Latest Maya Script Woes...

[Casemon]

Using Spaceball 5000 under XP. The latest Maya mel scripts render the "Object Movement" feature impossible to use. The visual update of the selected object is so slow that you cannot reliably move the object with any amount of intent. The resulting movement is erratic and totally unusable.

Our shop also has Max8 and on a whim I tried repeating the same in Max8, same spec machine (2Ghz). Was not able to reproduce this problem in Max8; it updated quickly enough to reliably move the object when Object Movement is enabled.

Also, looks like you swapped Y & Z axis in the latest Maya mel scripts. This is *extremely* un-intuitive to use... pressing up & down on the device zooms in & out (in all modes) and pressing in & out moves up & down (in Fly mode).

If you're going to break legacy device support, at least put in a Y/Z toggle in the config dialog; shouldn't be hard for your mel programmer and it sure would make us long time committed users (who have perfectly good devices and don't upgrade just because you say so) feel better about getting left out in the cold.

When will these issues be addressed? I'm a customer and I want a solid answer. And why have you forsaken your previous committed customers? viewtopic.php?p=2880#2880

I paid you good money for the Spaceball 5000 (they still sell for about $300) and your lack of support for the device in this regard is just another disappointing example of 3DConnexion not caring about it's current customers in favor of pushing "new" product. Where are the Spaceball 5000 USB Mac drivers promised in advertising so many summers ago? Sure you made a business decision not to support Mac on that device, but the new vs old devices are not SO different (both have 6 axis and accept range of input); and what about just doing the right thing and supporting your previous clients who've supported you?

I feel like I've bought aluminum siding for my house and then it starts to fade (despite the "fade proof" advertising) and I call the vendor and oh no, there is no one to answer the phone; it's always "someone else's problem".

If you ask me, it looks like 3DConnexion is taking a page out of the Wacom guide to business: take user's money, make the paid-for product near unusable with broken & lax software-support, then just say "buy the new one" to force upgrade as it suits you. It's disgusting and I make sure to tell everyone in my network about Wacom's dirtly little secrets (after 12yrs making 3D content, my network is pretty big)... I'd hate to have to add 3DConnexion to that spiel.

[ngomes]

Hi Casemon,

Using Spaceball 5000 under XP. The latest Maya mel scripts render the "Object Movement" feature impossible to use.

[...]

Was not able to reproduce this problem in Max8; it updated quickly enough to reliably move the object when Object Movement is enabled.

We would like to verify the "slow movement" issue in Maya. Since you write that all is well in Maya 8, I assume you're referring to a previous version. Which one would that be?

Also, looks like you swapped Y & Z axis in the latest Maya mel scripts. This is *extremely* un-intuitive to use... pressing up & down on the device zooms in & out (in all modes) and pressing in & out moves up & down (in Fly mode).

To swap the Y/Z axes, you can use the "Zoom Direction" option on the 3Dconnexion Control Panel.

SpaceBall 5000 USB is supported in all the latest releases of our Windows software and UNIX/Linux.

Support for 3Dconnexion devices on Mac OS X is -- as you are aware -- available only for currently sold products.