Please help with SpaceMouse Wireless in SolidWorks

[Xose_Portela]

Hi everyone,

Hope someone can help with this. I'm bit desperate to be honest.

I've been using SpaceMouse Wireless for a few months on SolidWorks. It's great and made work a lot more smooth. However, a couple of weeks ago it stopped working (maybe i unintentionally did something wrong?). I tried removing and installing the latest driver and still not working.

It's curious that in the Trainer of 3D Mouse Home the device does work (??). Also, sometimes, depending on how i set the buttons i get the mouse to zoom in and out, but nothing else. I also noticed that when opening the Properties windows sometimes there is a label that says "Chrome" and sometimes "Vlc". I was really happy with this mouse until this happened. Can anyone assist me please?

PS: I'm sending attached a screen capture of the Properties window.

Thanks in advance!!

[Barbara]

Hello Xose_Portela -

The 3D navigation in SolidWorks requires the 3DxSolidWorks add-in that is part of the driver package.

If SolidWorks happened to be open when the driver was re-installed the add-in would not be able to install.

You can run the installer again with SolidWorks closed to correct this.

As long as SolidWorks is running with user level permissions that should be all that is needed. In the event SolidWorks is run with elevated permissions [Run as Administrator] the same permissions would be needed for the driver installation.

With the 3DxSolidWorks add-in installed you should once again see SolidWorks shown in Properties and SolidWorks navigation available.
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Barbara

[Xose_Portela]

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for your reply. I deleted the driver and installed it again without opening SolidWorks. Unfortunately it's still the same. It's curious that the zoom in/out do work. Actually all movements of the mouse seem to zoom in/out in SW. I guess I will just have to get in touch with customer service?

[Barbara]

Hello Xose_Portela -

If the profile in 3Dconnexion Properties shows Chrome it means the SpaceMouse is responding to Chrome rather than SolidWorks. It is providing the zoom function for Chrome and not recognizing SolidWorks.

The 2 reasons that would happen are that the 3DxSolidWorks add-in is either not installed or is not able to communicate with SolidWorks. You have taken care of the first possibility by installing with SolidWorks closed , so that leaves the second - Windows permissions that prevent the add-in from communicating with SolidWorks. If SolidWorks was installed with the 'Run as Administrator' level of permissions, Windows will not allow communication with an add-in installed with a lower level of permissions. If you do not have administrator permissions for the PC you will need to ask your IT admin [ or whoever installed SolidWorks] to install the 3Dconnexion software for you with the same permissions as SolidWorks and with SolidWorks closed.
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Barbara