Re: The State Of The Art

[Graham Ashton <graham mirror bt co uk>]

On Monday 24 May, Michael Vanecek wrote:

> Ditch the mouse and use the joystick for your input device 

I saw a really cool pointing device once (I think it was called a
skymouse) that was designed for moving round 3D VR worlds.

It was more like a trackball instead of a mouse, but instead of a ball
it had a big disc in the middle, about 2.5 inches across and an inch
high. If you pushed the disc forward you went forward. If you pulled it
up gently (it didn't move very far) then you'd start flying up. Twist it
slightly and you'd spin round. It worked on pressure rather than
movement, so to keep turning you'd just maintain the pressure (rather
than spinning it). It took a bit of practise to get used to it, but it
was very cool.

P.S. I think this is a great idea (the sphere more so than the
cylinder), and I especially like the "inbuilt gravity" suggestion.

-- 
Graham