Beginner needs help

[Querorz]

Hi Guys. I just bought a 3dconnexion Spacepilot(old version) on Ebay, which was used before. There is no one around me who uses Space Pilot so i am kind of confused .

What my problem is that it feels impossible to use Space Pilot for me. For example , on 3ds Max i can't zoom to object without rotating it to some other directions at the same time.

All i want is to move it up without rotating it and i try real hard to do so. I try slowly and carefully , but no way.

Or i can't pan my view to right , without moving it up at the same time.

I hope i could tell my problem clearly with my horrible English.

What i want to know is, is the problem that i just need some time to get used to it, or did i buy a broken Space Pilot?

Thanks in advance

[Bryan]

Dear Querorz,

You may try making use of your SpacePilot in the Jet Demo and see if you are experiencing the same behavior.
(Start, All Programs, 3Dconnexion, Demos, Jet Demo)

You may test individual motions or specific combinations of motions by what motions you disable/enable under the fourth tab, "Advanced Settings" of the 3Dconnexion Control Panel.

You may also experient with different speed settings there.

Under the Advanced Settings Tab, you may experient with the Dominant Setting. The Dominant Setting will restrict your motion to a translation or to a rotation. So, for example, if you were to lean forward with your Navigation Knob, with Dominant turned out, the software would decide if you making more of forward rotation motion or a forward translation motion and you would only see the results of one of these motions.

Sincerely,
Bryan

[Querorz]

Hi Bryan. Firstly, thanks so much for helping.

I tried Jet Demo. It feels much better than in 3ds Max. I don't know why it is not that smooth in 3ds Max.

I also tried Dominant mode but in Dominant mode Move Up/Down doesn't work(which is done by pushing and pulling the button up and down). It moves the object a little bit and then it freezes. So , i need to push the button 10 times to move it down a little bit. When i change zoom direction(and this way move up/down and zoom buttons are switched) this time i can move up/down very well but i can't zoom(it zooms a very little bit and then stops zooming). I mean again push down and pull up makes the problem again.

I know it is so confusing what i just told.

Thanks so much.

[Barbara]

Hi Querorz -

Dominant mode is intended to limit movement to a single direction. For general use , 'Dominant' should be turned off [ un-checked]. We suggest it only when someone is having difficulty controlling navigation. Bryan suggested it here because you were seeing movement in 2 directions at the same time.

Check that you have the most recent driver under Help-About in the 3Dconnexion Properties window. 'Release Version' should say 3.15.2. If it does not , you can get the driver from our downloads page.

With the Release 3.15.2 driver you should see a '3DMouse News' window when you first open 3DsMax. It shows the pop-up menu you will use to configure the Space Pilot in 3DsMax. This is different from 3Dconnexion Properties.

The pop-up menu opens inside 3DsMax when you press the Panel button on your Space Pilot. This is the menu that allows you to choose the navigation modes in 3DsMax such as Camera Mode and Object Mode.

Once you work with some of these options you should be able to set navigation of the SpacePilot in 3DsMax to behave as you prefer.

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Barbara

[Querorz]

Thanks so much Barbara. I checked the version and yes it is 3.15.2 . And i also use pop up menu in applications. But regardless to whatever i tried, in dominant mode, pushing up and pulling down the button(which moves camera up and down) doesn't work. It moves the camera for less than 0.1 second and if i don't let it go, it starts spinning the camera.
But pulling and pushing the button doesn't make any problems when i am not in dominant mode.

[Barbara]

Hi Querorz -

Keep Dominant turned off. It is intended to limit motion as you describe. If rotation is interfering with what you are doing, it is better to just turn off rotation.

You can switch the zoom direction in the 3Dconnexion Properties window if you prefer to use the up and down motion for zoom.

If you turn off rotation does the zoom function behave as you expect it to ?

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Barbara

[Querorz]

Barbara, thanks so much again for being concerned in my problems. So, if dominant mode is behaving as it is meant to be i am cool about that.

Switching zoom direction doesn't help because up and down button is what i am having troubles with and when i switch it, i will just make zooming harder instead of moving vertically.

If you mean turning off one or all of spin, tilt , roll buttons by "turning of rotation" this is not gonna help because i will be needing all of these functions in 3ds Max.

Actually my Space Pilot works very well in Jet Demo mode. But not that well in 3ds Max or sketchup. I wonder if there are any other setting tabs other than the one that comes when i press "Panel" button. Someone told me that i could download a special script or something like that for 3ds Max to do setting my Space Pilot more accurately. Is there anything like that?

Thanks for listening to me.

[Barbara]

Hi Querorz -

When an axis direction is turned off, it is just something that would be done temporarily - it would still be available for future use. This can be mapped to a button from 'Customize buttons' on the pop-up menu. One press would turn rotations off and the next press would turn rotations back on.

Are you working in Camera mode or Object mode? This can make a difference in the way navigation behaves.

Have you tried the zoom function in each mode ? The 'right' one for what you are doing will depend on the type of model and scene you are working with and on your personal preferences.

There are various 3DsMax scripts and plugins but the only one from 3Dconnexion for the SpacePilot is the software you are already using.

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Barbara