mouse driven rotations

[Russ Altman]

Does anyone have a reference to code, article or book which discusses
good ways to map mouse motion to smooth rotation and translation
of objects on a graphics screen?

I could imagine playing around a long time finding the most natural
interface.  However, I have played with some programs that have very
good algorithms.  For instance, the mouse  mapping in
the molecular graphics program MMS is quite good.

Any help?

Thanks,
Russ
-------