Monday, February 9th, 2015 Posted by Jim Thacker

3Dconnexion unveils ‘first mouse for CAD pros’


The in-software radial menu in action on 3Dconnexion’s new CadMouse. Although marketed at CAD professionals, the new mouse comes with specific software profiles for 3ds Max and Maya users.

3Dconnexion has announced the CadMouse: the first ever mouse “designed specifically for CAD professionals”. But don’t the name put you off: the company tells us it works with 3ds Max and Maya too.

So what is a professional design mouse?
At its heart, the CadMouse is just a really nicely designed mouse, with an interesting ergonomic design.

It’s also pretty highly specced, with a sensor resolution of 8,200dpi and a poll rate of 1,000Hz. (For comparison, 3Dconnexion parent company Logitech’s highest-spec general-purpose mouse has a resolution of 1,500dpi.)

But there are also features tailored specifically for 3D software, such as a separate middle button and scroll wheel (no more having to press down on the wheel in order to pan) and dedicated zoom buttons.

There’s also a separate ‘gesture’ button, which opens a context-sensitive menu – 3Dconnexion tells us that there are specific profiles for 3ds Max and Maya – and support for inertial scrolling in long documents.

Pricing and availability
The CadMouse is expected to ship at the end of February at a MSRP of $99: not cheap, but on a par with high-end gaming mice. You’ll need to be running Windows Vista or above to make use of all the features.

Read more about the CadMouse on 3Dconnexion’s website