C4D, MacOS 13.3, SpaceMouse Enterprise

[bollella@icloud.com]

Ah. Ok. It's clear now why it doesn't work.

Now we have three issues:

1. Reversed axes.
2. Random loss of the reversed setting in the MacOS Settings dialog. If I just bring the Settings dialog to the foreground then back to c4d the navigation is again correct.
3. The oddness in tile/roll/spin function. E.g., when I attempt to spin ccw, trying very hard to only twist the knob on the SPE, the view appears to pan to the right. I have to add a relatively high pan-left force on the knob to keep the object centered. This also occurs in ZBrush and Painter but to a much lesser degree. However, the oddness does NOT occur when I work the puzzle provided in the 3Dconnection Home app.

Greg

[ngomes]

These other issues are likely a driver configuration problem. As mentioned earlier, I expect one of my colleagues to follow up on that.

[bollella@icloud.com]

Ok, thanks. Looking forward to getting the SPE to work well!!
Greg

[crobl]

Hi Greg,

sorry for my late response.

Regarding the inverting axes it may possibly be an issue with the mappings or existing (and therefore converted) mappings.
In 3DxWare for macOS 10.8.0 we've introduced a change to the mappings format and 3DxWareMac will convert existing mappings to the new format.

Maybe these steps can help to fix your issue (and maybe give us a hint on a bug):
- make sure the 3Dconnexiopn prefPane (i.e. System Preferences) are closed
- in Finder's "Go" menu select "Go to Folder..." and enter: ~/Library/Preferences
- in the now open Preferences folder look for com.3dconnexion.mappigs.plist and com.3dconnexion.mappingsV2.plist
- rename both, for example by prefixing it with "_" (this way you keep a copy of the files and 3DxWareMac won't see it anymore)
- since it's easier and less error prone: please reboot

Now start Cinema 4D and check if navigation / all axes are correct and stay correct.

I hope I could help you with this rather crude approach. I'm looking forward on reading your results!

Regards,

Christian Robl

[bollella@icloud.com]

Christian,

I followed your instructions. Upon opening the MacOS System Preferences after a reboot I see that the SPE's mappings were reset. Unfortunately, this resulted in the axes being reversed then I opened c4d and checked.

Greg

[crobl]

Hi Greg,

so I've checked this now on macOS 12.6.2 and 13.3.1:
I also removed all config files, rebooted and started right away Cinema 4D 2023.2.0, i.e. 3DxWare for macOS v.10.8.0 had no (user) mappings file:
Motion is as desired / expected: Moving a cube cap left - moves the cube to the left, right - right, etc.

I then started the preference panel, selected Cinema4D 2023, checked the axes mapping

C4D2023_Axes.png (167.26 KiB) Viewed 30092 times

and closed the panel. Now the com.3dconnexion.mappingsV2.plist file is present.
I then restarted Cinema4D 2023.2.0 and got the same situation / behaviour: Navigation is as expected.

Don't get me wrong, but i have to ask you this (it happened to a colleague of mine as well *):
Do you have another version of Cinema 4D installed as well? And is the version you're experiencing the inverted navigation with really 2023.2.0 or this possible other version?
*) My colleague insisted this is 20230.2.0, but as it turned out he launched "Cinema 4D" via Spotlight and didn't look at the version information at all.

Last but not least:
- have Cinema4D 2023.2 closed
- in Finder's "Go" menu select "Go to Folder..." and enter: ~/Library/Preferences
- navigate to the "3Dconnexion" folder and ther to "navlib".
- you'll find a file named "Cinema4D.user.config": remove it
- now please start Cinema4D 2023.2 again

Did the navigation change, i.e. work as expected?
On the LCD of your SpaceMouse Enterprise the configuration used should read "Cinema 4D 2023", in fact "Cinema 4D 2023 ( Cinema 4D )" is this the case?

I'm really out of clues now what could be the issue and I hope one of my guesses addressed your issue and I'm really curious what you find out!

Regards,

Christian

[bollella@icloud.com]

Hi Christian,

About Cinema 4D dialog at url below. You can see I have 2023.2.0 running.
No other version of Cinema 4D installed.
The LCD of the SPE does read 'Cinema 4D 2023 (Cinema 4D) when C4d is the active window.

I removed Conema4D.user.config and restarted C4D.

Nav looks great now!
Axes are normal sense. The oddness in tilt/roll/spin has gone away.

Nav is now much like other apps and the puzzle app!

Thanks so much!

Greg

https://gyazo.com/1f4afae154a31e4f318a407fd4701474

[crobl]

Hi Greg,

I'm glad that I could help, great to hear!

And sorry for the (repeated) question about the Cinema 4D version - I had to ask to be really sure about it (as I said it happened to a colleague of mine as well).


Regards,

Christian

[ngomes]

I removed Conema4D.user.config

Did you keep a copy of this file? If so, can you share it with us (perhaps sending it as an attachment in a PM here)?

[bollella@icloud.com]

Christian,
Sorry no, I didn't keep a copy. HOWEVER, the reversed axes issue keeps coming up!!! If I go in and delete Cinama4D.user.config and restart Cinema it's all proper again. But, at random times the sense of the axes becomes reversed. I have not found what causes the reversal though.

At least we know the issue is with that file.

I will experiment some this weekend and if I find out more I will post.

Also, if I can directly link a particular version of the config file to reversed axes, across Cinema restarts, I will also post it here.

It seems like some process is incorrectly rewriting the config at various times. Can you tell me when that file should be written and by what process?

Thanks,
Greg

[crobl]

Hi Greg,

I'm looking into this. The file "Cinema4D.user.config" is always written when Cinema 4D is ordered to quit.
The values (it's XML) have it's origin in the navlib, these are generated when no "*user.config" is present.

You can have a look at the file and you should find a setting "MotionModel" with it's value set to "Examine": This is the state where the axis are OK for you.

It seems like some process is incorrectly rewriting the config at various times.

I bet you're right. The question is which process and why. The only application currently writing (and reading) this file is Cinema 4D (to be exact: the plugin 3DxCinema4D via the navlib).

I'm looking into this and keep you posted!

Kind regards,

Christian

[bollella@icloud.com]

Christian,

I removed the config file. Started c4d. All was good. Worked for an hour or so and suddenly the sense of the axes became reversed and navigation went goofy. In the navlib dir there did NOT exist a Cinema4D.user.config file. I shutdown c4d and the file appeared. Restarted c4d and axes sense was reversed.

I will attempt to send that bad config file in a PM.

The important thing to note, I believe is that the axes sense and nav changed *before* the config file was written out. So, some process, changed c4d's configuration for the SPE either internally to c4d or maybe c4d cached an improper version of the config file (to optimize shutdown time).

Greg

[bollella@icloud.com]

Christian,

After a number of file deletions and restarts I got the SPE to work well, for a few days. However, in the middle of working today the SPE suddenly reversed the axes sense and the nave became very jerky. I did notice that when initially opening c4d the sense was ok but when I loaded in a scene file I hadn't opened in a couple weeks the SPE went crazy again. Maybe something is stored with the c4d scene files?

After a few file deletions and restarts (both cinema and MacOS) things seem to be ok again.

Greg

[ngomes]

in the middle of working today the SPE suddenly reversed the axes sense

We believe the issue may lie in the new plug-in (not the driver, not the application).

Perhaps you can confirm our suspicion by trying to notice if the axes are reversed after defining a target object in a perspective view.

[bollella@icloud.com]

Perhaps you can confirm our suspicion by trying to notice if the axes are reversed after defining a target object in a perspective view.

What do you mean, exactly, by '...defining a target object...' I have not heard that phrase?

Do you mean putting a 'Target' tag on an object then putting another object in the tag? If so, I do this a lot for cameras and lights.

Greg