Is it safe to say by now that there will never be official support for this?
Itās still on my to-do list, but Iām so overloaded with tasks right now, that I certainly wonāt get to it until after GDC at the earliest. Implementing proper support for Space Navigator is, unfortunately, not a quick task. It will require changes in how we process and handle input in the Engine, and the full list of features required to be compliant with 3DConnexionās UX guidelines is quite extensive. I donāt want to waste any time on quick hacks for rudimentary device support.
PS: I am also a Space Navigator user - I have their devices at work and at home.
Thank you for answering and I can certainly understand how busy you must be with your everyday work. Your hard work on Unreal Engine is greatly appreciated. Itās more of a bit of frustration aimed at the company as a wholeā¦ since this issue has been brought up for a couple years now and has been determined to be more complicated than anticipated and not simply a quick task for one (busy) dev, Iām wondering if it would kill Epic to throw a few more bodies on it and make it an official feature request instead of a unofficial afterthought, and get it completed once and for all. Itās frustration borne of how wonderful it is to be able to use a 6DOF deviceā¦ as a user yourself you must agree with that sentiment, Iām sure. Anyway, thanks again and Unreal Engine is fantastic on the whole.
Youāre thinking about this the wrong way. Itās not about whether we could get this done quickly with more people, itās about prioritization. We have a feature request list that will keep us busy for two hundred years, so we have to decide what weāre going to spend our time on first. Even if we could make one or more developers available today, we would most likely spend their time on other tasks that are higher priority. If we work on this feature, it means that we wonāt be working on some other feature. There simply arenāt enough Space Navigator users at this point to justify the derailing of other development efforts, so it will remain a passion project that will have to be done in some developerās free time at some point in time. I hope this makes sense.
Yes, it all makes sense to me now. Thank you for your efforts.
Time are changing, VR is now not only for gaming! The way how we interact with software should follow evolution. Traditional way keyboard WASD & mouse is ok for people are used to it but it looks rather obsolet.
Regards
Hey guys, I followed Maternalās instructions and was able to build for 4.13. Everything builds fine, but when I run the editor on my project I get this error:
LogSpaceNav3DController:Display: Input Device creation
LogSpaceNav3DController:Error: Could not load SiAppDll dll files
I have the ThirdParty stuff in place. I did notice when I downloaded their SDK that it was updated on 10/24/2016, if that has any relevance.
Thanks.
(I just started using a Space Navigator in Blender and really want this in engine.)
(EDIT: I got it to work, I just needed to install the drivers (I had only installed the SDK). Blender worked without drivers, so I had assumed they werenāt necessary and were just for tweaking the sensitivities, storing profiles, etc. If you follow Maternalās instructions and also make sure you install the SDK everything works fine with 4.13. I already had Visual Studio installed, so didnāt follow that part of his instructions.)
I had the same problem with packaged builds someone else mentioned earlier. To fix it, I changed the ā.upluginā fileās āModulesā section to make it an āEditorā plugin instead of a āRuntimeā plugin:
"Modules":
{
"Name": "",
"Type": "Editor",
"LoadingPhase": "Default",
"WhitelistPlatforms" : "Win64", "Win32" ]
}
],
Should be ok for most people to do, unless you were planning on making it control your gameplay.
Side note:
Anyone know if it is possible to record camera tracks with this for use in Sequencer?
Iāve had 0 luck trying to compile this myself.
Could anyone post binaries for 4.14? It would be amazing!
Thanks!
Iāve just tried the 4.13 build posted by . I installed the 3DConnextion driver software, then pasted the unzipped build into the engine plugins folder, and enabled it. I can move forward and backward by pushing on the space mouse, but none of the other axes or rotations work. Does anyone else see this behavior?
I donāt understand how this could be ālow priorityā. Iām certain that anyone whoās used one of these in ANY 3D app would cringe at the thought of NOT seeing support for it in another (like UE4) 3d app. Are UE4 users so limited in their exposure to these that none or very few of them want this?
The same question, 4.14 anyone?
Some of the changes required to get this working sound like they would be extremely useful in other areas, though. Namely the hard-coded mouse and keyboard controls.
Right now, because of how the engine handles input, you cannot use ANY other form of hardware or software that manipulates input with Unreal Engine.
For example, you canāt use Synergy to control multiple computers while UE4 is active. You cannot use Remote Access software like Splashtop with UE4. You cannot use alternate hardware like Leap Motion, which I previously attempted to use in order to help cope with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It *barely *supports the use of dictation software (again, Carpal Tunnel), etc.
Count me as +1 user who would really like to see support for this. I like UE, but I find the navigation cumbersome at best. Thank you all very much for your efforts!
Try to enter the properties of your tool, and check if the options of multiple movements are enabled.
A question: Did you test the 4.13 build on the 4.14? Would it work? I am a new user to Unreal, and have no idea of how absurd (or not) this idea is.
Thank you
There is a order issue with the header includes, something must have changed in the 4.14 update.
In SpaceNav3DPrivatePCH.h, you need to swap the first two includes around.
Here is a zip with the change and a x64 build https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/88069376/.zip
Iām adding my voice to the chorus. Iād love to see 3dConnexion support for Unreal Engine 4.15.
I Definitely Think that adding in engine support for the Space Navigator devices would pay big dividends in the long run. I use my Space-pilot for having a common interface for editing in all my 3d software. Jumping between all the various keyboard configurations was giving me a giant head ache, now being able to use a common interface for all of them makes me far more productive. I think this is a chicken egg paradox, there are not a lot of designers etc in Unreal using this device because it isnāt supported. IF it was supported natively I suspect there would be a Huge increase in the number of users employing it. It is Simply one of the simplest most elegant solutions for navigating and working in a 3d environment. Its intuitive and it would mean that in Maya, 3ds Max, Modo, Autodesk, Unreal, Photoshop etc, your interface remains constant and that means less time shifting mental gears when you are workingā¦ just my two cents! If it helps throw my vote on the pile as well!
I hope to see continued 3D mouse support. The fact is, once you get used to working with a spacemouse for anything CAD-like ( doing it any other way is so inefficient that it becomes maddening, to the point where I have literally decided against an otherwise good tool due to lack of support for 3d mice. I just started with Unreal, after years of using things like Inventor, Sketchup, C4D and Maya for 3D content, product, and architectual design. I would say that lack of 3D mouse support slows me down 50% or more.
I will lobby with 3Dconnexion/Logitech for 3DXware support as well.
Agreed with as well: the lack of support causes the āthere arenāt many usersā issue. The device doesnāt just make things easier by a LITTLE, but by HUGE amounts. After 3 or 4 days of use, I just ālostā the ability to use the navigation wheels and three-click methods. Itās like trying to fly a flight sim with WASD; possible, but dumb if you have any other option.