very important in Hexagon and other apps. A rough scroll is horrible.

My tablet is a Packard Bell. My wife uses a Wacom. I like my Packard Bell because it is really fast and accurate, although Wacom's pen looks more solid and good in general.

The monitor I use is an AOC of 17'', I recommend AOC because they are pro monitors at affordable prizes.

Also, I use Magic Formation as software to open apps. I constantly open and close many apps while working, so it helps me a lot. My pc is very hacked at a software level.

I got lucky enough to be stuck in Malaysia for 2 years wher i got all my electronics. I would NEVER use anything else. Razer is the way to go. Laser mouse is fabulous. I have precision up to 1/4 of an inch off the surface. And any surface works(even a mirror) , Teflon feet. It's really nice piece of hardware. i got the bluelight razer copperhead. It is midpriced. Not to bad at the time. the Wacom unfortunately doesent see near as much action as it should. :(

My wife hates both :D

I use a Belkin N52te Speedpad www.n52te.com/  on my Left hand
I have it programmed for each program I use.. wouldn't be without it.   on my Right is my Wacom graphie 4 and my Logitech MX Revolution mouse.

Oh, it looks impressive Kaibach!

trust me.. it's worth it...  the only trouble I have is when I try using it on programs I've not programmed it for yet.. reaching for it is automatic LOL

http://tokyodownstairs.blogspot.com/2008/03/magic-formation.html

If you draw a circle with it, configurable shortcuts open. It is a great time saver! Something similar to what you say happens to me with this. Whenever I'm on another person's computer, I instintively draw circles on the screen waiting Magic Formation to open, LOL!  

Anyone used this?
http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacenavigator.html

or a finger mouse?

http://www.amazon.com/2-button-Ergonomic-800dpi-Optical-Finger/dp/B001B1UFKW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1281981851&sr=8-7

or trackball?

http://www.amazon.com/One-Finger-Mouse-USB-Black/dp/B000BSLTIS?pf_rd_mnb=ATVPDKIKX0D34&pf_rd_stb=center-2&pf_rd_rat=0817NMRY4ZRQZM6P18TH&pf_rd_t3r=101&pf_rd_ptd=470938631&pf_rd_ied=507846&tag=buaazs-20&pf_rd_ptd=470938631&pf_rd_ied=507846

What are your thoughts? Do you think they're practical or just useless?

I have a space nav here.. got it for the Wife and her Second Life playing.. she did'nt get along with it..

and I tried it out.. but I prefer the N52 over it. the Spacenav is just to twitchy.

I use a Wacom for painting and occasional toying around with sculpting apps. (Sculptris at least.)

I do think it'd be cool if some 3D app out there would let me use any ol' off-the-shelf analog gaming/sim joystick (like my Logitech Attack III) to navigate modeling space. That would be awesome for any large-scale projects. I don't see any logical reason why that couldn't be made to work. (And while providing better control than keyboard or mouse based navigation, because it's analog and I could adjust the rate at which I fly through the environment. It really shouldn't be much different than slew mode in the MS Flight Simulators or UFO in Flight Gear. If you ever used either flight sim, you'd quickly understand how useful that could be.)

Unfortunately, I haven't really seen a 3D app that supports a joystick in the (seemingly obvious) way that I envision it.

Oh wait - there may be a 3D software I know of that uses a joystick, but not for navigation. I haven't really used Daz Studio - but doesn't their "puppeteer" function also support using a joystick as an input method? (I remember watching some vid on YouTube or something.)

it's easy enough to do tho. there's several apps that will translate joysticks into Keypresses like Xpadder www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Xpadder.shtml