Spaceball use in Solidworks

[willsb]

I am using a SpacePilot Spaceball which is used to rotate/zoom/pan. My question is: is there a way to pin the rotation points in Solidworks 2010? For example, if you have a long part and you rotate that piece it may fly off the screen or out into space. If one could pin the rotation point to say an area that is being worked on like the end corner or something of that nature so it rotates about that point, it would make life alot easier. Hate to revert back to using the mouse seeing that it helps reduce mouse clicks and moves some of the work to the other hand. Any tips here?
Thanks,

Regards,
Will

 

[gwubs]

Hi willsb
Glad to hear you are using a SpacePilot. You do have options to control how your model behaves on the screen during manipulation. I have not used a SpacePilot - but I have a Space Explorer, and have used Spaceball 5000 prior. Check the options you have available under 3dcontrol/options from SolidWorks. You probably have options to set rotation center, and "keep model in view" & etc.
Most importantly, stay with the Spacexxxx product - you soon will not even really need the settings you are looking for right now. In a month or less you will not give up the 3D controller for any thing!

 

[ewh]

Agreed... when I don't have access to one, it feels like my left hand has beem amputated.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[tristram]

There is even a toolbar you can use.
Click the icon (for center of rotation) and select your entity and it will use the selected entity (I usually use points) as the center of rotation.

-Joe
SolidWorks 2009 x64 SP 5.1 on Windows XP x64
8 GB RAM - Nvidia Quadro FX1700

 

[JMirisola]

What you're asking for, willsb, is in the driver. Go to the 3Dcontrol menu on your toolbar and select properties. Under 'options', select 'Auto Rotation Center'. You also have the option to show the center of rotation graphically with the 'Show Center' drop down menu.
If you don't have these options, update your driver from 3DConnexion's website.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Design Manager/Senior Designer
M9 Defense
My Blog

 

[willsb]

Thanks everyone for your help. It looks like updating the driver did the trick. I actually have a tool bar for the 3d controller now. Now I just need to work on programming some of the keys to do some of my repetative functions. Thanks again everyone for your input.....

Regards,
Will