Devices

The Devices options let you customize options for peripheral devices.

The peripheral device concerned is primarily:

  • Joystick: supported on all product brands and on all supported Windows platforms
  • SpaceBall/SpaceMouse®: supported on all products on all supported platforms.

After installing the software, you must connect your peripheral devices and install the appropriate drivers.

This page discusses:

Manipulation

Move Robot with 3D devices

Lets you move the Robot using 3D devices (a SpaceMouse®, for example) when put into the 3D scene.

When the Robot is docked in the top right corner of the screen, the space mouse moves the viewpoint. When the Robot is in the scene, then the space mouse moves the Robot.

By default, this option is selected.

Maximum frequency for event sending

Max Frequency (event/sec)
Maximum frequency (number of events per second) at which events are sent by peripheral devices.

This value aims at limiting the frequency of emitted events for some devices. Polhemus, for example, is not impacted by this value. We recommend that you use the default value, unless the peripheral device you are using has special requirements.

A process filters the mass of events generated when using I/O devices and relays only the useful events.

The c:VR Monitor command activates a diagnostic dialog box (named VRMonitor) displaying any drivers declared to the broker as well as any events those drivers are able to send.

SpaceMouse® Rotation Center

Automatic Rotation Center
Automatically computes the position of the center of rotation (referred to as "CoR").

The following algorithm is used:

  • If the object is displayed in full view, the CoR is set to the center of the bounding sphere and the algorithm terminates.
  • If the object is not displayed in full view, then a point is picked in the object beneath the center of the viewport with a default pick window size. If a valid point is picked, the CoR is set to this point and the algorithm terminates.
  • If no valid point is picked, then a new point is picked beneath the center of the viewport with a different pick window size. If a valid point is picked, the CoR is set to this point and the algorithm terminates.
  • If still no valid point is picked, then the CoR remains unchanged.

The above algorithm is executed when manipulating the camera/viewpoint in Examine mode. In former releases, or when the option is not selected, the default CoR position is set to the viewpoint target position.

Important:
  • Whatever the mode (automatic or not), the CoR is calculated each time you click MB2.
  • You can suspend the automatic computation by selecting a new rotation center: to do so, click using the middle mouse button and hold down the Alt key (Alt+MB2 click). Once suspended, the CoR behaves like in former releases, that is, it is fixed in relation to the object and can be selected through MB2. If you select Alt+MB2 again, automatic computation restarts.

    Note that the suspension applies only to the tab in which you click Alt+MB2: if several tabs are open in your session, you can activate automatic computation in one of them and keep the former behavior in the others.

  • As the automatic CoR position can be calculated from a point picked along the camera's line of sight, the CoR position might not be modified in case there is no geometry intersection in the pick window.

By default, this option is selected.

Display Rotation Center
Displays or hides the icon representing the CoR. This gives you a visual feedback of the CoR's current position for the device when working in Examine mode.

The icon is a two-dimensional icon (bitmap) and it is centered on the pixel position of the 3D CoR regardless of how this position was calculated (that is, manual selection or automatic computation).

Select the appropriate option:

  • Hide: the icon is never displayed
  • Show On Motion: the icon is visible only when the device is active
  • Always Show: the icon is always visible.

If both Always Show and Automatic Rotation Center are selected, then the CoR position is recalculated whenever you finish a camera or viewpoint manipulation (for example, when a "standard" camera view is used).

By default, this option is set to Show On Motion.