3Dconnexion develops 3D Mice for virtual worlds

Logitech owned company 3Dconnexion has announced that its 3D mouse product line is now supported by Linden Labs' Second Life Grid.

While traditional mice control motion on a two-dimensional plane, 3Dconnexion reckons that devices like its SpaceNavigator enable better control and co-ordination with 3D objects and allow easier movement and control within a 3D environment, including applications like Google Earth and virtual worlds like Second Life.

"Being able to move freely within and around the environment is a crucial component of the Second Life world experience," said Joe Miller, vice president of platform and product development at Linden Lab.

3D mice can help users easily navigate and control virtual environments, providing fluid avatar control, easy access to camera views and better control of 3D objects.

"3Dconnexion's 3D mice make the Second Life world experience even richer because avatars can now move in a more intuitive and fluid manner – movement no longer needs to be predicated on keyboard commands," explained Dieter Neujahr, president of 3Dconnexion.

As well as Second Life, according to 3Dconnexion there are now more than 120 applications that are supported by its 3D mice, including Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and Acrobat 3D, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google Earth and SketchUp.