Seriously I don’t understand why the space navigator is not supported.  I’m a software developer and i’ve added support for it in my rendering applications.  I’ve got libraries for it in c++,java, and c# probably took me less than a day to write the code, by myself. 3dconnexion already has a sdk for it readily available. Autodesk supports it in both 3dsMax and Maya, so what’s the holdup?

Things like this are more suited for people to add using the mudbox sdk onc its released.  What puts some people off is the fact that 3d connex could at any point move from the somewhat crazy architecture they have to a more standard driver format.  Relying on user to write an interface for hardware made by your company is a pretty daft idea really.

Once the SDK is publicly available I’m sure someone will add support for it.  While there is some demand for support, its still a very small ammount.  The ammount of devs is finite and prioities can mean stuff like this doesn’t get implemented as it doesn’t affect enough users.

..and yes I do own one.

Wayne…

http://www.MudboxHub.com Independant Mudbox User Forum

http://www.DashDotSlash.net - personal site

I’ve tried one and don’t think they’re appropriate for sculpting anyway, and they weren’t designed for such a purpose.
When I’m working I’m constantly flipping and jumping around like a fly on acid and the 3d connexion device is far too slow and cumbersome for me. I really can’t see any benefit. I’d wager I could get to any possible view of any point on my model with a mouse a lot faster than someone with such a device.

http://www.pixelwerks.be

Well as someone that just got a 6 month trial of it, a brand new user and a long time user of Max I can tell you that, its the first thing that I checked out, and was disappointed to learn that it isnt supported

Jeff Tamagini
http://www.wilsonarch.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cgman5/sets/

I’ll admit that there’s not the ground-breaking increase in efficiency and speed while using a 3DConnexion controller - as I think they proclaim - but, however subtle the difference is, I much prefer to use one and find that the old system of holding different keys whilst using my Wacom pen to navigate somewhat cumbersome in comparison.

Come on Wayne, will you soon be releasing a driver for us? ;o)

Lee.

AMD PhenomII X6 1090T 3.21GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon 5800 1GB, Windows7 64bit

Well you guys say you prefer to use one, but since you can’t have actually tried sculpting in either mudbox or zbrush with it, as there is no support, how can you know if you’ll like it or not.
Sculpting is quite different from poly modeling for example, in the way you move around the mesh.

http://www.pixelwerks.be

Strange thing to say Oddity! 3DSMax has limited sculpting ability - and whether I’m using a more advanced tool on a higher res mesh in Mudbox or using the translation (select and move) tool on vertices in Max, the physical movements are no different - I orient my view and use a pen or mouse stroke to make changes to the model.

Is there something I’m doing ‘wrong’ in Mudbox? It seems clear to me that in Max or Mudbox I need to move around my model to examine it from all angles and I’d much rather do that with one hand (using my SpacePilot) rather than holding a variety of keys with my left hand whilst directing my view with the pen in my right. One thing I don’t know is whether it can be possible to navigate with the 3Dcontroller whilst applying a brush stroke in Mudbox - but I don’t feel a huge need to be able to do so.

One way you can look at it is that the 3Dcontroller is similar to holding a model in your hand and moving it around while your other hand holds the sculpting tool. (although I retrained myself to have the controller move the camera rather than the model so it’s a bit back-to-front)

I think maybe for people like yourself who move very quickly around your models, it would be quite tricky to use a 3Dcontroller set to such sensitivity to match your current speed because it would require very tiny and accurate movements of your fingers and thumb. I don’t have that sensitivity (or perhaps speed of thought).  Thinking about it though I think I’ll turn the sensitivity up a bit and see if I can hone my skills.

AMD PhenomII X6 1090T 3.21GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon 5800 1GB, Windows7 64bit

Your hand is on the keyboard all the time anyway changing keys.
The way I have my keys set up I never have to move my hand at all on the keyboard, everything is in reach of my fixed hand position, so I never even have to look away from the screen.
I’ve been doing so long now I don’t even have to think about my keyboard hand or navigation at all.
It’s less economical having to jump back and forth between navigator and keyboard, for which you’d definitely have to look down to see what you were doing.
I think the main difference between poly modeling and sculpting is the sheer amount of extra movement in sculpting, at least for me anyway, I move to a new position virtually every time I make a single stoke, plus I’m constantly changing brushes changing size/opacity etc, how to you handle all that with no keyboard?

http://www.pixelwerks.be

I already mentioned that I have gave it a try. Even in maya which is relatively undemanding it felt slow and cumbersome. It does exactly what is was designed for which is touring around models or arch viz buldings in a VR type of way. It’s great for that I’m sure, but keeping with with the frenetic pace and constant jumping around of me in mudbox it was NOT designed for and it would suck at it.
I don’t want to travel from one place to the next or navigate from one model part to another, I want to be there instantly, as fast as possible, and you can do that with the alt/pen navigation, you can flick and you’re there. Maximum speed, total precision.
I’d certainly be interested in seeing some videos of you guys working in mudbox if they do have support for this, I can imagine it’ll look like someone working in slow motion to me.

http://www.pixelwerks.be