3Dconnexion/Blender Beta Feedback

[artfultheory]

As noted above, I was unable to install the VC 2005 runtime. However, after installing VSE 2005 C++, it started (nearly) without a hitch. The debug build of the plugin had some badness, but the primary release worked.

So, I have a hack, instal VSE.

[gridsleep]

I'm getting the error in Blender:

ndof manager
1 client
3Dconnexion main COM instance: 00000000
3Dconnextion device initialization NOTsuccessful

Is this due to a problem with the plugin, or locating the plugin? Blender appears to be seeing the SpaceBall but cannot attach to it.
I am using Windows XP 64 on an Asus M2N-E with NVidea chipset and latest drivers. 3DxWare installer 2.8.2, Blender CVS Build 01 August 2007 3DConnexion, Python 2.5.

3DxWare 3.5.0 build 15
device type SpaceBall 5000-A
firmware version 2.45

The SpaceBall itself appears new, just received it yesterday. The labels on the bottom do not match. The large label says SpaceBall 4000FLX while the model is listed as Spaceball 5000FLX-A. It is the IBM model. It arrived with by itself with no disks or manual. I downloaded all the docs and software I could find on your site.
The 3DxWare loads and runs on start but Windows keeps saying it cannot find the drivers for the SpaceBall 4000FLX. It has a yellow flag in the Device Manager. All the demos included with the 3DxWare perform perfectly, so I know the Spaceball is working, including all the buttons. It appears to just be Blender that is having trouble seeing it (as well as Windows itself, at least as far as *thinking* it is installed, yet it works, so the driver *must* be installed.)

I changed the serial port settings from 9600 to 57600 and flow control from none to hardware, but that appears to make no difference.

If the plugin were not working, would the demos still work? Is the plugin just for Blender?

[gridsleep]

Each time a program starts, that can be addressed or manipulated by the Spaceball, the Spaceball beeps. I noticed today that when my AVG 7.5 security suite started its daily upgrade program, the Spaceball beeped. Could the AVG be affecting the Spaceball's behavior, or, at the very least, the behavior of the the serial port? I will check into this more closely when I have time.

[jwick]

3DxSoftware 3.5.0 doesn't support serial devices (only USB devices).
As I recall, 3DxSoftware 2.8.2 doesn't support serial devices on x64 reliably--only x86.

The SB beeps anytime power is applied to it. That happens as various software opens and closes the serial port. That is all the beeping you are hearing.

Jim
3Dx Software Development

[gridsleep]

I did find the information elsewhere that tdxinstall.dll is not for serial connections.

I am still getting the Found New Hardware Wizard for the Spaceball every time I boot my computer. I finally just let it "never prompt me again for this software." It appears to be working even though Windows does not think so. I believe it is because, while the 3.5.15 3DxWare appears to work, the 32-bit driver is not providing any information about the signals from the serial port. Windows wants to know what the device is.

I was trying a mix of 3.5.15 and 2.8.2 with no improvement. I have removed all the 3DxWare and reinstalled just the 2.8.2 but that does not do anything at all after a reboot.

The Spaceball works well with the example programs but not at all with Blender. See my previous entry. If there is no fix available (and I have tried the various methods described) I will see if I can write some sort of patch with the old sdk. Thanks.

[jwick]

Hi gridsleep,

The Found New Hardware Wizard is from the plug-n-play manager. Some of the old serial SpaceBalls supported plug-n-play. The PnP manager is looking for an .inf file that no we longer ship. It makes no difference what you reply to the PnP manager. 3DxWare doesn't make use of it either way.

Serial devices are not supported with Blender. Some of the tricks people have mentioned on the forum (copying files around from one version to another) may work, but that certainly isn't a supported solution, and frankly it is difficult to keep track of all the copying they are doing. You can try it. The worst that would happen would be that the application and/or the driver would crash--of course, you could lose all of your data in the process. I don't recommend it. We don't do anything to allow this or expressly prohibit it unless we are certain that it will crash things.

We only guarantee that what we put together will work.

Serial devices are a complete dead end. I wouldn't suggest anyone to ever buy one (on eBay or anywhere else). They aren't worth wasting time on--your time is way more expensive than a ten year old device. The best thing we ever did for the stability of our software was to drop support for them. We've also dropped the price of the USB devices dramatically. Give one a test drive. They are also significantly faster and more responsive.

Jim
3Dx Software Development

[iguffick]

Is the Blender plugin still being actively developed ?
I noticed that the 'ndof' branch hasn't had any updates for 3 months.
Will this ever be improved and/or included into the main branch ?

I bought a Space Navigator based solely on the demo of Blender using one. And I now find that support is a bit lacking.

I've started to look at the source, but so far I can't get the ndof branch to compile. So I haven't been able to start on any mods.

I personally hate the turntable mode (I find it too restricting), and I want to implement the trackball mode, but need to start on a solid base - or at least something that compiles

Regards,
Ian.

[ettore]

Is the Blender plugin still being actively developed ?
I noticed that the 'ndof' branch hasn't had any updates for 3 months.
Will this ever be improved and/or included into the main branch ?

I can't speak for the rest of the community, but yes, 3Dconnexion certainly intends to continue improving blender. I personally have been busy with other projects the last 3 months, but I haven't forgotten about blender. I am not sure about the other contributors (send an email to the bf-committers mailing list)
http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers

I bought a Space Navigator based solely on the demo of Blender using one. And I now find that support is a bit lacking.

I've started to look at the source, but so far I can't get the ndof branch to compile. So I haven't been able to start on any mods.

I personally hate the turntable mode (I find it too restricting), and I want to implement the trackball mode, but need to start on a solid base - or at least something that compiles

there hasn't been a lot going on on the the ndof branch, so this means it should still compile. Compilation errors have been discussed on bf-committers. Firstly, search the archives. Then, if you still can't find a solution, post your compile errors and your system/compiler details to the list (not here). You'll revive interest in everyone and your problems will receive more visibility.

[iguffick]

Thanks ettore, I'll keep trying to get the compile 100%.

And thanks for pointing me to the bf-committers list.

Regards,
Ian.

[RobinFinderson]

Can anyone confirm whether or not the current version of Blender v.2.45 will work with my SpacePilot? I have tried to follow the instructions for getting it to run, but the file structure for the Blender plugin folder is a bit different than what is shown in the 3DConnexion instructions, which makes me wonder if there are compatibility issues with the current Blender build.

Thanks.

R.F.

[ettore]

Can anyone confirm whether or not the current version of Blender v.2.45 will work with my SpacePilot? I have tried to follow the instructions for getting it to run, but the file structure for the Blender plugin folder is a bit different than what is shown in the 3DConnexion instructions, which makes me wonder if there are compatibility issues with the current Blender build.

Currently there is no support for the 2.45 version. You still need to use the Blender 2.44 NDOF experimental branch, which will work with the SpacePilot, SpaceExplorer, SpaceTraveler and SpaceNavigator.

I am aware that we need to work to have the NDOF support merged into the main blender code base, but we haven't done that yet. That is our intention though.

[txrx]

I got to admit I'm loving this little controller on 2.44. I vote for a merge into the official SVN trunk. There's a lot of new branches being merged recently into the main build You know continue the trend and all that.

I've had a look at the two SVN branches though and I can see how this can take quite a bit of time. I'm able to compile the ndof branch no problems and the 2.44 branch along with the Main SVN. But can I guess how to merge your great work into the newest build?! Lol, well beyond my simple experience I'm afraid.

Look forward to the ongoing development of this great feature, would be awesome to get it into the next major release I say!

[ettore]

But can I guess how to merge your great work into the newest build?!

Just to give to Caesar what is Caesar

[txrx]

For all these reasons we can't commit to a date yet.

Thanks for the update and I can understand completely when it's ready it'll be ready

[ettore]

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.