3Dconnexion/Blender Beta Feedback

[Tehrasha]

What I have been able to gather.....

SpaceNav support is going to be incorporated into the Blender code rather than as a plugin. Current Blender developers are focusing on getting Blender out of Beta and into a stable release before they start adding features.

Mike Erwin made serious headway with SpaceNav support during the 2010 Google Summer of Code event. http://www.invisible-cow.com/blender/soc/index.html

Status as of Jan.2 2011 -- http://www.mail-archive.com/bf-committe ... 04784.html

So the basic legwork is done.
It is now a matter of getting Blender to a stable release so his code can be rolled into it.

[Tehrasha]

Blender Developers Meeting Notes, June 5 2011

Specifically this part...

Mike Erwin: soc-2010-merwin will be cleaned, 3D mouse (ndof devices) work is targeted for Siggraph in August.

[Tehrasha]

Getting so much closer...

"the merwin-spacenav branch compiles and runs also on OSX and Linux."

http://projects.blender.org/scm/viewvc. ... bf-blender

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIcZrxJLa4k

[Tehrasha]

Early builds of Mike Erwin's branch of Blender with SpaceNav support.

Win32, Mac32PPC, Mac64Intel, Linux32, Linux64

http://graphicall.org/significant-bit

[dickda1]

One of the Blender guru's on Blender Cookie has done a nice review (including video) of 3DConnection's Navigators. Highly recommended viewing:

http://cgcookie.com/blender/2011/09/12/ ... ment-17998

On another note, my Space Navigator failed a couple of years ago and a moderator of these forums was kind enough to send me a replacement.
3Dconnection has simply fabulous customer service!!!

-Dick

[Tehrasha]

Update::

The 3DMouse code was rolled into Blender's main branch some time ago.
All current version of Blender 2.6x have it built in. Still much refining left to do.

Currently, all motion is relative to a fixed point, usually the last selected object that you 'fit' to the viewport.

Holding shift allows you to pan along the three axis, which also moves the center of rotation. Without shift, you are limited to rotation and forward/back zoom.

Free flight without shift is in the works.

Remember, there is essentially one person writing most of this code... for free... so be patient. The rest of us are all beta testers telling him what he did wrong, or what is still broken.


Additionally, if you use the OpenSource Spacenav driver, you can use the, so called 'obsolete' spacemice, including the serial models.

So far, under Linux, the following are known-working with Blender/Spacenav...

Serial ::
Spaceball 2003
Spaceball 3003
Spaceball 4000
SpaceMouse Classic
SpaceMouse Plus

USB::
Spaceball 5000
Space Traveler
Space Explorer
Space Navigator
Logitech NuLOOQ

All of the USB devices -should- work, though the LCD displays are not yet supported. This is mostly because none of the spacenav developers have a pilot to troubleshoot with.

[dickda1]

Thank you for all your efforts. A bunch of us have been waiting to use our 3D mice since Blender 2.49.

Keep those fixes coming.

[Tehrasha]

Over the last several months, I have been gathering historical information on every make and model of 3D Mouse that I could find. Then finding a way to present that information in one location.

http://spacemice.wikidot.com/

Additionally, after sharing my information with the spacenav developers, and also to Mike Erwin (the guy who wrote the current 3D Mouse support in Blender) I included a page just for Blender info.

So if you have been asking yourself....

"Does $model mouse work with Blender on my OS?"
or
"Whats that thing I saw on eBay that claims to be a spacemouse?"

Your answers are here... http://spacemice.wikidot.com/blender

As always, additional information and/or corrections are always welcome.

[Loki]

Over the last several months, I have been gathering historical information on every make and model of 3D Mouse that I could find. Then finding a way to present that information in one location.

http://spacemice.wikidot.com/

I just wanted to say great job on the site. It's good to have something to point to when trying to explain these devices to folks who don't understand them nor their value. I really like that ************ one too. Seems as if it's the most intuitive of the lot. All it's missing is programmable buttons along both sides of the base.

[jwick]

Excellent work Tehrasha. You are missing a few that were all part of the same long lineage of the same technology:

Spacetec IMC:
There was a device between the Spaceball 2003 and the Spaceball 3003, called the Spacecontroller. It looks like a slate-colored 3003 with a dark green/blue ball cover.

There was an OEM device produced for ASCII called the Sphere 360 (I think). It was a Sony Playstation controller with a ball attached. It had all the controls of a PS controller + a 6DOF ball. Sort of looked like a silver SpaceOrb 360.

CIS:
There was an earlier product called the Dimension 6 and two others (GeoBall and GeoBall jr) that never went into production.

LogiCAD:
There was a Cyberman 2 game controller with an analog joystick connector. Sold under the Logitech name.

3Dconnexion:
The SpaceNavigator keyboard did go into limited production in two forms.

[Tehrasha]

Thanks jwick! I will add this info to the site.

I saw a 'Space Controller' on eBay recently, but thought it was simply a diff model of 3003 so never bothered with it further. Bummer.

I had also seen a CIS controller ball on eBay, but did not include it as it appeared to be an industrial / workstation only device, similar to the 1003. I included the 1003 because it was a direct descendant of the spaceball line.

I knew about theSphere360, but since it was for the Playstation, I decided not to include it. Perhaps I should put it on the 'Not Spacemice' page.. I should add the SGI dialbox too.

I didnt list the Cyberman or Cyberman2 controllers because they were both 'jopysticks' and figured if I did add them, where wold it stop? I cannot imagine the number of joysticks with nDOF that I would need to collect info about at that point.

Thanks for confirming the existence of the SpaceNav keyboard! Other then long-defunct computer sales pages that claim it existed, I could find no information.

[Bearld]

i just want to say this is really a nice information centre, applied all i get here and problems are being solved, nice work guys

[Tehrasha]

This is an interesting relic.. Anything known about this beasty?

Atari Jaguar Spaceball Controller

I have no association with the eBay auction listed above, just seeking information about it.

[ngomes]

Hi Tehrasha,

That's a SpaceOrb. Some of us still talk about it fondly (nothing quite like using one to straf away in Quake).

Wikipedia has a small article on it, here.

[Tehrasha]

Hi Tehrasha,

That's a SpaceOrb.

I dont think so.... I have a SpaceOrb.
It has the same basic design, in that it is a handheld controller, but the button layout and that large... (trackball/d-pad?).. for the left thumb are all different. Notice the differences....

Spaceball Avenger
SpaceOrb360
ASCII Sphere360 for PS1

Unknown Jaguar Prototype