jimnokc
05-21-2003, 09:35 AM
I ran across a Hercules Shuttle Pro system at CompUSA the other day. It was bundled with a Firewire card and a few special editions of software like Ulead Studio Pro and Ulead Cool 3D.
The real meat of the box though is the shuttle pro controller. This nifty little USB device contains a top row of 4 programmable buttons with a row of 5 more programmable buttons under it. These particular buttons have easy to remove plastic covers and the unit includes a large variety of pre-labeled inserts as well as blanks to make your own.
In the center of the unit is your jog wheel, there is also an outer wheel (forgive me for not knowing the terminology) which reports 7 steps in both left and right directions for a total of 14 programmable positions there. Finishing off the unit are 2 rows of four unlabeled buttons (also programmable).
The unit can be set to configure itself automatically based on the EXE you're running. So you can easily flip from one editor to another and Shuttle Pro will changes it's settings accordingly.
How does this fit into Lightwave? So far I've found it extremely useful in layout. The jog wheel can be programmed to move a frame forward or backwards. I also have programmed buttons to skip to the beginning, end, next and previous keyframes, as well as play. The unit is refreshingly NOT designed for right handed people. I use control devices (except my pen) with either hand, but being a lefty it's nice to see I'm not forced to use my right hand with this.
This device is well worth a look if you do any serious animation work and compositing. It's total configurability means you can use it for different functions in layout than modeler, and then flip to your NLE program and have it already configured for use there.
Configuration is simple, as long as the target application has a keyboard shortcut for the command(s) you wish to pass.
It comes preconfigured for some applications. Interestingly enough, it's got a configuration for ACID, showing that it isn't just for video use as it's appearance may lead you to believe.
I paid $149 with a $40 rebate at CompUSA, you may be able to find the controller by itself if you don't want the bundled software or firewire card. (I stuck the 3 port firewire card into my sound machine, it'll probably never get used, but my graphics machine already has three on it).
I'm shutting up now as this is started to tend towards sounding like a review of the product! I wanted to share this little gem with you folks since I'm sure others will find it useful.
Jim Logsdon
The real meat of the box though is the shuttle pro controller. This nifty little USB device contains a top row of 4 programmable buttons with a row of 5 more programmable buttons under it. These particular buttons have easy to remove plastic covers and the unit includes a large variety of pre-labeled inserts as well as blanks to make your own.
In the center of the unit is your jog wheel, there is also an outer wheel (forgive me for not knowing the terminology) which reports 7 steps in both left and right directions for a total of 14 programmable positions there. Finishing off the unit are 2 rows of four unlabeled buttons (also programmable).
The unit can be set to configure itself automatically based on the EXE you're running. So you can easily flip from one editor to another and Shuttle Pro will changes it's settings accordingly.
How does this fit into Lightwave? So far I've found it extremely useful in layout. The jog wheel can be programmed to move a frame forward or backwards. I also have programmed buttons to skip to the beginning, end, next and previous keyframes, as well as play. The unit is refreshingly NOT designed for right handed people. I use control devices (except my pen) with either hand, but being a lefty it's nice to see I'm not forced to use my right hand with this.
This device is well worth a look if you do any serious animation work and compositing. It's total configurability means you can use it for different functions in layout than modeler, and then flip to your NLE program and have it already configured for use there.
Configuration is simple, as long as the target application has a keyboard shortcut for the command(s) you wish to pass.
It comes preconfigured for some applications. Interestingly enough, it's got a configuration for ACID, showing that it isn't just for video use as it's appearance may lead you to believe.
I paid $149 with a $40 rebate at CompUSA, you may be able to find the controller by itself if you don't want the bundled software or firewire card. (I stuck the 3 port firewire card into my sound machine, it'll probably never get used, but my graphics machine already has three on it).
I'm shutting up now as this is started to tend towards sounding like a review of the product! I wanted to share this little gem with you folks since I'm sure others will find it useful.
Jim Logsdon