Logitech, Adobe Unveil Navigation Device

February 23, 2006 By Digital Trends Staff

The new NuLOOQ navigator, part of the NuLOOQ Professional Series, will make it easier for graphics designers and others to navigate Mac versions of Adobe CS2 software.

Logitech today announced a new piece of hardware which was designed in collaboration with Adobe to better control the latter’s Mac versions of Adobe Creative Suite 2, Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2, and Adobe Photoshop CS2. The new NuLOOQ navigator is priced at $149.99 and should be available in March.

The NuLOOQ navigator, said Logitech, is approximately the size and shape of half a tennis ball. It has a circular touch-sensitive surface for adjusting software option values, a moveable rubber-like ring at the base for navigating images and documents and embedded buttons for bringing up frequently used tools. Additional features allow the navigator to move selected images and zoom in and automatic detection and configuration of hardware controls related to the currently running Adobe CS2 application, object or tool.

The NuLOOQ also comes with NuLOOQ tooldial, which is special software which provides quicker access to design tools. The navigator and software together are known as the NuLOOQ Professional Series.

“Logitech’s specialty is designing intuitive interfaces between people and computers,” said Guerrino De Luca, president and chief executive officer of Logitech, in a statement. “By collaborating with Adobe, who delivers products relied on by millions of creative professionals around the world, we’re able to extend our expertise and create truly innovative products specifically tailored to the creative design field.”

“In advertising, photography, design, web development and publishing, our creative customers change the way the world looks every day,” added Bruce Chizen, chief executive officer of Adobe. “Logitech has delivered an exciting new way for our customers to work with Adobe software, ensuring more than ever our place at the heart of every creative workflow.”

Showing 4 comments

rubbil at 9:43pm 28th February 2006 Nug, that's true, however there are artists (like Burt Monroy) who only use Wacom's Cintiq pen display, NuLOOQ navigator and tooldial: they don't need the keyboard anymore! (I swear, I saw Burt in action at PMA and that's what he does...) Everything (fav tools, menu items, etc.) can be on the tooldial, right there where they are drawing, without no need to move the hand over the keyboard or mouse.
rubbil at 9:43pm 28th February 2006 Nug, that's true, however that's not entirely the point: there are artists (like Burt Monroy) who only use Wacom's Cintiq pen display, NuLOOQ navigator and tooldial: they don't need the keyboard anymore! Everything (fav tools, menu items, etc.) can be on the tooldial, right there where they are drawing, without any other distraction.
Nug at 2:51am 24th February 2006 Nearly every tool in Photoshop is already mapped to a particular key on the keyboard, not to mention the control users already have over key bindings. Nice that someone is thinking about new ways for designers to interact with their softwave environments, though.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 2:26pm 23rd February 2006 Very cool, and at $15 bucks, you would be crazy not to try it - especially if you use Photoshop for a living. Neat concept guys!