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Trackballs and trueSpace
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Trackballs and trueSpace // Hardware
Post by snewnham // Apr 18, 2007, 5:16am
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snewnham
Total Posts: 14
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I keep reading about truball.tsx, but I can't find out anything else about it. Google only returns two results from this forum. Is it part of a plugin pack? Can it be downloaded somewhere? I was thinking of trying it with the joystick.
Accu - try searching Google with "trueball" - the "e" makes all the difference :)
Or, just go here --> http://www.ozemail.com.au/~snewnham/
trueBall won't work with a joystick - as Splinters mentioned earlier, it is specifically written to support the Spacetek / 3DConnexion motion controller devices.
Truball.tsx was written for Spaceball and similar devices, it has a config file for the 3Dxware software that comes with the device. Just luck really that it still works with the Space Navigator but I doubt it will work with any other device.
Good luck with your mousehunt...;)
Splinters - not really luck that it works with the Space Navigator - trueBall is written against 3DConnexion's documented API for their driver software - it should work for all of their 3D motion controllers (except for the SpaceOrb 360, which was marketed as a gaming controller and didn't use their Spaceware driver software). Their API is well structured in that 3rd party software (like trueBall) doesn't need to know about or specifically handle each of their controller models, this is handled by the driver software.
I have since requested
changes for them to make it so it is more like when you are in the view rotate
while in the object coordinate system which is ultimately what I would like.
It doesnt appear to be supported any more, I never got a return email.
But hey, cant have everything for free. :)
Still a very cool tool.
Cammer - hmmmm, sorry, I don't recall receiving that e-mail. Locking the center of rotation on the selected object's axes shouldn't be too difficult (this is what you're after, isn't it?), except for determining exactly which object that should be in an object hierarchy (e.g. in a naval scene with multiple ships on the high seas, with a battleship with multiple turrets, each with several gun barrels - if you have a barrel selected, should the rotation be around the barrel's axes, the turret's axes, the ship's axes....? The easiest to code would be the barrel, the next easiest to code would be the ship (assuming it is the top of that hierarchy), but neither is necessarily the "right" (i.e. visually intuitive) answer in every scenario.
trueBall development did go into a bit of a hiatus with the release of trueSpace 7.0 - I was waiting for the release of the SDK to allow me to add support for the player side, but it never eventuated. Instead, Caligari shifted their focus to 7.1, 7.11 and then 7.5 without ever releasing a 7.0 SDK. Hopefully they will release a SDK for 7.5.... |
Post by Steinie // Apr 18, 2007, 6:20am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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Splinters,
Can you give us an update on your views about using the Navigator with trueball tsx ? Does it work with 7.5 on both sides of the bridge? Do you still recommend purchasing? |
Post by splinters // Apr 18, 2007, 7:21am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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snewham, so glad you joined...I am just about to tell the guys on the beta team that you are around..trueball works just fine with the model side but it's a no go in workspace. I am assured by developers that it is not that hard to implement but they are busy getting the other stuff ready for you guys in 7.5.
I am confident it will get use in workspace before long...:)
Steinie, it is still invaluable in model side, photoshop and any other app that supports it. I know 3Dconnexion were in contact with Caligari about this too. |
Post by Cammer // Apr 20, 2007, 6:52pm
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Cammer
Total Posts: 14
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Hi snewham,
Glad to here from you again. Yes, locking on the selected objects
axes is what I was looking for, so that when you turn the spaceball,
the model turns (really the scene would be turning with the center
of rotation on the axes of whatever object is selected.) I hope this
doesnt confuse things, but you dont really rotate the model, it
appears to rotate the model when you are actually moving your viewpoint
around the object axes. I just went into tS to check, it would be
like when you select an object (dont matter what level of hiarcy, its
per object), then you select the rotate eye view icon, now the whole
scene rotates around the selected object. Clear as mud, right?
Thanks for any considerations on this matter
Phil in Williamsport, Pa. |
Post by notejam // Jan 6, 2008, 7:26pm
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notejam
Total Posts: 191
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I think the trackballs made by info grip are the best, and fit the hand the best. They work with any program that uses the mouse. The track ball is much larger than normal, about billard ball size, and its designed for the handi capped that can not use small track ball devices.
They cost approximately $60 and they will buy back old ones for parts.
My mom usually wears hers out in about a year, but she uses her computer at least 8 hours a day, and does a lot of games.
http://www.infogrip.com/product_view.asp?RecordNumber=98
http://www.infogrip.com/images/products/bigtrackweb_prod.jpg |
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