> There's another, more subtle critique of this system: it lacks path independence. This means that if you start and end a drag with your mouse at a particular location, the rotation will depend on the path that your mouse took.
Actually, when I accidentally tumble models with that kind of UI, I just drag it in a circle until it's right side up.
I accidentally found how to do this while using a solid modeling software and use it quite a bit. I don’t see a formal name for this maneuver, or anyone teaching it. ‘Gimbal tumbling’ is the closest description.
Yeah I will fully admit that "draw circles to yaw" is not intuitive or discoverable, but it is quite convenient when you have learnt it. I'd definitely prefer tumbler over trackball because of this.
But turntable is clearly far superior to the others. Unless you really need to yaw the model then stick with that.
Actually, when I accidentally tumble models with that kind of UI, I just drag it in a circle until it's right side up.