MAX2014 Annoying Issue

[Mike Truly]

SpacePilot, 3DX Driver 3.17.6, MAX2014 SP2, Win7, latest Nvidia drivers, etc.

Couple of things that are annoying when using my SpacePilot with MAX2014.

1. When I use MAX2014, I always operate with the Layer dialog open in order to deal with the thousands of objects in the scene. Because of the way that the 3DX driver has always functioned by creating a camera object each time the knob is touched... this Layer dialog flashes constantly when the knob is touched. Not only is this incredibly distracting when trying to work, it also introduces a slowness to the interaction of using the knob. When the Layer dialog is closed or rolled up... the interaction of the viewports is faster!

Ideally, I would like the 3DX camera object to be created once and never again so this dialog would stop flashing/refreshing and the interaction would be faster. As it is now, I must constantly mouse over to the Layer dialog and roll it up or close it entirely before using the SpacePilot which is very annoying and a productivity killer.

2. (I don't believe this was an issue when I was using MAX2010 which I just upgraded from recently)
I also operate with the Display Floater always visible where I can choose to hide all lights or cameras, etc. So lets say I have 3 cameras in the scene... CAMA, CAMB, CAMC. And in the Layer dialog, I have hidden CAMB and CAMC so only CAMA is visible in the scene. If I have the Display Floater set to hide all cameras, CAMA is also hidden. The reason using the setting in the Display Floater is valuable is... if I happen to have 27 cameras in the scene, I can instantly hide all cameras with a single click instead of having to hide each camera individually using other means.

The problem is... the instant I touch the SpacePilot knob, all cameras that are not hidden via the Layer dialog become visible. Even though I have the Display Floater set to hide all cameras in the scene! This is incredibly distracting as I am trying to view the scene and a bunch of cameras become visible that I had desired to be hidden.

Thanks!

[Phil999]

Because of the way that the 3DX driver has always functioned by creating a camera object each time the knob is touched...

I can't follow you here. Usually, Ctrl+c is the command to create a new camera object.

[Mike Truly]

I'm not trying to create a new camera in MAX.

I'm saying that the way the 3Dxstudio SpacePilot driver has always functioned is by creating a special 3Dxstudio camera object in the MAX scene each time you go to move the SpacePilot knob. It has always done this and you can see the new special 3Dxstudio camera object appear in the objects list in MAX each time you touch the knob. As you use the move the knob/stopped moving the knob/move the knob/stopped moving the knob, etc. the special 3Dxstudio object appears in the list/disappear from the list/appear in the list/disappear from the list, etc. This causes the Scene Explorer/Selection Floater/Layers Dialog (or any other object list dialog) to constantly refresh as the knob is used and is super distracting and also slows down the MAX system and viewports dramatically. When these dialogs are closed... the result from using the SpacePilot knob in the viewports is far faster and more fluid. But in my workflow, I need these dialogs open all the time and it's a huge pain to close them just so using the SpacePilot is more fluid.

When I have all three dialogs open (Scene Explorer/Selection Floater/Layers Dialog) and move the knob... the special camera object is constantly displayed/undisplayed again and again in all dialogs which makes my desktop look like Las Vegas. If I use the Hide Cameras function in the Display Tab or Display Floater and move the knob... no cameras are displayed in the Scene Explorer or Selection Floater and these dialogs don't refresh constantly (which is as desired). But the Layer Dialog continues to flash each time the knob is used.

My feeling has always been... create the damn special camera object one time (if it doesn't exist already) and don't create it again. If the driver would simply leave the special object in existence... these dialogs would stop flashing constantly each time the knob was used.

Attached are some screengrabs of the Scene Explorer dialog and Selection Floater dialogs from MAX showing the special camera object.

Thanks!