Customizable ?

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on macOS.

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Essania
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Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:28 am

Customizable ?

Post by Essania »

Hello,

I'm really interested in the Space Navigator for Mac.

I'm not sure if I understand well how I could use it.
I have Vue 6 Infinite, Poser 7 and SketchUp 6 for 3D and also Photoshop, Illustrator and all of the Adobe Web Suite, and Logic Pro 7 for music.

Is the beta driver (or when it'll be the final release) have customization of buttons and the "3D scroll wheel" ?
As in:
Can I use navigate in 3D with any 3D applications.
Can I use it in Photoshop/Illustrator to assign tool's settings (like brush size).
Can I use it in Logic as a back/forward ****** ? (also in FinalCut Express).
Can I make several presets, which would be detect by the driver when I'm in a specific application ? (like when I^m in Logic the 3D scroll would be use to back/forward and if I switch to Photoshop it would use the brush size).

Thank you.
znissan
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Post by znissan »

Thank you for the feedback.

You can customize the buttons for any application where a keyboard macro is available. The controller cap is not customizable.

Ziva Nissan
3Dconnexion, Inc.
Essania
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:28 am

Post by Essania »

Thank you for your answer Ziva Nissan.

What do you mean by "Controller Cap" ?

What about the quality of the Mac Software ?
Logitech is well known to make really, really, I mean really bad OS X drivers. I have a MX700 mouse and an Elite keyboard, and the drivers for those are just a piece of crap. Each time I want to configure either the mouse or keyboard, the software crash.
It's also look more like a bad port of an Windows applications to OS X.
(for example, why can't I customize the back/forward - play/stop and volume on the Elite keyboard ?).

I'm a professional and I'm Swiss :-) so I would've thought that a Swiss company like Logitech would've made Swiss Quality products.
But they don't...

So, maybe 3D Connexion, being deported to Germany, could make better products ?
GregVDS
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Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:11 am
Location: Bruxelles

Post by GregVDS »

As far as I have discovered things (since yesterday morning :-) ),

Or you just use the thing: Wait for 3DConnexion / Third party soft to develop the driver/plugin that will support your app: the long and frustrating way.

Or you take a deep breath and go for the SDK developing way so you can make everything yourself: the most flexible way, though surely nor easy neither quick.

Or you can try if ControllerMate can do something for you. I played a little bit yestereve (1:45 AM in bed...) and achieved to pilot Celestia with the SN.
Basically, if your app can be manipulated by keystrokes (arrows, combinations, numpads), you can easily (really) map the channels and buttons of the SN to send keystrokes to a given app.
I just finished to map the SN for iTunes, very fun, push/pull to move through songs, left/right to move through albums pics, vertical axis Y rotation for volume, horizontal axis X rotation for FF/RW, and a vertical kick for pause (with blinking blue light).

BUT as far as I'm, it seems the app has to accept keystrokes command. Now I didn't discovered or tried everything.

Pay attention that the unregistered version is quickly limited, but in my opinion, the 15 USD are very well spent on this.

All the best,

GregVDS
All the best,

GregVDS
GregVDS
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Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:11 am
Location: Bruxelles

Post by GregVDS »

Just a precision:

Don't install the last driver (1.0.1) if you want tu use the SN with ControllerMate!
All the best,

GregVDS
Essania
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:28 am

Post by Essania »

Thanks for the answer Greg.

I'm not a developer, so no SDK for me :-)
But I'm concerned about the quality of the software for the Mac.
I have a Logitech Keyboard and Mouse (The Elite and MX 700).
Both drivers crash each time I make a change.
The latest drivers they put on the web was completely buggy; they've pull it back and replace it with a less buggy one.

I'm a professional, and working with Macs since they exist (and before with an Apple II). So it's not like I'm a newbee having no clue of what's going on :-)

Anyway, I'll guess that it come to a store near me to give it a try.

Thanks again Greg
znissan
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Post by znissan »

Hi Essania:

I am sorry for missing your earlier post.

I can only speak for 3Dconnexion, as we are a wholly-owned subsidiary and our development efforts are completely separate from Logitech's. We test our solutions thoroughly externally and internally, and you can be assured of the quality.

Ziva Nissan
3Dconnexion, Inc.
Essania
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:28 am

Post by Essania »

Thank You.

I hope to find one here in Switzerland and give it a try.

BTW. It's really true and annoying how Logitech consider their Mac customer. So I really can't buy this seem to be really good device blindly.
GregVDS
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:11 am
Location: Bruxelles

Post by GregVDS »

Sorry, I redid all the install process, and everything is fine with the last driver, ControlerMate works just fine. I don't know what I did wrong.
All the best,

GregVDS
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