SpaceNavigator huge price drop

**sama** · 12-08-2006, 05:08 AM

Originally Posted by turbocad6

when you say no tactical feedback, does it self center? if you turn it or push it, then let it go, what does it do?

yes, it self centers. by tactical feedback I mean no clicks, it's like a stiff analogue joystick, but you can also tilt and push/pull the cap. I put it in the car to see how it will fit, and it's very comfortable, and I think realistically, the tilt/pan functions will be used in a polarised fashion. By that I mean, tilt forward will just be a full tilt until the end of the motion range is reached, at which point a sound is heard. I think it will otherwise be very hard to to gistinguis between a little tilt and a lot whilst driving.

twist is no problem however, so that can still be an analogue function.

Originally Posted by guizai

things are sounding good for this thing. Guess I'll pick one up as well. Sama, does it work at all in Explorer or on the desktop?

not out of the box. I'll be looking at how to define stuff soon. The control panel isn't obvious for non defined apps, so I guess I'll have to read the manual!

you can turn the LED off from there, that's obvious

**als1980** · 12-12-2006, 03:23 AM

Any new news on this yet? Would love one to control music functions!

**sama** · 12-12-2006, 06:14 AM

sadly not out of the box. 3Dconexxion mentinoed that this is something they may implenment in the future.

I've looked at the SDK docs breifly, and it looks like I'm going to have to get my C++ books out to write a driver for it. Essentialy, we're only interested in capturing the 6-axis of motion and two buttons, and delegating them to the appropriate application. I'll keep you posted of my progress but dont' hold your breath as I need to finish my front end first (perhaps someone else can take the venture?)

**parksgm** · 12-13-2006, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by sama

Essentialy, we're only interested in capturing the 6-axis of motion and two buttons, and delegating them to the appropriate application. I'll keep you posted of my progress but dont' hold your breath as I need to finish my front end first (perhaps someone else can take the venture?)

I'd be nice to have a control panel like application that could replicate keystrokes and send to any application...

I've used Joystick2Mouse in the past and found it to be a VERY flexible program....it allows constraining analog/digital input in a multi-axis controller to just the primary axes, sensitivity adjustment, and keyboard mapping with pratically any USB joystick/input device. Do you think it would work for this application?

**sama** · 12-13-2006, 09:42 AM

I've been looking at how this device is setup. It's not a game controller, it's some other human interface device of sorts. I doubt that the software would work in that case, since this would not be detected as a game controller (which is only a matter of how the driver is implemented).

**parksgm** · 12-13-2006, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by sama

I've been looking at how this device is setup. It's not a game controller, it's some other human interface device of sorts. I doubt that the software would work in that case, since this would not be detected as a game controller (which is only a matter of how the driver is implemented).

Gotcha. That's too bad...that software is nice and inexpensive (or free, I can't remember).

**RedGTiVR6** · 12-13-2006, 02:42 PM

I'm interested in this device for my own use as well. This or the other knob on the site.

I'm gathering from this thread that people you, sama, ahve found it to be useful, but not able to be used with any of the front ends yet?

**tilma800** · 12-14-2006, 02:38 PM

Great news. As a Inventor user, I'm working with one of the older model (CadMAN) and I always wanted one for home use. Works great once you get the hang of it.

**sama** · 12-14-2006, 08:53 PM

exactly red. I'll be supporting it in my FE at some point, and I'll hopefully be able to share the code with other FE's. But that's quite some time off in all honesty.

There is a thread on the 3dConnexsion company forums where the developers hint that it's something they will perhaps support in the future.

It's a great device, just not usable right now is the best answer.