MAX2010_64 SpacePilot Problem

[Mike Truly]

I am using the SpacePilot with MAX2010_64 in OS XP x64 using the latest SP driver. System has 2 Quadro5000 display cards and MAX is currently running in OpenGL mode.


This has been around since the dawn of time itself and I can never understand why the SP driver has to act this way. I use a 4 monitor desktop with lots of real estate and because of this, I use MAX with both the Layers dialog and Selection Floater dialog open at all times (as well as several other dialogs). It is natural to want the SP use to be as fast as using the Mouse yet it is not and never has been. For example, if I use the MAX function 'Orbit Selected' or 'Orbit Subobject' with the mouse... the movement in the viewport is very fast and smooth. But trying to orbit about the object using the SP knob is sluggish to say the least.

One of the things that seem to cause or add to this sluggishness is the way the driver seems to operate where it is constantly creating and recreating the 3DxStudio User object. In the past, as this object was constantly created whenever the SP knob was touched, this object would constantly appear/disappear in both the Selection Floater dialog and Layers dialog. Since I operate with these open at all times, it was hugely distracting to see the dialogs flashing constantly. There was a noticable speedup in the viewports when using the SP and I would close these dialogs... but as I said I always need these dialogs open. At some point in the drivers history, the 3DxStudio User object stopped appearing in the Selection Floater dialog (this is good!) but it continues to constantly appear in the Layers dialog. Since I usually have the current layer open, the 3DxStudio User object is created and recreated there and the dialog is automatically refreshed constantly. Now if this is a scene with thousands of other objects in the various layers (some of the layers open), things get even slower as the dialog is forced to be refreshed.

Not only does this object seem to be created constantly, but the existing Ortho view seems to be switched back and forth to this 3DxStudio view constantly. Why not manipulate the Ortho view directly like the Orbit Selected/Subobject seems to do?

If the 3DxStudio method must exist, my suggestion would be to create the object once and let it exist without deleting it. Create it in it's own, hidden layer and since the object would already exist, the Layers dialog would not be forced to refresh constantly.

Just my two cents.

Thanks!