Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the and-it-fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dept.
FTL writes "Turn an ordinary wheel mouse into a 3D pointing device. All one needs is some string, some hot melt glue, and a lot of math. 3D mice have been floatingaroundforawhile, what will it take to get people to use them?"
None of this fancy Z axis stuff.. why in my day all we had to get around with a 1D mouse. We had the X axis only and we liked it!
Next to our punch cards they were the bees knees.
-- Beings aspergers AND pulling chicks... I enjoy the challenge!
A different solution...
by
Oscaro
·
· Score: 5, Informative
...can be built with two analog joysticks. See here
Muscle fatigue...
by
timbloid
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
...is surely the problem with all these designs?
How many hours a day (out of an 8 hour day) do you think you could hold something (even of tiny mass like a mouse) in the air, away from your body.
And what happens when you want to type/relax/urinate? You put it down, lose your place in 3d space, and have to get it back to the same position to continue?
It's a nice hack, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason why helicopters use a 2 handed control system rather than a mouse. Doing it all with one hand just isn't very accurate, easy, or safe...
Useability; A mouse is the wrong shape
by
91degrees
·
· Score: 5, Informative
I was working as part of a research project for 3D (as well as 4D, 5D and 6D) designs for better comuter input devices. What we found was that a mouse is the wrong design.
Firstly, It quite simply doesn't make sense. Mice don't fly unless you throw them. This cognitive dissonance causes users considerable problems.
We solved this quire easily by replacing the "mouse" with a "bat".
Secondly, it creates arm ache. Holding the bat up for several hours just isn't possible. This was solved by the simple and rather crude device of a counterweighted piece of string on a pully on the ceiling. Of course, this isn't goinf to be suitable for a home user. I suggest we'll probably need some sort of rotor assembly to avoid the tangle of strings and wires.
It appears that no other researchers have even looked into our research, preferring to reinvent the wheel at every step.
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Seriously, what's the point of a 3d mouse? We have 2d GUIs.
-matt
-B
Next to our punch cards they were the bees knees.
Beings aspergers AND pulling chicks... I enjoy the challenge!
...can be built with two analog joysticks. See here
...is surely the problem with all these designs?
How many hours a day (out of an 8 hour day) do you think you could hold something (even of tiny mass like a mouse) in the air, away from your body.
And what happens when you want to type/relax/urinate? You put it down, lose your place in 3d space, and have to get it back to the same position to continue?
It's a nice hack, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason why helicopters use a 2 handed control system rather than a mouse. Doing it all with one hand just isn't very accurate, easy, or safe...
I was working as part of a research project for 3D (as well as 4D, 5D and 6D) designs for better comuter input devices. What we found was that a mouse is the wrong design.
Firstly, It quite simply doesn't make sense. Mice don't fly unless you throw them. This cognitive dissonance causes users considerable problems. We solved this quire easily by replacing the "mouse" with a "bat".
Secondly, it creates arm ache. Holding the bat up for several hours just isn't possible. This was solved by the simple and rather crude device of a counterweighted piece of string on a pully on the ceiling. Of course, this isn't goinf to be suitable for a home user. I suggest we'll probably need some sort of rotor assembly to avoid the tangle of strings and wires.
It appears that no other researchers have even looked into our research, preferring to reinvent the wheel at every step.