3D Mouse not working with Cinema 4D on M1 Mac

[RicoHo]

The 3D mouse no longer works with Cinema 4D on an M1 Mac. Unfortunately I got the information from Maxon that this is due to the driver of the mouse. I hope that I do not get the information here that it is the manufacturer of Cinema 4d. As a user, one wonders why it doesn't just work that the manufacturer of a 3D mouse and the manufacturer of a software together take care of such a problem. For a year now I have been annoyed with this problem. I have two 3D mice that I can now probably just throw in the trash can.
I attach the answer I got from the Maxon support.

[AthensCG]

Thanks for sharing the update. Frustrating to say the least - I just bought one today for the sole purpose of C4D...

Usually when they say "soon" it means about 6 months to a year, so I can only imagine what "will take some time" means.

[RicoHo]

The driver development at 3Dconnexion seems to be as slow as possible.

[ngomes]

SpaceMouse support for Cinema 4D is implemented in the application, not in a 3Dconnexion add-in or similar solution. This is a known issue since at least late 2021:

MAC-318 (Cinema 4D R25 does not work on M1 machines)

As far as we can tell, Cinema 4D R25 (native ARM64) has 3D mouse support disabled on M1 machines. The application does not attempt to open a connection to the driver. We have reached out to Maxon and we will determine where precisely is the problem (driver or application) when they can look into to our request.

In other words, the decision to block SpaceMouse support on the ARM64 builds (M1) of Cinema 4D was made by the software vendor, not 3Dconnexion. We cannot speculate why this decision was made but we are actively engaging with Maxon to restore the functionality.

[Simsalabim]

Is there a way to work around this issue? I just got a Mac Studio and was not aware of this problem since everything worked fine on my old mac (trashcan, C4D R26, Monterey)

[kasteph]

Unfortunately there is *STILL* no solution to this. It is crazy how either the Maxon dev-team and/or the 3dconnexion team are letting this unsolved more than half a year already.

The 3dconnexion CEO told me in April that they are working on a new driver. And nothing happened ever since.

The 3dconnexion dialog is still implemented in the most recent version c4d 26.107 but it is disconnected from the 3d-mouse which works perfectly fine in other applications. (i. e. Zbrush)

Modelling in c4d without the spacemouse is a *MAJOR* complication and leaves us here in our studio speechless and angry.

We use c4d on maxed out MacBook Pros M1 Max

[luping]

Switch back to Intel CPU based Mac, for example, the Intel Xeon W-3275M based Mac Pro.

[kasteph]

Switch back to Intel CPU based Mac, for example, the Intel Xeon W-3275M based Mac Pro.

Well, of course, why not invest tens of thousands € to »downgrade« five seats just to make up for an unfinished driver... -- waiting for the next one to suggest switching to Windows...

[ngomes]

to make up for an unfinished driver

As mentioned above, the vendor blocked support for SpaceMouse devices in the Cinema 4D build for the M1. It's not the driver that is the issue here.

3Dconnexion is actively engaging with Maxon to resolve this but it will require an update to the application. Once we have more information to share on this issue, we will do so.

[Peter Fagerberg]

Well, maybe someone needs to be better at "actively engaging"?? There have been several updates to S26 so far but still no support for 3DConnexion input devices...

I just wrote the following ticket at Maxon's site:

OK, it's really time to get everyone's 3DConnexion input devices working with Cinema 4D S26 on M1 CPUs. Maxon says it's 3DConnexion's fault and 3DConnexion says it's Maxon's (link). In the meantime, thousands of Cinema 4D users with new Macs can't upgrade to R26 because of this stupid problem.

Can't you guys just give each other a call and work it out? Please? Users are totally uninterested in whose fault it is. We only want you two to cooperate so that we can get back to being productive again – we rely on both of your products to generate our income.


Please help by pestering both companies (in any way you can) so that we can get this issue resolved.

[luping]

Switch back to Intel CPU based Mac, for example, the Intel Xeon W-3275M based Mac Pro.

Well, of course, why not invest tens of thousands € to »downgrade« five seats just to make up for an unfinished driver... -- waiting for the next one to suggest switching to Windows...

Not to that extend, however if you do want 3Dconnexion products to enhance your employees' productivity in order to exploit them for profit, it's a viable way.

[Peter Fagerberg]

Any updates on this issue??

[Peter Fagerberg]

WTF! We just had new release updates of both software products (Cinema 4D 2023.0.0) and 3DxWare 10 (v 10.7.4) for Mac and my SpaceMouse STILL DOESN'T WORK! Apparently, this isn't going to be fixed. Ever.

It truly sucks.

[kasteph]

I can only agree that this is a major disappointment.

M1 Macs have been released 10 November 2020 with possibilities for developers to adapt their software way before that.
From 11 November, 2020 Cinema 4D was available for M1 processors.
3D Connexion is the market leader for 3D Input devices and has its own submenu in Cinema 4D.
Left with the only issue, that 3d-devices are not responsive e.g. disconnected from C4D.

In my 20 April mail to Maxon and 3D Connexion CEOs I got the immediate answer from Antonio Pascucci (Vice President Products at 3Dconnexion) -- quoted in this forum already:

Dear Stephan,
Following our customer feedback we started a conversation with Maxon.
As result of it, 3Dconnexion decided to develop a new plug-in from scratch, which will be able to give the best support to our devices.
The project just started and it will take some time.

Best,
Antonio

Jörn Gollob from Maxon has been writing to our team in April as well:

Unfortunately devices from 3dconnexion does currently not support full M1 hardware and needs to be adapted first.

Only to read later on in this forum that the issue is on Maxons side.

Seriously -- is this a political issue between Maxon an 3D Connexion?

[RicoHo]

I have repeatedly written to ;axon's support and always received the same answer: "Unfortunately, our developers could not fix the problem."
It is unbelievable that so much energy is put into the development of new features, but it is not possible at Maxon to fix this bug. This is an indictment of Maxon.