3Dconnexion 3D Mice Help CAD Professionals Using Kineo Path Planner Software Streamline Product Design and Manufacturing Process

3Dconnexion, a Logitech company, announced that its line of 3D mice is now supported by Kineo Path Planner™, an application that assists CAD mechanical engineers in dynamic assembly and dismounting simulations and analysis. 3Dconnexion’s 3D mice enable CAD designers working with Kineo Path Planner to more intuitively and naturally interact with the 3D environment, significantly decreasing time spent on managing application complexity and allowing more time for critical design and manufacturing needs. 

Unlike mice confined to motion on two flat planes, 3Dconnexion’s 3D mice enable CAD professionals to move in all three dimensions simultaneously, using six degrees of freedom. By gently lifting, pressing and turning the controller, users working in Kineo Path Planner can easily navigate their camera to pan, zoom and rotate without stopping to select commands. When navigating in 3D, realistic simulations can be created with far greater ease for significantly improved design process productivity. CAD professionals can inspect and move through and around designs and toggle to move parts, sub-parts and assemblies in an intuitive way without the stops and starts of working with a keyboard and traditional mouse only.

“Kineo CAM’s support for our 3D mice underscores 3Dconnexion’s commitment to enable design communities to connect directly to the 3D design environment of today’s sophisticated and complex applications,” says Dieter Neujahr, president of 3Dconnexion. “Using our devices with the latest version of Kineo Path Planner provides an immersive design experience that dramatically improves the design and manufacturing process from start to finish.”

Kineo CAM provides a large range of business solutions, from stand-alone to fully integrated software, to large companies and organizations in MCAD and manufacturing, enabling users to save money, shorten development time and increase quality in product design and process. Leading French automobile and motorcycle manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën has been using Kineo to manage critical elements of maintenance and repair for customers and is integrating the latest release of Kineo Path Planner and 3Dconnexion’s SpaceNavigator™ 3D mouse to streamline processes further.   

 “At the servicing organization ‘Direction Après-Vente’ of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the teams verify and validate the assembly and the disassembly to be performed for servicing and repairing our vehicles,” says Gérard Florina, CAD manager and Frédéric Marques, CAD Expert “Direction Après-Vente” of PSA Peugeot Citroën. “For four years, the Kineo software has been used to automatically find trajectories. Our wish was to be able to guide the component to be dismounted during the automatic computation. Our goal was to combine the power of computation of the software with the job know-how of our users; it is achievable with the new release of the Kineo software that we use with 3Dconnexion’s 3D mice.”

3Dconnexion provides 3D mice that are supported by more than 130 of today’s 3D applications, including Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 Extended and Acrobat® 3D, Autodesk 3ds Max® and Maya®, CATIA, Google Earth™ and SketchUp®, Microsoft® Virtual Earth™, NX™, Pro/ENGINEER®, Second Life Grid® Platform, SolidWorks®, and all of the top-tier 3D CAD applications. For a complete list of applications supported by 3Dconnexion, visit: www.3dconnexion.com/solutions/cad/all_sup_app.php.

Pricing and Availability
Kineo Path Planner version 2.4 supports 3Dconnexion’s product line on Windows® XP. SpaceNavigator Personal Edition (MSRP $59), SpaceNavigator Standard Edition (MSRP $99), SpaceNavigator for Notebooks (MSRP $129), SpaceExplorer™ (MSRP $299), and SpacePilot™ (MSRP $399) are available from major online resellers including Amazon, Buy.com, CDW, Dell, and PC Mall as well as directly at www.3Dconnexion.com.