hmmm and the "allow roation tilt" option uses the spin axis. seems like those two are switched?

Hi blackpixel, so by default the controller will only apply an up-down type motion and a lateral "spin around" type motion.

If you also want to add in a "tilt your head from left to right" type motion, that's what will be added by enabling the "Allow rotation tilt" checkbox under Options > Rotate/Pan/Zoom options > 3Dconnextion options.

With that enabled, there are 3 different kinds of motion mapped to the 3 different kinds of actions on the controller.

If you want some different behavior, there are also options there for swapping the motions like you can swap the directions used for panning and zooming, or for twisting and tilting.

Maybe the part that is confusing you is that the view movement also works in combination with the Rotation style that is set under Options > Rotate/Pan/Zoom options > Rotation style, at the top of that dialog.

If you have Rotation style = "Rotate around world z axis", then the twisting motion of the controller will turn around the model going around the world z axis, which it sounds like you want to do.

If you have Rotation style = "Free rotation", then twisting is not tied to the world z axis but rather is controlled by the current up direction, producing a kind of more localized effect that does not keep things oriented to the world z axis.

So if you want to rotate around world z, make sure you have Rotation style = "Rotate around world z axis", maybe you have changed that setting to "Free rotation" instead?

I just tested this all and I can't seem to find any bugs...

- Michael

Hi blackpixel, also just to help clarify - if you have set Rotation style = "Rotate around world axis", then twisting the knob like this:



will result in a motion around the world z axis like this:




Tilting the knob forward or backward like this:




will result in an up/down type rotation like this:




By default those are the only motions that will be used so that you stay oriented upwards as you would when walking around your room in real life. But if you enable the "Allow rotation tilt" option, then an additional rotation is available, by tilting the knob to the left or right like this:





Which will produce a tilt around the view's forward looking direction like so:




If you prefer to have a different knob direction for controlling the tilt, set the "Swap twist and tilt" option to swap those actions.

- Michael

thx for the fast reply Michael!!

hmmmm it only does work when I have "swap twist and tilt" enabled.
then It's working like expected ( and like in your pictures ) :)
but when I enable "allow rotation tilt" the tilting is reversed.
I can reverse this back in the driver, though.
but then again I'll have to switch back and forth because the driver doesn't recognize MoI for config switching.

pix

Hi blackpixel - that's odd - those screencaps that I took above there were done without "swap twist and tilt" enabled in MoI over here.

The "allow rotation tilt" should be just adding another possible rotation into the mix, when it is not set one kind of tilting of the controller is just ignored.

Maybe your driver settings are actually sticking and you're getting different results than me due to some various different settings in the driver?


> I'll have to switch back and forth because the driver doesn't
> recognize MoI for config switching.

Hmm, that's also odd - what version of the driver are you using?

I'm using 3DxWare version 3.6.11 and Driver Version 6.6.4 over here and it seems to remember driver settings specific to moi.exe fine over here.

How are you launching the 3dx control panel, it should pop up when you push one of the buttons on the device, maybe try doing that while MoI is the active window to make sure it associates the settings with moi.exe .

Also you may want to start with a fresh slate, in the driver control panel choose Options > Restore all defaults... that may give you a better fresh starting point.

You also might want to enable Options > "Automatically Save Configurations" as well.

If you still can't get individual settings for moi.exe you may want to update to the latest 3DXWare software install to see if that solves it, or also contact 3Dconnextion tech support and ask them if there are problems with per-application settings in their latest drivers, in which case maybe try going to an older version such as the one I mentioned above.

Hope this helps!

- Michael

no, wait!! now it seems to recognize MoI as "3DCom Modular", when I start it.
So I can reverse it there :) yaay! Sry for bothering you with this silly stuff...

Just another question. Is there a way to rotate around the center of the selected object?
So when you have nothing selected you navigate as usual, but when you select something you still can zoom and pan around but you rotate around its center. It's like that in 3dsmax and it's very useful when working on details, so your object of interest is always in focus.

err I have release version 3.10.1, driver version 6.10.0 firmware version 3.18 SpaceExplorer

sadly the older versions don't work with the space explorer :/

Hi blackpixel,

> Just another question. Is there a way to rotate around the
> center of the selected object?

Push the "Reset" button at the bottom of the viewport (or it is also mapped to another button on the device as well).

That will center the view on the selected objects the first time you push it, and if you push it again center against the whole model. The rotation pivot will also be placed at the center of the targeted objects so that you will then rotate around that point.

You can also center on a specific point by using the "Area" zoom button on the bottom-viewport toolbar.


> So when you have nothing selected you navigate as usual, but
> when you select something you still can zoom and pan around
> but you rotate around its center. It's like that in 3dsmax and
> it's very useful when working on details, so your object of
> interest is always in focus.

In MoI there isn't any way to set the rotation pivot to be some point way off to the side or something (like the center of the selected object would be if you panned around), the rotation pivot is always centered on the screen straight in front of you.

When you pan around, the rotation pivot pans with you so that you stay rotating around the local area of interest right in front of you instead of pivoting around some point off to the side.

- Michael

good god.....I think I got it

It IS working with driver ver. 3.7.22 and my good old SpaceMouse Plus USB.
So all the newer devices with the up-to-date driver have this issue..

pix

Hi blackpixel,

> sadly the older versions don't work with the space explorer

Well it sounds like you won't need them anyway since you were able to get the driver per-application settings working.

I have no idea what "3DCom Modular" is, but if that works then great! :)

It could be possible for you to do a "Save As" in the driver and give that batch of settings a different name or something like that, you may need to contact 3DConnexion tech support if you need to resolve something behaving oddly in their driver settings saving though, MoI does not really have any control over that directly.

- Michael

yep, that will do the trick. :)

Thank you so much for your help and your time!
-greatly appreciated! :)

gotta go and spin around a little bit :D

cheers!
pix

Hi blackpixel - one thing you mentioned:

> It's like that in 3dsmax and it's very useful when working
> on details, so your object of interest is always in focus.

So probably in 3dxmax you are working with polygon modeling tools where you are dealing with some localized selection of vertices pretty frequently?

Keep in mind that MoI is not a poly modeler - it uses a much different system called NURBS and often times with NURBS you will be working more with full solids and not just with a sub-selection of some few localized mesh vertices as you would in a poly modeler.

When working with larger solids in MoI there is a much larger chance that the center of the selected solids will happen to be way off the screen somewhere when you zoom in a bit, and rotation is hard to control when the center of rotation is way off the screen instead of nearby you on the screen.

So some of the navigation methods that you are accustomed to may be somewhat tuned towards poly modeling and not really as applicable to solids modeling in MoI.

- Michael