3Dconnexion/Blender Beta Feedback

[txrx]

Yup, seems to work ok for me here. The SVN for that branch isn't being updated as regularly as the main one but it looks like it was a test to get the Ndof functionality ready for inclusion for the next 2.46 release of Blender.

I guess it'll be almost ready to be merged once the majority of the RC bug killing has been done.

It's going to be a permanent feature from here on out by the looks of it!

I believe the Mac OS X code has been worked on quite a bit too. Worth trying it out I reckon if it wasn't much good on OS X before and report any bugs on the development section of the blender.org main site.

[tmarsh388]

I've tried everything!!! it just doesnt want to seem to work for me....
Please help me!!
I am using blender 2.45
I am on a PC running windows vista ultimate
if you need anyother info please let me know
maybe if one of you could make a video of how it install it that would be great. or maybe a detailed set by set guide..
please help me

[txrx]

posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:35 am Post subject:
Just wanted to add that Blender NDOF downloads WITH the plugin included are now also available at

http://www.graphicall.org

Just unzip and it should be ready to go.

2.45 doesn't natively support 3d Connexion, however the 2.46 version which comes out soon does.

You must use a 2.46 pre-release candidate from the above link. That'll be why your having such problems.

[mooncaine]

I just tried this hint. Thanks... but so far, no go. That blender doesn't even launch on my MacBook Pro running 10.4.11. This is about the 5th blender I've tried today.

Can anyone link me to a version for Intel Mac that works with Space Navigator?

[ettore]

right now the *only* places where you can download a version of blender with SN / NDOF support are:
http://www.graphicall.org/builds/index.php

and also the following site: it is going to shut down, but it's still available:
http://www.blenderbuilds.com/2007/08/05 ... h-a-prize/

That said, Blender 2.46 is about to come out, hopefully this week. Keep checking http://blender.org for an announcement. Blender 2.46 is the first release that officially supports NDOF devices, including ours of course. You will still need a plugin that will continue to be available for download from our website.

[mooncaine]

Luckily for us, blender 2.46 has been released. I tried Space Navigator with it, and it's working! Fantastic!

[ettore]

Luckily for us, blender 2.46 has been released. I tried Space Navigator with it, and it's working! Fantastic!

Awesome, then that invalidates my previous message. Just download blender 2.46 from here:
http://www.blender.org/download/

and the plugin from here, and please note that our page is not yet updated, so download the plugins ONLY:
http://www.3dconnexion.com/solutions/blender.php

[grumbel]

The device itself works fine for me in Blender 2.46, however I find transform and turnable modes rather hard to use, the sensitivity seems way off when zoomed out and the axis are inversed. One can of course adjust some of that with the driver, issue however is that in fly-mode axis are ok and sensitivity too, so adjusting the driver on each mode change seems rather impractical.

Another issue is that the whole thing seems to suffer from gimbal lock, i.e. when you face 90 degree downwards in fly-mode all your controls go wonky and the axis no longer are what you expect them to be.

So it basically works now with a normal Blender build, but still far from perfect.

[ettore]

Hi Grumbel, thanks for the feedback. We did notice those issues as well and we are addressing them. The problem is that as you said, there are sensitivity misalignment *relative* between the 3 modes, and because of the way the code is laid out this means that the only way to fix this is by changing the application code (not the plugin), which is going to take time.

This is what how I configured blender from 3Dconnexion pref pane:
- I slightly increased the overall device speed,
- I increased the speed of the rotation axes
- I focused on making turntable mode perfect, also because turntable settings also seem to work Transform mode

I think Fly mode is hard to control even by itself, no matter how I configure it -- I think it needs more work.

Anyway, hope this helps in some way.

[BenderSobre]

I have downloaded the plugin and paste it into the plugin folder ("C:\Documents and Settings\isen\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\plugins") but it doesn't work.

I have the Blender 2.46 version and i have the last version of the 3D connexion manager..

Could you help me?

[BenderSobre]

Finally it works, the plugin was not in the correct directory!!

[Ben]

Hello BenderSobre!

I also have the 2.46 version and downloaded the SpaceNavigator plugin - but it doesn't work.
I was trying every senseful dir I could imagine as a target dir for the plugin, but nothing happens. When I start blender, there's completely nothing after the Python message.

Could you please post your exact and complete configuration concerning the SpaceNavigator plugin? What in the end IS the "right" directory?

Please don't leave this as a secret after I searched the whole internet for this info!

Thanks in advance,
Ben

[MM79]

I have installed the plugin but only pan an zoom work no rotation. Using version 2.47. Any tips.

Regards,
Maarten

[Dee Stringer]

I can't seem to be able to get my space pilot to work with the 2.48_x64 version of blender on a Vista 64 business version of windows.

I guess my question is does the new version of blender for 64 bit systems support the 3dconnexion devices and if so are there any special instructions of procedures to follow to get it to work?

I placed the .plug file in the plugin folder just off of the blender install folder on the root C:\ drive. Not in the programs folder as I've heard the programs folder can cause access problems in vista.

Blender doesn't have an installer for their 64bit version yet so I just copied the files to their current location mentioned above and mapped a startup icon to the blender.exe file. The program runs fine after adding the pythonpath to the system enviornments. Python is found with no problems.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dee

[cguckels]

Hi,
I just read that there's an attempt to support 3dxonnexion devices for blender. Now I installed both the 2.48 as well as the 2.46 version which should have this kind of support and also installed the plugin from the 3dconnexion website.

As 3d-navigation-device, I'm using an old spacetec 3003 controller with the fitting 3003 driver. There are some demos like "Chicken" or "Cube3d" which show that the controller works fine.

When starting blender, I also get the 2 new buttons which should show that the controller is up and running. Unfortunately, when I move my controller, nothing happens!

Probably someone has got some advice.

Thank you in advance.

With many regards,
cguckels