Using the 3DConnexion Mouse in FreeCAD after setup, a update

 A follow-up post on using the radial menu.

I’ve been using the radial menu button on the mouse in FreeCAD, and before diving into my views so far, I want to discuss some additional configurations I’ve added. Along with setting up the Sketcher workbench, I also configured the Part Design workbench and added four tools—three from Part Design (New Sketch, Pad, and Loft) and one from the Draft workbench (Clone—not to be confused with the Part Design Clone, which is a very different tool).

The Clone tool wasn’t available in the radial menus, as the menu seems to restrict itself to the workbench you’re currently in. However, you can set up key shortcuts, although most 3D packages require a sequence of key combinations that can’t be entered into a single shortcut field. This is where the radial menu shines. It allows you to create and assign macros to a button. This is achieved by supplying each key press, along with a custom millisecond pause, to build a flow.

In my case, I was able to add a step to press the 'C' key, followed by a pause, and then the 'L' key. Unfortunately, this didn’t work the first time—and the issue wasn’t with the mouse. The problem was that the Draft tool, by default, isn’t accessible through the Part Design workbench in FreeCAD. Even trying the shortcut combination won’t work. The solution is to customize the Part Design toolbar and add the tool manually. Once the tool is active in the toolbar, the shortcuts become functional.

Here’s a quick video of me testing the mouse and the radial menu for these settings.

Does it bring value to my workflow so far? Well, yes and no.

If I’m modeling, I typically have one hand on the keyboard at all times, using shortcut keys as needed. If I’m training / teaching, I stick to a very limited amount of shortcut keys; Home key to reset the view and the Spacebar to show/hide objects, that along with the Delete key, that's it! In my opinion it's not the best teaching practices to bombard someone on a steep learning curve with shortcuts (we have all been in those blender tutorials!), especially if your teaching online where you have a range of abilities and learning styles. 

The human brain creates more neural connections if there is a physical image; a icon. The icon has a unique arrangement of colours, a name associated with it and even textual content on the roll over.  It can be accessed from multiple places i.e. the toolbar and right click menu. Give the brain just a shortcut key that have the same colour and shape of all the others you reduce the neural connections and the information is easier to forget. 

Personally, I can only retain so many shortcuts in my head at a time before they fall out my ears and through the cracks in the floor.   So with the amount of operations and tools I need to use in one single workbench it would be create to have these in the menu. By default, the 4-selection layout of the radial menu doesn’t enhance my workflow, but the 8-selection layout shows potential. That said, FreeCAD’s Pie Menu add-on (which I haven’t explored yet) might replace the need for the radial menu entirely. It’s possible I could activate the Pie Menu using the physical radial mouse button, but I’ll only know for sure once I install the add-on.

As I mentioned in previous posts, there is a notable advantage: this mouse features intelligent switching, which changes the configuration based on the software—and even the specific section of the software—you’re using. With the 8-selection layout, this should accelerates workflows. The added ability to set up macros directly on the mouse means you can enable macro-based workflows even in software that doesn’t natively support macros. For someone who doesn’t have the ability or time to learn a macro language, this could be a game-changer. For example, my partner, who works with accounting spreadsheets daily, is already eyeing this mouse. She could set up different radial menus for various times of the year, tailoring them for repetitive tasks required during reporting periods—all without needing to learn VB scripting.

Another consideration is the SpaceMouse. When combining it with this mouse, keyboard shortcuts become harder to use, as one hand is on the SpaceMouse and the other on the radial mouse. Switching back and forth to the keyboard becomes trickier, which makes this level of customization even more valuable.

I’ll continue experimenting with the mouse, using the 8 section menu and trying out different configurations, and seeing if I can get more comfortable using the SpaceMouse as well.  I will report back later.