Where are Maya button mappings saved?

[Valen Wagner]

See my previous posts on Maya's button mapping not working...

I wanted to see if I could "force" the button mapping by editing the config files instead of using the Maya button mapping editor. In the past I've seen the custom mappings in the:

Win 7 - C:\Users\[name]\AppData\Roaming\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\profiles\

However when I edit my Maya related .scg file in this folder, it makes no mention custom mappings. I also don't see any entries in the Registry. Where are they stored?

[Fred]

The 3Dconnexion button mappings are saved as .scg files. These are text format files where device settings and button mappings for most applications are stored. A few applications also store button mapping information in the registry.
Configurations for your 3Dconnexion device are located in these two places. Location 1 is the filesystem location for the various operating systems and Location 2 is the Windows registry location.


1.WinXp
C: --> Documents and Settings --> [Username] --> Application Data --> 3Dconnexion --> 3DxWare --> profiles

Vista :
C: --> Users --> [Username] --> AppData --> 3Dconnexion --> 3DxWare --> profiles

Windows 7 :
C: --> Users --> [Username] --> AppData -->Roaming---> 3Dconnexion --> 3DxWare --> profiles
2: HKEY_CURRENT_USER --> Software --> 3Dconnexion --> ...
To find out which .scg file your application is using, hover over the 3Dx SystemTray icon with your standard mouse while the application has the device focus. The profile name is listed along with the .scg filename in parenthesis - i.e GoogleEarth - uname(user05.scg)

[Valen Wagner]

The problem is that there are no actual command mappings in either the .scg files or the registry. I can find the text "description" of the mapped commands in the .scg file, but the actual command Maya uses is different. For example, if I map Maya's "LayoutUv" command it will show up as "Layout UV" in the .scg file. That is not the command, that is just a description. If I change that description text to another command, it won't work. Where is the actual command mapped? Its not in the registry either. I have searched in the registry directory you indicated and there are no apparent command mappings there.

Furthermore, after a fresh reinstall of the 3DConnexion driver, Maya still shows my old mappings. So Maya must be getting them from somewhere else. And by "fresh reinstall" I mean that I uninstalled the driver, then I verified that the MEL scripts were removed from Maya's "scripts/startup" folder. And I verified that the 3DConnexion folder was removed from Program Files folder. Then I manually deleted the 3DConnexion folders in "C: --> Users --> [Username] --> AppData -->Roaming". Then I manually deleted the Registry folder "HKEY_CURRENT_USER --> Software --> 3Dconnexion".

After this I restarted and reinstalled the driver (anit-virus off, yes I'm administrator). The I restarted again. Then I looked in my "C: --> Documents and Settings --> [Username] --> Application Data --> 3Dconnexion --> 3DxWare --> profiles" and verifited that no .scg files exist yet. I opened Maya and immediately saw my old mappings were still being used! I close Maya and saw the .scg file get generated.

So the question remains - where are the Maya command mappings stored?

[Valen Wagner]

Also, the .scg file doesn't seem to get updated after it's initial creation. If I make changes in the button mapping editor in Maya, after I close Maya and look at the .scg file I can see that it was not updated to show the changes, even though the changes are there.

[Fred]

I currently donot have the info to tell you the exact location in Maya where the other profile is being saved.
Hopefully one of the programmers will see this post and give you the location.

[ngomes]

The mappings are saved with the other Maya preferences. The location is defined by the application's settings.

[Valen Wagner]

I managed to find that the userPrefs.mel file contains the mapping functions. However it is not working properly. Some things work as expected, like if I change Button 5 to be the "CombinePolygons" command, I can verify this in the userPres.mel file. And if I change userPrefs.mel to map another command to Button 5, it works. However, it does not work for the Rotations button. If I use the button mapping editor to change the command mapped to Rotations and then close Maya, then open the userPrefs.mel I can see the new command I mapped to Rotations. But when I restart Maya, the Rotations button reverts to its default function even though the userPrefs.mel still shows my custom command there. And, like I said earlier, the Dominant Axis and Translations buttons are completely missing from the button editor.

[UtaSH]

This is filed as bug #6316.

[Valen Wagner]

Thank you, Uta.

[UtaSH]

Actually #6316 is the bug for the issue described here.

[ivankio]

Hi. On a related issue, how do we assign an user marking menu to a button?

Also, is it possible to assign alternate commands to combo keys? For example:
- button1 = move tool
- shift+button1 = select vertex mode
- ctrl+button1 = convert selection to vertex.

I'm aware of the config button in space pilot, but it's slow for a single workflow.

[ivankio]

Hmn, I think all my needs would be satisfied if I could map a button to behave like a keyboard key. Just like the ESC, CTRL, ALT and SHIFT default keys and also SPACE and RETURN that are already available at the 3DxWare set, but I would really use several different keyboard keys.

In Maya, "W" is move tool, but if we hold "W" and left click, then we have access to the move tool marking menu. This does not happen if I hold my move tool button of 3dconnexion as the button is mapped to the command. If I could map it to the keyboard key, then Maya would handle the variations.

[Valen Wagner]

@ ivankio

-Make sure Maya us open and is the active application.
-From the Windows start menu find and open "3D Connexion Control Panel".
-Go to the "Button Configuration" tab.
-Choose "Custom Functions".
-Create your own custom functions for the [w] key or whatever else you want.
-Close the 3D Connexion Control Panel.
-Close Maya
-Restart Maya
-Open the Maya button mapping editor
-Choose "3DxWare" as the "Category" within the button mapping window and you should see your custom keyboard fuctions in the list ready to assign...

Of course, this all assumes the driver will work probably and let you map and save the buttons... :/

[ivankio]

Thank you, Valen. I did overlook custom functions on 3.16.2. I was stuck to the button mapping inside Maya.
But in the end (unless I missed something), those custom functions behave like commands. I mean: we can set a button to call a simple "W" key strike, but I can't get it to behave exactly as a "W" key of the keyboard in the sense that it makes no distinction between the states press, hold and release, which are required for marking menus and some other actions.

The driver design does recognize the need to mimic keyboard key behavior (like adding to selection while holding shift), but in Maya we use it in a lot of shortcuts - from context menus, tool options, temporary snaps...
I've noticed that in the 10.0.x beta they included the function keys (F1, F2...) pageup, down, and the arrows. But that was giving me some error messages and was still missing options.

I assume I have a feature request in hand, or am I missing something?

[Valen Wagner]

Ah you are correct - it does not recognize if the key is being held down. It would be nice if it did.