Cinema 4D support on Mac... ever?

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on macOS.

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claretrina
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Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:17 am

good article

Post by claretrina »

nice!
jayse
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Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:05 pm

Post by jayse »

Kind of a false alarm... apparently it doesn't really work great enough to actually use.

We actually need some Logitech support - go figure.

Logitech... where are you?
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

Please 3Dconnexion, give us some 3DC magic in C4D!!!

Please!
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

One thing that I've been wondering: who's actually responsible for writing the code for drivers of any device? Why would 3Dconnexion knock on Maxon's door? Doesn't every printer manufacturer write its own drivers? Don't Nvidia and Ati write their own drivers?

I understand that when you have a printer, the generic printing protocol of the OS will take care of sending the right signals to the printer. That differs of course from having to service every different 3D application. But then again, I paid many hundreds of euro's for a high quality product from a Logitech company.

Perhaps 3Dconnexion should just say 'no' to writing a plugin, and give a few enthusiastic programmers all the info they need to write a beautiful plugin for Cinema 4D on the Mac. As I've said before, I'd pay for it, if it'd be a reasonable price.
ngomes
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Post by ngomes »

Hi dwerf,
One thing that I've been wondering: who's actually responsible for writing the code for drivers of any device?
It depends what you mean by drivers. 3Dconnexion develops "device drivers" for Windows, Mac and UNIX/Linux. The APIs for this drivers are available for any to use (see here). Some do and integrate 3D mouse support in their applications. Others have applications with an open API and 3Dconnexion is able to develop "plug-in" solutions (for example, Google SketchUp and Autodesk Maya)
Doesn't every printer manufacturer write its own drivers? Don't Nvidia and Ati write their own drivers?
They do and so does 3Dconnexion. But all 3D applications need to code for particular features of the graphics hardware. For example, the term "hardware acceleration" is often used to refer to the fact that the application has support for advanced features of a graphic card. This is a similar situation to a 3D mouse.
I understand that when you have a printer, the generic printing protocol of the OS will take care of sending the right signals to the printer. That differs of course from having to service every different 3D application. But then again, I paid many hundreds of euro's for a high quality product from a Logitech company.

Perhaps 3Dconnexion should just say 'no' to writing a plugin, and give a few enthusiastic programmers all the info they need to write a beautiful plugin for Cinema 4D on the Mac. As I've said before, I'd pay for it, if it'd be a reasonable price.
All the information is readily available. 3Dconnexion USB hardware follows an industry standard (USB-IF's "HID Multi-axis controller") and, as mentioned above, the device drivers have documented interfaces that all can use to integrate 3D mouse support in applications or even develop other time of solutions (there are interesting examples to be found in this Forum).

It is even possible to code for the 3D mouse USB hardware and bypassing all 3Dconnexion -developed software since all operating system have basic support for HID devices.
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

Thank you very much for this clarifying reply! Yesterday I emailed Maxon and they gave the following promising reply:
Hello!

At the moment, CINEMA 4D R10.5 has no SpaceMouse support on Macintosh,
but the next version of C4D will have it!

Kind regards,

Jörn Gollob

Technical Support

=========== MAXON Computer GmbH ===========
tobiasCAD
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Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 5:43 am

R11

Post by tobiasCAD »

C4D R11 will support it. Releasing in september. Good news.
MacPro 2x 2.8 gHz
VectorWorks2008
C4d 10.5
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

Ah, R11, that sounds good! I rest my case, at least for now ;-)
PresNevins
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Post by PresNevins »

...and here's the link for proof, from Maxon's C4D R11 "other features" pages:

http://www.maxon.net/pages/products/new/r11/more_e.html
Navigate with 3Dconnexion on Mac and PC
CINEMA 4D users on Windows have long enjoyed support for 3Dconnexion's revolutionary 3D mice, such as the SpaceMouse and SpacePilot. Now Macintosh users can take advantage of the SpaceNavigator and SpaceExplorer to navigate within your CINEMA 4D scenes. Whether you use a Mac or PC, you simply open the 3D Mouse dialog to enable the device and choose what axes or objects to control. The final frontier of 3D navigation awaits.
I think this makes it pretty clear that the ball was indeed in Maxon's court. As usual they were absolutely silent about their development plans, but also as usual they had some nifty stuff up their sleeves! :D Way to go Maxon!
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

This sure all sounds very sweet! Looks like what we've been waiting for, is finally coming our way! Thanks 3Dconnexion and thank you Maxon!
tobiasCAD
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Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 5:43 am

Awesome!...truly

Post by tobiasCAD »

Just downloaded the demo of R11 w/ Spacenavigator support. Very impressive. Very responsive, good options (Navigate,Fly and move objects)
This is what I hoped for when I bought this product.
Nice work.
MacPro 2x 2.8 gHz
VectorWorks2008
C4d 10.5
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

Checking it out now also. This is an incredible increase in working speed. For the ones that want to check out out, go to the Window menu > 3Dconnexion and keep the dialogue box open.

Nice!
dwerf
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Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

It works really well to select and move a camera in one viewport and see what it's doing in another. Also, I really like the way the camera work now. Easier to make pans and more logical than before.
PresNevins
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Location: Kansai, Japan

Post by PresNevins »

Anybody watching over my shoulder would still probably get seasick, but I'm slowly getting a handle on navigating around with it. This is great! :D
dwerf
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Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 5:36 am
Location: Amsterdam

Post by dwerf »

Yeah, did anyone manage to enable a turntable-style of navigation?
Deactivating any of axes (Y?) seems to return undesirable results...
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