3Dconnexion input devices: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:46, 30 November 2013

Driver installation

Linux

FreeCAD supports drivers from project Spacenav. This is a project aiming to create an open-sourced driver which is compatible with the proprietary drivers from 3Dconnexion.

Compile Spacenav from source

This is recommended since your distribution might provide an outdated version. For example, Ubuntu repos contain version 0.3.0 as of 2011-04-10.

Download the following files:
Unpack the archives into a folder in your home directory.
Enter the directory spacenavd-0.5 and run the following commands:

./configure
make

If this was successful, run the following commands as root (or prefix with sudo.)

make install
./setup_init
/etc/init.d/spacenavd start

This installs the spacenav daemon, configures it to automatically load on system boot, and starts the daemon without having to reboot.
Now it is time to check that your device is properly detected. With your device unplugged, run the following command and then plug it in.

tail -n100 -f /var/log/spnavd.log

If the output looks something like this, you can continue.

Device detection, parsing /proc/bus/input/devices
trying alternative detection, querying /dev/input/eventX device names...
  trying "/dev/input/event1" ... Power Button
  trying "/dev/input/event2" ... 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator
using device: /dev/input/event2
device name: 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator

Now enter the directory named libspnav-0.2.2 and run the following commands:

./configure
make

If make fails with the following error: ...

fatal error: gtk/gtk.h: No such file or directory

... then you need to install libgtkmm-2.4-dev. Under Ubuntu, this is done like this:

sudo apt-get install libgtkmm-2.4-dev

When make has completed successfully, run the following command as root (or prefix with sudo.)

make install

Look in the directory libspnav-0.2.2/examples/. If you want to test your device, compile and run either one of the two examples.

Follow the same pattern to compile and install spnavcfg. Make sure to run spnavcfg as root, or no settings will be saved!

Restart

If sometimes navigator stops working, it is good to restart driver. To restart it, go to Terminal and execute:

sudo xhost +
sudo /etc/init.d/spacenavd restart

After that restart FreeCAD. On some distros this is necessary at each boot.

Install from repo

Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install spacenavd

OSX

One user managed to get space navigator working under OSX. However it was not merged in master yet. More info here

Windows

As of version 0.13, 3D mouse is supported under windows. You need to have propriate drivers installed, but since support was developed on lower level, it will override settings you set in 3D Connexion control panel. However, most of those settings can be set in Tools>>Customize dialog, under Spaceball tabs.

Setting up FreeCAD

3D mouse support was made with spnav project on Linux, and on a very low level on Windows. This means there was no support for any settings for a device, since on Linux there is no good support for this, and on Windows it is overridden. This is why two additional pages were added to "Customize" dialog.

Spaceball Motion

In this tab you have ability to set up some of general space mouse settings. They include:

Global Sensitivity - Slider with ability to set global sensitivity
Dominant - if you enable dominant mode, only axes with highest move will be considered
Flip YZ - This option enables you to flip Y and Z axes on 3D mouse
Enable Translations - easy way to enable/disable translations
Enable Rotations - easy way to enable/disable rotations
Calibrate - enables you to calibrate space navigator. It is pressed while space navigator is not moved.
Set To Default - removes all settings and sets them to default.

Other than this, for each axes you have ability to set:

Enabled - Enable/Disable axes
Reverse - Reverse movement on axes
Sensitivity - slider with ability to set sensitivity

Spaceball Buttons

When you open this tab for the first time, it will be empty and unavailable. To activate it, you must press one of your space mouse buttons. After you do, list of buttons will appear on the left side, and list of commands will be available on the right side.

To connect certain command with a button, select button on the left side, and it's command on the right side. To clear commands from button, press "Clear".

Other languages:

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File:SpaceNavigator.jpg|200px|thumb|right|3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator]]
 <translate>
-== Driver installation ==
+== Driver installation == <!--T:1-->
 === Linux ===
 FreeCAD supports drivers from project [http://spacenav.sourceforge.net/ Spacenav]. This is a project aiming to create an open-sourced driver which is compatible with the proprietary drivers from 3Dconnexion.
-==== Compile Spacenav from source ====
+==== Compile Spacenav from source ==== <!--T:2-->
 This is recommended since your distribution might provide an outdated version. For example, Ubuntu repos contain version 0.3.0 as of 2011-04-10.
 *Download the following files:
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:3-->
 *If this was successful, run the following commands '''as root''' (or prefix with sudo.)
 </translate>
@@ Line 27: / Line 28: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:4-->
 *This installs the spacenav daemon, configures it to automatically load on system boot, and starts the daemon without having to reboot.
 *Now it is time to check that your device is properly detected. With your device unplugged, run the following command and then plug it in.
@@ Line 32: / Line 34: @@
 <pre>tail -n100 -f /var/log/spnavd.log </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:5-->
 *If the output looks something like this, you can continue.
 </translate>
@@ Line 43: / Line 46: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:6-->
 *Now enter the directory named libspnav-0.2.2 and run the following commands:
 </translate>
@@ Line 50: / Line 54: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:7-->
 *If make fails with the following error: ...
 </translate>
@@ Line 56: / Line 61: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:8-->
 * ... then you need to install libgtkmm-2.4-dev. Under Ubuntu, this is done like this:
 </translate>
@@ Line 62: / Line 68: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:9-->
 *When make has completed successfully, run the following command '''as root''' (or prefix with sudo.)
 </translate>
@@ Line 68: / Line 75: @@
 </pre>
 <translate>
+<!--T:10-->
 *Look in the directory libspnav-0.2.2/examples/. If you want to test your device, compile and run either one of the two examples.
+<!--T:11-->
 *Follow the same pattern to compile and install spnavcfg. Make sure to run spnavcfg as root, or no settings will be saved!
-==== Restart ====
+==== Restart ==== <!--T:12-->
 If sometimes navigator stops working, it is good to restart driver. To restart it, go to Terminal and execute:
 </translate>
@@ Line 78: / Line 87: @@
  sudo /etc/init.d/spacenavd restart
 <translate>
+<!--T:13-->
 After that restart FreeCAD. On some distros this is necessary at each boot.
-==== Install from repo ====
+==== Install from repo ==== <!--T:14-->
 ===== Ubuntu =====
 </translate>
@@ Line 86: / Line 96: @@
 <translate>
-=== OSX ===
+=== OSX === <!--T:15-->
 One user managed to get space navigator working under OSX. However it was not merged in master yet. More info [http://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2576&hilit=space+navigator+osx&start=10#p19923 here]
-=== Windows ===
+=== Windows === <!--T:16-->
 As of version 0.13, 3D mouse is supported under windows. You need to have propriate drivers installed, but since support was developed on lower level, it will override settings you set in 3D Connexion control panel. However, most of those settings can be set in Tools>>Customize dialog, under Spaceball tabs.
-== Setting up FreeCAD ==
+== Setting up FreeCAD == <!--T:17-->
 D mouse support was made with spnav project on Linux, and on a very low level on Windows. This means there was no support for any settings for a device, since on Linux there is no good support for this, and on Windows it is overridden. This is why two additional pages were added to "Customize" dialog.
@@ Line 100: / Line 110: @@
 <translate>
-=== Spaceball Motion ===
+=== Spaceball Motion === <!--T:18-->
 In this tab you have ability to set up some of general space mouse settings. They include:
 * Global Sensitivity - Slider with ability to set global sensitivity
@@ Line 110: / Line 120: @@
 * Set To Default - removes all settings and sets them to default.
+<!--T:19-->
 Other than this, for each axes you have ability to set:
 * Enabled - Enable/Disable axes
@@ Line 115: / Line 126: @@
 * Sensitivity - slider with ability to set sensitivity
-=== Spaceball Buttons ===
+=== Spaceball Buttons === <!--T:20-->
 When you open this tab for the first time, it will be empty and unavailable. To activate it, you must press one of your space mouse buttons. After you do, list of buttons will appear on the left side, and list of commands will be available on the right side.
+<!--T:21-->
 To connect certain command with a button, select button on the left side, and it's command on the right side.
 To clear commands from button, press "Clear".
+<!--T:22-->
 [[Category:User Documentation]]
 </translate>