Using 3DConnexion Mouse in Firefox on Linux

tom_allison

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me as I've had a good look around on the web and can't find any info on my problem.

I use Ubuntu Linux and have a 3DConnexion Space Navigator mouse. I have just installed the official 3DXWare 10 (v1.8.0) Linux driver from the 3DConnexion website. The driver works perfectly and I can run the xcube and xvalues demos. 

I'm now trying to use the 3D mouse in onshape but I'm getting no response. I've tried using the Firefox browser and the Chromium browser and neither work. I'm wondering if there is some sort of browser plugin I need to install or should it just work on the bare browser?

If anyone can spare so me time to help please it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

NeilCooke

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/68295#Comment_68295

tom_allison

NeilCooke said:

https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/68295#Comment_68295

Hi Neil,

Thank you for linking to your comment.

I downloaded the official linux driver from the 3DConnexion site here:

https://3dconnexion.com/us/drivers-application/3dxware-10/

Is this not supported? If so, I'm wondering if anyone in the community can help me out?

Thanks!

MichaelPascoe

I don't run Linux, but I use the latest wireless 3dconnexion space mouse. 

To get my space mouse to work, sometimes I have to stop, then start the driver while the browser is closed. I have shortcuts created for this to speed things up. I'm not sure where your files are on Linux, but on windows, here is where the start and stop execution files are: 
C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\3DxWinCore

NeilCooke

It works differently for Onshape because it's inside a web browser rather than a desktop app. Unfortunately, 3Dconnexion are focusing their driver efforts on Windows and Mac for Onshape (as they don't see much professional use on Linux). Please feel free to speak to their support to register your interest in Linux.

tony_459

Do people actually make productive use of space mice? I bought one last year and it was super fun for a month until I realized everything it did, I did as well with a standard mouse. Navigation is intuitive and fast with a standard mouse, and I never felt that a spacemouse made it more efficient... though it did make it far more expensive...

tom_allison

MichaelPascoe said:

I don't run Linux, but I use the latest wireless 3dconnexion space mouse. 

To get my space mouse to work, sometimes I have to stop, then start the driver while the browser is closed. I have shortcuts created for this to speed things up. I'm not sure where your files are on Linux, but on windows, here is where the start and stop execution files are: 
C:\Program Files\3Dconnexion\3DxWare\3DxWinCore

 Thanks Michael. I will try some combinations of restarting the driver in case it makes any difference. I'll reply on here if it does work.

NeilCooke said:

It works differently for Onshape because it's inside a web browser rather than a desktop app. Unfortunately, 3Dconnexion are focusing their driver efforts on Windows and Mac for Onshape (as they don't see much professional use on Linux). Please feel free to speak to their support to register your interest in Linux.

Thanks Neil. It sounds like there may not be much hope for this. I have posted the same question on the 3DConnexion linux forum to see if anyone there has any suggestions.

tony_459 said:

Do people actually make productive use of space mice? I bought one last year and it was super fun for a month until I realized everything it did, I did as well with a standard mouse. Navigation is intuitive and fast with a standard mouse, and I never felt that a spacemouse made it more efficient... though it did make it far more expensive...

Hi Tony, I use a Space Navigator extensively for CAD at work (Autodesk Inventor on Windows) and I have to say for me it makes a huge difference. You can get much better angles and navigate much more smoothly with the 3D mouse, especially with 'perspective' turned on. I would have real difficulty working properly without one. I use linux at home for personal stuff and was hoping to get the mouse working in onshape. I may look at starting to use a different software (some have support for 3DConnexion) but I really like the funcitonality of onshape so it would be a shame to change.

Thanks again everyone!

MichaelPascoe

@tony_459
It depends on what you are modeling. I find it helps with more advanced parts that require lots of view changes.

My favorite set up is:

Left Hand
https://3dconnexion.com/us/product/spacemouse-wireless/
Set one of the side keys to a radial menu: http://radialmenu.weebly.com/

Right Hand
https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-intuos-pro
Assign your favorite commands to gesture controls: https://www.strokesplus.com/

tony_459

Oh wow, the gesture control app seems useful. I'll have to check it out!

paweł_kucmus

I would like to make that happen. Will make it open source and free for everyone. Can I get any advice on who to contact for any documentation?

paweł_kucmus

Can someone from Onshape tell me if currently it's possible to trigger a the websocket connection to what their driver is exposing? From what I understand Onshape (as a client) would initialize a connection to `https://127.51.68.120:8181` where with websockets the events from the device are listened to. Are you using the 3dconnexion.js library provided by them? Is there any manual / documentation that would help me understand what the websocket server would look like? 
I tried to trick Onshape to think I'm on Windows (changing user-agent) but it was not initializing the websocket connection to my dummy service.

I'm trying to make it work with spacenav (https://github.com/FreeSpacenav/spacenavd/issues/30)

wayne_sauder

Michael Pascoe, do you use the Wacom pen-tablet for design work in Onshape and if so could you give a bit more detail on how you set it up and use it? Are you still using a regular mouse? 

MichaelPascoe

Sorry @wayne_sauder I missed your comment the other day.

Yes, I use this Wacom tablet. I prefer this one over the ones with the screens; the screens get in the way for me.
No, I do not use a regular mouse. However, the gesture commands and 6D Joystick are critical for using the tablet with Onshape.

Currently, I'm using Wacom's latest drivers. The older tablets are harder to keep working with the constant software updates from browsers and Windows. Wacom only supports the latest one reliably. I'm running it directly plugged in, no bluetooth. Wacom bluetooth has unacceptable lag for this kind of work.

Using the set up I mentioned in the quoted text, here is a quick demo of how I use all of these together. 

MichaelPascoe said:

@tony_459
It depends on what you are modeling. I find it helps with more advanced parts that require lots of view changes.

My favorite set up is:

Left Hand
https://3dconnexion.com/us/product/spacemouse-wireless/
Set one of the side keys to a radial menu: http://radialmenu.weebly.com/
edit: For drawings, I have the right side key set to left mouse click.

Right Hand
https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/wacom-intuos-pro
Assign your favorite commands to gesture controls: https://www.strokesplus.com/

Here are is a snip of how I configured the gesture controls:



Oh, I also use CrossHair by Mike Lin to help align text and drawing views:
https://download.cnet.com/CrossHair/3000-12565_4-10561218.html

wayne_sauder

Thanks that is very interesting. At the moment I am using the wireless package from 3D connexion and really like my joystick. I did not realize that a pen and tablet setup could be used in that way. May have to put it on the list.