Closer, but still no cigar

[jbkeh]

I purchased the SpaceNavigator a few years ago. Sadly, I found it quite limited and put it away. Every once and awhile I blow the dust off of it and try to see if I can make it useful, without success. Having found the 3DxWare Beta 15, I thought I'd have yet another go at things.

Close, but still no cigar.

Now, this may be (likely?) simple ignorance, but I have not yet found a clear, concise description of how things (are supposed to) work.

My best guess is that:

1. There is an input (cap motion or button press).
2a. IF the active window is associated with a named executable (.exe), the input is "translated" according to its profile and sent to the executable.
2b. If the active window is NOT associated with a named executable, the input is ignored.
(Problem - in unassociated Firefox, the cap x-axis roll IS being passed and treated as the scroll wheel while all other cap movement is ignored.)

The other problem is that it seems that 3Dconnexion is overwhelmingly focused on the 3D facilities to the exclusion that they have a device which can (well, should) function equally well as a 2D mouse/trackball/touchpad and a joystick. I suspect that if it was (could) be presented as such, it would have much more commercial success.

To that end, I would suggest:

1. There be a "DEFAULT PROFILE" that is invoked whenever the active window's executable is NOT associated with a "named" profile.
(This would allow users to define the 3Dconnexion device as a 2d mouse or mouse/joystick for all applications not requiring "advanced" facilities.
2. Every profile be given the option of a character subset so that an executable may have multiple profiles that may be switched among (by an assigned keypress combo using the identifying subset character) as needed. This would allow the 3Dconnexion device to function as a "native" 3D device, a "pure" 2D mouse, a "pure" joystick or combinations thereof in the same application.
3. The keypress template allow for the inclusion of left/middle/right clicks. (Love to be able to simply "tap" the cap for a left-click.)

[Bryan]

Dear jbkeh,

Classically speaking, our devices feed input to the operating system, as would any input device. Applications can choose to make use of this input or not. We have compiled a list of the applications we know of that make use of our device and placed it on our web site under the 'Supported Software'' menu. If you are trying to make use of our device with an application that does not use the input from our device, you will naturally, not see any response in that application. The Windows GUI is also an application that does not make use of our device. So it wouldn't make any sense to try to make use of our device with an application that doesn't include a user interface for input from one of our devices. As with any peripheral, you would want to install the driver for it. This may be found on our Driver Download Page under the Support Menu. As for use with the Beta, you would want to post your suggestion in the Beta Forum, as it is quite a different setup.

Sincerely,
Bryan

[jbkeh]

Thank you for responding.

So this section really relates only to the non-beta software / hardware. I'll post the original (in full) in the beta section.

Parenthetically, I cannot but note that the response underscores the obsession of viewing the device (set) as solely a 3D entity and not as (also) an incredibly (in potential) flexible 2d mouse/joystick.