Logitech SpaceNavigator Revisit

[nbower]

Has anyone heard anything about the ability to use a SpaceNavigator with Revit Architecture 2009? I was curious because with the change to the 3D UI to be much more like the one in Design Review maybe we could finally use our 3D navigators.

[Teresa.Martin]

Hi. As far as I know, this is not yet supported. There seems to be a disconnect between the programming to run the mouse vs. the programming in Revit. Sorry about that...
It would be nice to be able to use one though like Inventor!

[Chris.N]

I just visited the forums for the Navigator, and it seems that the earliest will be 2010 release. something about the API compatibility....

[jimk]

2010 version, sweeet! With Revit 2009 coming soon, 2010 doesn't seem so far away.

This little device has completely changed the way I use Google Earth (GE) and (Microsoft's Virtual Earth). I take all my Revit models and bring them into GE (thank you Avatech plug-in!). Architectural, Mechanical, Plumbing, all gets brought into GE as a kmz file, and then I use the SpaceNavigator to fly through the model, adjusting the transparency and colors of the objects as I go.

It is truly stunning how good it looks (IMHO). All I wanted to do was to be able to fly through my Revit models in real time like they did at the Autodesk University 2007 main stage presentation, and this was the best solution I could come up with for now. But if the Factory can get Logitech's SpaceNavigator to work native in Revit (or vice-versa), I would be happy to just stay in Revit. Spending so much time in GE, I keep running into Sketchup and all the interesting things people are doing with it. Secretly, I worry that ADSK will just eliminate the ability to take Revit models into GE, as I could see how by aggregating models from various software packages like Revit and Sketchup, GE could be used like a Naviswork$.

Do yourself a favor, and get a SpaceNavigator and figure out how to get your models into GE. You'll be glad you did.

jimk

[jimk]

to followup... this is what the 3Dx Software Developer "jwick" who is also the moderator of the 3dconnexion forum said regarding Revit support for the SpaceNavigator on March 7, 2008.

"We would love to have REVIT support! Unfortunately they have to make minor changes to REVIT to make it work. They have internally made these changes, but never released them. It is a matter of their internal priorities. We don't have control over their priorities. Only their customers can help them decide how to prioritize their tasks. More and more architectural software packages are adding support for the SpaceNavigator. Hopefully as they see their competition out-pace them, they may reprioritize this development. We'd be happy to help them and, in fact, have offered many times to provide free software development resources to them to help.

Noisy customers such as you are the only way to adjust their priorities. They couldn't care less what we have to say about it.

It really would be an outstanding combination."

http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1933&highlight=revit

jimk