SpaceNavigator 3D Connexion & Blender 2.5 ?

dickda1 · Post by **dickda1** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 5:48 am

I have been using Blender for over 10 years and am very grateful for all the work that has been done by volunteers.

The new interface looks great, but is useless to me until we get a space navigator driver.

Hope we don't have to wait until Blender 2.6 (or 2.7, 2.8...).

rainChu · Post by **rainChu** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:47 pm

dickda1 wrote:Hope we don't have to wait until Blender 2.6 (or 2.7, 2.8...).

I wouldn't worry. We've already gotten word that they are working on it, and if that's not enough for you, consider that this thread is continuously being bumped to the top of the "News and Chat". That means that there is considerable interest in that functionality.

Blender has always been by artists for artists, and if there is enough interest in a feature, that feature will be implemented.

Tolo · Post by **Tolo** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:07 pm

I also just want to say that I very much appreciate the good work on Blender in general and especially on the new version. I like the new interface and its extensibility very much. I really can´t await the moment to really start using it, which will be as soon as the SpaceNavigator support is there. I just can´t go back to keyboard navigation...

Best wishes.

dickda1 · Post by **dickda1** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:50 am

I fully realize that this is not a commercial product - have been using Blender for over 10 years. Rhino and many other 3D modelling packages have had continuous support for 3D joysticks like space navigator forever. Regardless of numerous assurances, it seems to me that this is not going to happen anytime soon for Blender 2.5 or beyond. Can't help but be disappointed.

Post by **stiv** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:38 am

Can't help but be disappointed.

Feel free to be disappointed all you want. There were a couple SpaceNav patches from different contributors applied to one of the Summer Of Code branches just last week.

RickHodgin · Post by **RickHodgin** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 10:45 am

stiv wrote:
Can't help but be disappointed.
Feel free to be disappointed all you want. There were a couple SpaceNav patches from different contributors applied to one of the Summer Of Code branches just last week.

Should not be too hard to implement. I'm sure the devs were waiting to solidify as much as possible in the functional code base before moving forward with a driver that likely contains code dependent upon things that, until recently were highly in flux.

Just my $0.02.

- Rick C. Hodgin

Post by **stiv** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:39 pm

Should not be too hard to implement.

In case this is not clear, the point I am trying to make here is that support for the Space Navigator *is* being implemented. It is being done in a branch of the source code rather than the main line because right now focus is on the goal of an actual non-beta release of new Blender. We are not adding features. That will come later.

RickHodgin · Post by **RickHodgin** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:55 pm

stiv wrote:
Should not be too hard to implement.
In case this is not clear, the point I am trying to make here is that support for the Space Navigator *is* being implemented. It is being done in a branch of the source code rather than the main line because right now focus is on the goal of an actual non-beta release of new Blender. We are not adding features. That will come later.

I think I hit reply to the wrong post. The intent of my post, the main thrust was this: what you said, that most dev work is on a functional bug-free tool. And my comment that it shouldn't be too hard speaks to the "this can be implemented at any time, and easily" point.

- Rick

Tehrasha · Post by **Tehrasha** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:29 am

This is the most up-to-date info that I was able to find on upcoming NDOF support in Blender 2.5x.

http://www.mail-archive.com/bf-committe ... 04784.html

I consider that to be very encouraging news.

MMDancer · Post by **MMDancer** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:53 am

Do you know this mouse/keyboard/Joystick emulator for the space navigator called RBC9?
It can be used as a workaround for shifting and rotating the viewing position.
Here's a link to the RBC9 driver:
http://www.omniflux.com/devel/#rbc9
and the installation instructions
http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/viewto ... 36&sid=b43..
My configuration for blender 2.56:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4evermiku/ ... 808512327/

Vivid · Post by **Vivid** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:54 pm

Guys, someone test it under FreeBSD? i cant get it working :S

SnakeArtworX · Post by **SnakeArtworX** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:01 am

When we can expect the official support for 3Dconnexion Space Navigator in Blender for MacOSX? I have MacOSX SnowLeo (10.6) on my Mac, Blender 2.5 and SpaceNavigator. It works cool in Cheetah3D, SecondLife, Google Earth but in Blender... . I've bought that controller to speed up the work in Blender, but it seems that currently it just looks cool on my desk:( .

muchachotron · Post by **muchachotron** » Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:16 am

i am anxious for this to be supported as well, but i think it is fair to wait for an out-of-beta, official release first. they really need that stable release to get mass acceptance. this will help blender adoption in general, hence even more folks that will be clamorin' for their spacenavigator to function within blender.

tomkrasz · Post by **tomkrasz** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:44 pm

MMDancer wrote:Do you know this mouse/keyboard/Joystick emulator for the space navigator called RBC9?
It can be used as a workaround for shifting and rotating the viewing position.
Here's a link to the RBC9 driver:
http://www.omniflux.com/devel/#rbc9
and the installation instructions
http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/viewto ... 36&sid=b43..
My configuration for blender 2.56:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4evermiku/ ... 808512327/

I've tried to run it on my Win7 and Vista (both Ultimate 32bit) but i couldn't

On which Windows edition have you made it working?

Tehrasha · Post by **Tehrasha** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:23 pm

I got the RBC9 driver to work under 32-bit XP, but as stated, it is a work around. It emulates key presses and mouse movements, so if you move your normal mouse while pivoting with the Navigator, they will interfere with each other. Not nearly as smooth and seamless as the 2.49 ndof plugin.

Getting it to install properly was the hardest part. (BSOD twice while trying to install) Had to dig deeply into that 3DConnexion forum posting to find some answers. Ended up installing the driver while in safe-mode.

Once installed, I used MMDancer's configuration with some minor changes.

Blender.org

SpaceNavigator 3D Connexion & Blender 2.5 ?

SpaceNavigator

Space navigator and Blender 2.5