Various and Sundry

Just a couple of quick notes.

First, I'm now up and running with a new 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator. For those unaware, it's a handy little desktop puck that provides easy control for movement in the 3D world. Pan, zoom, rotate, spin: this little guy allows you to do many combinations of these movements simultaneously, so you can be zooming in on a feature and spinning the model as you go. It takes some getting used to, but fortunately it's customizable so that the movements make sense to whatever your mind/body connection is prewired for. You run it with your left hand while mousing with your right, and it definitely speeds up navigating and modeling. I'm still not sure how to manage keyboard shortcuts without growing another limb, but I'm sure that'll work itself out.

And here's a nice design weblog to pass along - DESIGNwatcher.