Driver 3.7.16 with Solidworks 2009 x64 Vista

[YBW]

[quote="rstadie"]We monitor the issues caused by the recent changes very closely, we want to provide the best possible solution for you and all our customers.

We very much regret any inconvenience and we are working hard to improve our solution.[/quote]

Are you serious? You completely changed the paradigm for finding and attaching commands to buttons, but didn't put up any kind of notification. In addition you left off over half the commands that are available. And you want us to believe the customer experience matters to you???? How about you call your folks back from vacation and fix this thing???

Two years ago all the commands that were available on the toolbars in SolidWorks could be found in the Button Mapping Tool Tree along with all the commands available in the SolidWorks Menus. That was sweet. No German programmer with six months experience trying to guess what an American senior engineer that has been using a 3D mouse for eight years would want. Every possible choice was there. What part of this simple solution did you think was undesirable???

Last year you stopped supporting the commands on the Menus. This year you dropped half the toolbar commands and moved the remaining commands to new folders!!!!

And you want us to believe the customer experience matters????

I realize you think you've got a gold mine in selling Navigators to the Second Life crowd, but you wouldn't exist if it weren't for us CAD folk. And long after the SL is a distant memory we will still be here. So please, assign at least one good manager to looking out for our interests. At the rate you're going my SpacePilot pro will but up on eBay next year.

[jalcad]

Does 3DC have any good news on an update for the Solidworks key mapping problems or are we still stuck with an app that's useless. When it takes almost 2 hours to set one of these up using the new drivers someone needs to be held accountable for this lack of concern.

[YBW]

It seems that enough people have complained 3DC Engineering actually looked at the commands in the Button Mapping dialogue box and determined that, gee, some of them are really missing.

It only took about 6 months for Tech Support to get their attention.

The problem after that was that everyone was on vacation. (The software is written in Germany.) Now that they're back, they will need about three weeks to exchange stories about their vacation, find their desks, and retrain on using a keyboard. Then they will be able to fix the code.

So my guess is we'll see a fix in early October.

As for accountability, since this is a software problem, the fact that the programmer got it wrong is not surprising. The surprise is that QA missed the issue during validation. I don't think there was a lack of concern. They didn't no they had problem. It was a case of incompetence, not indifference.

[jalcad]

Before wasting time installing an update, does the 3.8.1 driver fix the button mapping for Solidworks or did you leave it as it was.

[UtaSH]

Yes, 3DxSoftware 3.8.1 includes the fix for the button mapping issue in SolidWorks. Please try it and let us know your feedback.

[YBW]

I loaded 3.8.1 last week. It looks very good to me.

1) The categories and functions in the hammer list match the categories in the SW Toolbar Customize dialogue box. If you can find it in SW you can find it in 3DxWare.

2) They added a category called Other. It contains an alphabetized list of everything else you can do, from Menu items to API commands. Very nice.

3) You can create custom functions!!!
a) Open the 3DxWare button mapping dialogue box while you are in SW.
b)Create your custom function.
c)Restart SW.
d)Open the Button Mapping dialogue box. Look in the 3DxWare Functions category. Your new custom function will be in the list.
e) Drag the custom function to your preferred Pro key.
I did this for to create a "Next File" function (<CTRL>+<TAB>) custom function. It works great.

At this point I think they have the driver fixed.

[UtaSH]

Hi YBW,

good to hear that we could satisfy you. I am glad that we met your demands. Thank you for the positive feedback.

[YBW]

Hallo Uta,

The phrasing of your reply has me worried. There is a broad range of capabilities that one could provide in a 3D mouse. On the minimmalist extreme the mouse would only work with a few predefined programs and the buttons would only provide a few predefined functions. On the other extreme there would be full functionality in every program and the buttons would be assignable to any action available in the program and the operating system.

I hope that you see the functionality provided in 3.8.1 as a step toward reaching the ideal for your product: creating the über mouse, a device that is all things to all programs. If your goal is only to satisfying the demands of your customers, then work will be unfulfilling and your customers angry.

Freundliche Grüße

[jalcad]

Yes it does appear that the commands are back where someone can logically find them. One thing I'm noticing though is it appears to be a lag between the time I push the button until the command activates. Is this something that's to be expected or another new enhancement. I have the F button mapped to do a zoom to area and it takes almost 2 seconds after pushing the button for the command to become active. Prior to this driver it was almost instantaneous. Using Windows Vista 64 and Solidworks 2009 & 2010. Seeing this in both versions of Solidworks.

[YBW]

I'm also seeing a delay, but not as long. For me it's about a half second. Mordack runs our IT security so I thought it was unique to my system.

I tried Zoom to Area. On my system the cursor doesn't change until I try to move it. So, if I wait for the cursor to change before moving it, I can wait all day. If I move the cursor while I press the key, the cursor changes in about a half second.

Uta,

Any thoughts on why there's a delay?

[UtaSH]

... I have the F button mapped to do a zoom to area and it takes almost 2 seconds after pushing the button for the command to become active. ...

jalcad,

please try as a workaround to do a custom mapping for your command. See our knowledge base article how to do that. Please let us know if this changes something. We will investigate this further.

[jalcad]

Custom mapping this one did correct this. It is now almost immediate when you push the button.

[jalcad]

However, when I change drawing sheets the command does not stay. It changes back to the Solidworks button choice rather than the custom mapped button.

(I'm not changing from drawing to part or assembly & back but changing from sheet #A to sheet #B so the mapped buttons shouldn't be changing)

[rstadie]

Hi jalcad,

Are you using the Button Mapping Panel inside of SolidWorks to map your custom function?

[jalcad]

I followed the instructions from http://www.3dconnexion.eu/support/kb/?V ... EntryID=71 to create the custom function. Then I use the button mapping panel from the 3D Control Panel using START>3DCONNEXION>SHOW CONTROL PANEL and NOT the one within Solidworks since the custom functions do not show up from the one within solidworks.