Setting Rotation Point - Space Explorer in NX8

[dmerala]

Hey,

I'm using a Space Explorer in NX Unigrpahics 8.0.3.4. The issue I am having is the Space Explorer will not rotate around any rotation points I set (set using the 3DConnexion tool bar). I set the rotation point and the Space Explorer continues to rotate the model around the 0,0,0 absolute origin. After setting a rotation point, my regular mouse will rotate around that point but the space explorer will not. This severely decreases the utility of the device.

Anyone had a similar problem or know of a fix? Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
-Dan

[Fred]

If you map a button to the "Set rotate point" command in the 3DxWare category in the 3DxNX button mapping editor, the 'Rotate about attention point' option on the 3D Input Device tab should be enabled.

The '3D Input Device' tab in the Customer Defaults settings is hidden until a 3d device is initially enabled in NX. If the '3D Input Device' tab is not visible it can be opened by going to the 3d device section in NX- help.

[dmerala]

Fred,

Thank you very much for your fast response.

Using the "Set Attention Point" button from "Preferences -> 3D Input Devices" I am able to change the point about which my SpacePilot rotates. However, this is the only way I am able to change that point. It is inconvenient to the point of impracticality to go to that menu every time I want to change the point about which the SpacePilot rotates. Using the "Set rotate point" command from the 3DxNX toolbar does not change the "attention point" and thus does not change the point about which my SpacePilot rotates. It appears the "rotate point" and "attention point" are two different things. The SpacePilot uses the "attention point" while all of the SpacePilot software allows you to set a "rotation point." Is there a way to map "Set Attention Point" to a SpacePilot button? Or is there a way to make the SpacePilot rotate about the "rotate point" instead of the "attention point"?

-Dan

[Fred]

Did you try:

To set the rotation point, simply press the 'Set Rotate Point' on the 3DxNX toolbar and then select a point on the object.
To reset the rotate point to the screen center press the 'Clear Rotate Point' on the 3DxNX toolbar.

To make the toolbar visible right click in the toolbar area and check '3DxNX'

Alternatively, right click in the view window and click on 'Set Rotate Point'
To clear the rotation point, right click in the view window and click on 'Clear Rotate Point'.

Or use the shortcuts Ctrl+F2 and Ctrl+F3

[dmerala]

Yes, I did try those. The SpaceMouse does not rotate about the "Rotate Point" that is set and cleared using the buttons on the 3DxNX toolbar that you describe. Changing the "rotate point" using those buttons or shortcuts has no effect on the rotation of the SpaceMouse.

My SpaceMouse rotates about the "Attention Point" which is set in the "Preferences -> 3D Input Devices" menu.

Is there a way to make the SpaceMouse rotate about the "Rotate point" instead of the "Attention point"? Or is there a way to set one of the buttons on the SpaceMouse to change the "attention point".

[Fred]

You'll have to ask Siemens on that one, since that is their control panel.

[dmerala]

Ok, I will ask Seimins about the "attention point."

Is there a reason the SpaceMouse doesn't rotate around the "rotate point" set by the "set rotate point" button on the 3DxNX toolbar? Is there anything that can be done to make that work?

[Fred]

If If you map a button to the "Set rotate point" command in the 3DxWare category in the 3DxNX button mapping editor, the 'Rotate about attention point' option on the 3D Input Device tab should be enabled.

If this is not working perform a clean install of our driver.


Clean Install for Windows

While you can normally install the 3Dconnexion software over existing versions, problems can occur when moving from a much older driver to the current one or if there is data corruption in a registry key or profile. To resolve this, follow the 'clean install' steps in the link below to return your device to its original behavior.

This is different than uninstalling/reinstalling the 3dconnexion software, since the 3Dconnexion registry keys and profiles are not removed in a standard re-install.The 'clean install' steps below remove all 3Dconnexion software - previous versions of our software, 3Dconnexion registry keys and custom profiles - then perform a new installation of the software.
http://www.3dconnexion.com/faq/28

Note: In Step 3 the path shown for Vista is also correct for Windows 7. For Step 6 - locating spwini.dll and siappdll.dll - the path on 32-bit systems will be C:\Windows\Sys32 [Win7] or C:\Windows\Sys32 [WinXP]

Depending on which combination of security/anti-virus/firewall applications are in use, you will also need to specify to the security applications that 3dxsrv.exe should be allowed access.

The default location of 3dxsrv.exe is C:-->Program Files-->3Dconnexion 3Dconnexion 3DxSoftware-->3DxWare-->3dxsrv.exe [3DxWare64 for 64-bit systems]

The installation of the 3Dconnexion software needs to be done from a profile with full administrator permissions for the local PC. If this is a networked PC and you do not have full administrator permissions,an IT person would need to do the installation.

You can verify that the device is working outside of your applications using the installed demos.
[Start| All Programs| 3Dconnexion| Demos]

[dmerala]

To make your device rotate about the rotation point you set using the Set Rotate Point button, go to the Preferences menu and select 3D Input Devices then clear "Rotate About Attention Point." That's what works on my machine anyway (Windows 7, NX8, SpaceExplorer).