I bought a Spacenavigator for use with Google Earth and Sketchup.
I have figured out how to change buttons etc. which I had to because the default settings have all the actions reversed in Google Earth compared with Sketchup.
Having done that there are still two major problems that make the device completely unusable from my point of view, unless there is something obvious that I am missing.
To tilt the display with a mouse you press and hold the middle button and pull forward or backwards. The display "hinges" based on where the mouse cursor is. Your eye level swings down around the hinge point and eventually ends up at a height of zero with you looking horizontally at the building or whatever you hinged on. Everything you could see in the vertical view remains visible on the screen when you tilt it. Thus if you zoom vertically in on a 3D building then tilt the display, you get to see the side of the building.
With the Spacenavigator when you zoom in to a building or something then try to tilt the display, it does not tilt. The whole display swings up in a wide arc from a hinge point that corresponds with your current eye height. Nothing that was visible when you start tilting stays in view.
Thus if you zoom in to an eye height of 300m above the ground, then tilt the display, your eye height remains at 300m. The whole world swings down and under you end up with your eye remaining at 300m and looking horizontally. The building you were looking at is now directly below you out of sight.
The second problem is twisting the controller to make the view rotate. If you are looking vertically down and you twist the controller the view rotates around the centre of the screen as you would expect.
When you tilt the display to look at the side of a building then try to rotate around it, it does not work. It swings the whole world around your current eye position, which in practice is somewhere off the bottom of the screen, meaning the building immediately swings off the screen to the right or left. If you swing the view 180 degrees the building you were trying to rotate around ends up directly behind you.
Surely I am doing something wrong. I cannot believe that the above actions are all that is possible, because it makes it completely useless. The whole point of GE is to look at things, not have them disappear off the screen every time you tilt or rotate.
The third minor annoyance is that if you tilt the controller the opposite way the whole world turns upside down, something that a normal mouse does not allow. It may be cute but seems pointless.
Problems Using Spacenavigator with Google Earth
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What I should have added is that in Sketchup it works exactly as you would expect. When you twist the controller the model rotates around the centre of the screen.
When you tilt the controller the model tilts around a "hinge point" in the centre of the screen.
In both cases the entire model remains in view, unlike Google Earth. So what am I doing wrong?
When you tilt the controller the model tilts around a "hinge point" in the centre of the screen.
In both cases the entire model remains in view, unlike Google Earth. So what am I doing wrong?
I find that I can achieve the desired result in Google Earth, in a very shaky sort of way, by both twisting and panning at the same time. But it is a totally different action from in Sketchup.
I thought it may have simply been the scale of the actual earth in GE relative to a building for example, so I created a very big model in Sketchup then zoomed right in to a small part of the surface, then twisted the controller. It did exactly what I want. It rotated the model around the centre of the screen rather than swinging it around my eye.
So why does it function differently in Google Earth, given that 99% of Sketchup users swap between SU and GE?
There is an option in GE under Tools/Options/Navigation/Non Mouse Controller where you can change the point of reference to be either Move Me or Move the Earth. I have tried all possible combinations of the various buttons under that option but they do not change the behaviour at all.
I thought it may have simply been the scale of the actual earth in GE relative to a building for example, so I created a very big model in Sketchup then zoomed right in to a small part of the surface, then twisted the controller. It did exactly what I want. It rotated the model around the centre of the screen rather than swinging it around my eye.
So why does it function differently in Google Earth, given that 99% of Sketchup users swap between SU and GE?
There is an option in GE under Tools/Options/Navigation/Non Mouse Controller where you can change the point of reference to be either Move Me or Move the Earth. I have tried all possible combinations of the various buttons under that option but they do not change the behaviour at all.
Hi pmolsen,
In SketchUp, you're using the "object" mode: the 3D mouse will control the model as if it was in your hand. The rotation centre (a point in 3D space) is calculated to be or or near the object.
In GE there's no 3D model as such: you're navigating in a 3D scene. The navigation mode is akin to an helicopter.
Try loading a 3D scene in SketchUp (like a building) and activating the helicopter mode. The navigation should be very similar to what you see in GE.
In SketchUp, you're using the "object" mode: the 3D mouse will control the model as if it was in your hand. The rotation centre (a point in 3D space) is calculated to be or or near the object.
In GE there's no 3D model as such: you're navigating in a 3D scene. The navigation mode is akin to an helicopter.
Try loading a 3D scene in SketchUp (like a building) and activating the helicopter mode. The navigation should be very similar to what you see in GE.
Nuno Gomes
That doesn't explain why something that is so simple in GE with a standard mouse is impossible with the Spacenavigator.
That is, if you hold the middle mouse button down and move the mouse forward and back it tilts the display from the cursor pivot point. Move it side to side and it rotates around the centre of the screen.
That is the exact result you want but the Spacenavigator cannot do it. It is great for getting to where you want to be, but once you get there it is extremely difficult to look around at what you came to see.
Seems to me they need to do a bit more work on the driver.
That is, if you hold the middle mouse button down and move the mouse forward and back it tilts the display from the cursor pivot point. Move it side to side and it rotates around the centre of the screen.
That is the exact result you want but the Spacenavigator cannot do it. It is great for getting to where you want to be, but once you get there it is extremely difficult to look around at what you came to see.
Seems to me they need to do a bit more work on the driver.
What is needed is for the Spacenavigator control panel for GE be modified to add two additional choices, one for what happens when you simply twist the controller and one for when you simply tilt the controller.
For each there would be 3 choices. One would be the current one, where it rotates or tilts around the current eye position.
The second would make it rotate or tilt around the centre of the screen, exactly as the middle mouse button on the standard buttone does for rotate (and for tilt if the cursor starts in the middle of the screen.)
The third option would make it tilt or rotate around the current cursor position.
I would also suggest an additional selectable option on the mouse buttons to change the default selection for the above to one of the other two.
Thus if you configured twist and tilt to be as at present, pressing the left mouse button with the little finger while twisting could be set to rotate around the middle of the screen instead. There would thus be two rotate modes instantly selectable without the need to get into the control panel all the time.
For each there would be 3 choices. One would be the current one, where it rotates or tilts around the current eye position.
The second would make it rotate or tilt around the centre of the screen, exactly as the middle mouse button on the standard buttone does for rotate (and for tilt if the cursor starts in the middle of the screen.)
The third option would make it tilt or rotate around the current cursor position.
I would also suggest an additional selectable option on the mouse buttons to change the default selection for the above to one of the other two.
Thus if you configured twist and tilt to be as at present, pressing the left mouse button with the little finger while twisting could be set to rotate around the middle of the screen instead. There would thus be two rotate modes instantly selectable without the need to get into the control panel all the time.
Have a look here. It is possible, however buggy to set up.pmolsen wrote:That doesn't explain why something that is so simple in GE with a standard mouse is impossible with the Spacenavigator.
That is, if you hold the middle mouse button down and move the mouse forward and back it tilts the display from the cursor pivot point. Move it side to side and it rotates around the centre of the screen.
Cheers David.P