3DConnexion SpaceMouse - pressing ANY button dramatically zooms out and rotates the view

[wmayer]

Would it be an option (for the Windows version of FreeCAD) to integrate those devices more seamless (with the SDK from 3Dconnexion). As an alternative/additional method to RAW_INPUT - not as an replacement.

How does this SDK work? Does it have a header file and a library to link with or does it only have a shared library that has to be dynamically loaded?
The latter would be nice because then the package maintainers wouldn't need the SDK.

Or is it not worth to think about those things because of licensing problems or such things?

If the SDK is a single library without a header file then this shouldn't be a problem.

[wmayer]

Found something here:
https://forum.3dconnexion.com/viewtopic ... 4&start=30
https://forum.3dconnexion.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4898
https://vtk.org/Wiki/VTK/3DConnexion_Devices_Support
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/465 ... with-linux
https://pypi.org/project/spacenavigator/
https://szemke.de/old-hub/content/gear- ... Manual.pdf

[mike]

Found something here:
[...]

Most of the above is (very) old stuff (i guess).

I took a first look at the recent version of the SDK.
There are a handful header files, and the samples link against a single (provided) *.lib
The actual framework is implemented in a single *.dll which is part of the 3Dconnexion driver.
Not sure if this leads us somewhere...?

[wmayer]

The actual framework is implemented in a single *.dll which is part of the 3Dconnexion driver.

When you use the tool Dependency Walker you can load the .dll into it. How does the function names look like?

[tanderson69]

IMHO: 3dconnexion has a long history of obsoleting devices. I personally would never use their software and become part of their "Planned obsolescence" scheme. If supporting the different devices is becoming too much inside freecad, I would suggest:
1) Add proper windows support to spacenav. Probably require an aggressive fork.
2) Add usb support to my spacemeld driver
3) Create another driver. The different protocols are pretty basic. Hard part, as you know, is all the different devices. This guy has most of the devices and is helpful.

[wmayer]

This guy has most of the devices and is helpful.

On this page there is a link to a German SpaceMouse vendor and there is a list of supported applications: among them is FreeCAD 0.14-0.17 for Linux/macOS

[mike]

IMHO: 3dconnexion has a long history of obsoleting devices. I personally would never use their software and become part of their "Planned obsolescence" scheme.

That's a very good point. They do not even provide Linux/Unix drivers for recent devices anymore (as far as i know).

On the other hand... with the current "Raw Input"-approach FreeCAD (probably) has to be adapted for every single device out there - no matter if it's already there or released in the future.

spacenav seems to be the only alternative that is actively maintained at the moment. Does it support the SpaceMouse Enterprise on Linux (with the display/graphic icons and such)?
Anyway - I have a strong suspicion that a Windows driver works quite different in comparison to a linux daemon... but it's probably worth to invest some spare time for a closer look.

Are there other alternatives / simpler approaches that i'm not aware of? More opinions?

[mike]

When you use the tool Dependency Walker you can load the .dll into it. How does the function names look like?

Dunno, what exactly you're after.... here's a picture:

TDxNavLib_depends.png (18.22 KiB) Viewed 147 times

[wmayer]

They do not even provide Linux/Unix drivers for recent devices anymore (as far as i know).

The latest Linux driver is from June 2014.

On the other hand... with the current "Raw Input"-approach FreeCAD (probably) has to be adapted for every single device out there - no matter if it's already there or released in the future.

At least from time to time the raw event handling or the recognition as 3d device is quite different. I once had the fun task to make the old Magellan device working with FreeCAD: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=28306

The relevant code is very different to the generic code we have for the newer models.

[wmayer]

When you use the tool Dependency Walker you can load the .dll into it. How does the function names look like?

Dunno, what exactly you're after.... here's a picture:

Thanks!

This comment is taken from the 3Dconnexion forum:

· SDK license no longer allows redistribution of DLL binary files (these are always included in the driver user installation).

If we linked the dll at build time (i.e. by using the import library) it would be a hard dependency and FreeCAD would only start if the dll is present -- independent of whether the users has a space mouse or not. So, we had to redistribute the dll with our installers but the SDK license actively disallows that.

So, technically the only option is to load the dll fully dynamically at runtime which means that the availability of the file is not mandatory. Luckily the dll offers a C-like interface (i.e. no C++ classes with name mangling) so that it is theoretically possible to get the input from there.