3Dconnexion unveils ‘first mouse for CAD pros’
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.