Research Report: Are 3D Mice a Smart Buy?

This paper purported to evaluate the anecdotal claims that 3D mice can significantly improve CAD design engineer productivity. Based on a survey of 190 3D mice users, substantial gains of more than 20% are being experienced by CAD design engineers while using 3D mice with their CAD applications. Underlying user interface research supported that 6DoF navigation and simultaneous two-handedness were two key factors leading to their improvements. Finally, it was shown that an investment in 3D mice can have an unusually fast payback - less than a month - leading to the 3D mice are in fact a "Smart Buy".