Idea: Rotation vs. translation dominant mode

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arpruss
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:50 am

Idea: Rotation vs. translation dominant mode

Post by arpruss »

There is research suggesting that 3D manipulation is faster if one separated the translation and the rotation inputs. The dominant axis mode of the 3dx drivers does something like that, but I've not been a fan of it--it doesn't feel intuitive to me.

So, here's a suggestion: implement a driver mode where you have translation vs. rotation dominance in addition to the existing single-axis dominance mode. When the translation data dominates the rotation data, we get pure translation (along all three axes), and when the rotation data dominates the translation data, we get pure rotation (along all three axes), and of course when there is no domination, we get all zeroes.

I've experimented a little bit with this mode (implemented in the firmware of my SpaceBall 4000 to USB adapter), and it seems to work quite intuitively. My algorithm was simply to count translation as dominant when

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tx^2+ty^2+tz^2 >= 4*(rx^2+ry^2+rz^2)
and rotation as dominant when

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rx^2+ry^2+rz^2 >= 4*(tx^2+ty^2+tz^2)
I considered adding a dead-zone, but it actually seems OK without one.
arpruss
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2018 7:50 am

Re: Idea: Rotation vs. translation dominant mode

Post by arpruss »

If anybody wants to see how such a mode feels, it's included in my SpaceMouse for TinkerCAD Chrome extension. Go to the Options for the extension and under dominance choose the Translation vs rotation option.
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