3D Connexion devices in Unity!!

Hello,

I've been mooching off the cool stuff on this forum for a good while now, so I thought I'd give something back... (granted, it's not a lot, but it's a start)

Recently I bought myself a SpaceNavigator, which is a 3D mouse... actually, "mouse" isn't the proper word for it... it's a spatial navigation device, so you can view a 3D space without having to break your conventional mouse down (true story).

I was dissapointed to learn, though, that Unity doesn't support these devices... which is really a shame...
So, one day I decided to hack up some way to connect it to Unity.

So here it is. This is a script for GlovePIE, a freeware programmable input emulator. What it does is basically read any imaginable input device and, through scripting, spit out any other form of emulated input device....

This means GlovePIE can read the SpaceNavigator, and emulate the keyboard and mouse actions needed to pan/rotate/zoom the viewport in Unity.

So, you can grab GlovePIE 0.43 here... install it, and run the attached script. It should work right off (assuming of course, that Unity is open)...

I was going to attach the script file in the post, but the forums don't seem to like .PIE files... so I'm just writing it down here. Just copy it into GlovePIE, and run it. (You might also want to save it at some point )

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. // SpaceNavigator in Unity - By Felipe "HarvesteR" Falanghe, 2011
3. //
4. // Basically it just detects when the "spaceball" is deflected
5. // and does the keyboard/mouse equivalent so unity will get it.
6.  
7. if (math.abs(spaceball.x) > 10 or math.abs(spaceball.y) > 10) then
8.    if (!var.pan) then
9.  
10.     Press(keyboard.leftAlt)
11.     Press(mouse.middleButton)
12.     mouse.SwallowMovement = true
13.     var.pan = true
14.    endif
15.  
16.    Mouse.DirectInputX += spaceball.x * 0.1
17.    Mouse.DirectInputY -= spaceball.y * 0.1
18.  
19. else
20.    if(var.pan) then
21.  
22.       Release(mouse.middleButton)
23.       Release(keyboard.leftAlt)
24.       mouse.SwallowMovement = false
25.       Mouse.CursorPosX = screen.DesktopWidth / 2
26.       Mouse.CursorPosY = screen.DesktopHeight / 2
27.  
28.       var.pan = false
29.     endif
30. endif
31.  
32. if (math.abs(spaceball.z) > 10) then
33.    if (!var.zoom) then
34.  
35.     Press(keyboard.leftAlt)
36.     Press(mouse.rightButton)
37.     mouse.SwallowMovement = true
38.     var.zoom = true
39.    endif
40.  
41.    Mouse.DirectInputY -= spaceball.z * 0.1
42.  
43. else
44.    if(var.zoom) then
45.  
46.       Release(mouse.rightButton)
47.       Release(keyboard.leftAlt)
48.       mouse.SwallowMovement = false
49.       var.zoom = false
50.  
51.       Mouse.CursorPosX = screen.DesktopWidth / 2
52.       Mouse.CursorPosY = screen.DesktopHeight / 2
53.     endif
54. endif
55.  
56. if (math.abs(spaceball.yaw) > 50 or math.abs(spaceball.pitch) > 50) then
57.    if (!var.orbit) then
58.  
59.     Press(keyboard.leftAlt)
60.     Press(mouse.leftButton)
61.     mouse.SwallowMovement = true
62.     var.orbit = true
63.    endif
64.  
65.    Mouse.DirectInputX += spaceball.yaw * 0.002
66.    Mouse.DirectInputY += spaceball.pitch * 0.001
67.  
68. else
69.    if(var.orbit) then
70.  
71.       Release(mouse.leftButton)
72.       Release(keyboard.leftAlt)
73.       mouse.SwallowMovement = false
74.       var.orbit = false
75.  
76.       Mouse.CursorPosX = screen.DesktopWidth / 2
77.       Mouse.CursorPosY = screen.DesktopHeight / 2
78.     endif
79. endif
80.  
81. keyboard.f = spaceball.Fit
82.  
83.  

Some tips to improve usability... This works best if there is a 3DxWare profile set for it:
- Enable 'Dominant Axis' on the profile
- Set the zoom axis to Z (fore/aft movement, instead of up/down)
- Set the overall sensitivity to about 40%
- Set one of the buttons to 'Fit' (will work as 'F' key in Unity)

Or just tweak away and have fun!!

A few things to mind:
- Since the script is emulating keyboard/mouse actions, there is no way to enable multiple inputs at once, like panning and orbiting at the same time... That's why 'Dominant Axis' should be on.
- I set the rotational motions for orbiting the camera around the focus... one could also have it look around, but not both at once... I much prefer it whis way though...
- The script must be running at all times for this to work... you can configure GlovePIE to launch itself, run the profile, minimize to system tray, and launch unity for you if you want... just launch GlovePIE with the -help or -? (can't remember which) parameter to get a list of commandlines.


Anyways, Enjoy! (and if you hack up something even better, let us know )

Cheers

 

Good work

 

Well done mate !
I've been looking for a way to move the scene camera with a space navigator, but its just not exposed in any api...
Emulating the movement with key/mouse input is a great idea.

 

AWESOME job thx!!!