Houdini and 3DConnexion Devices

A blog entry at geneome.com describes an attempt at using Python to enable 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator support in the Houdini 3D app.

He mentions a complication involving the lack of _ctypes.pyd in the Houdini Python distribution. Houdini 10 includes Python 2.5 and some commonly used modules with its 3d app, but apparently it was not enough for this project. I don't completely understand the post, but it sounds like this prevented the Python comtypes module from working, and that prevented Python from polling of the device driver using COM (Component Object Model). A workaround involved compiling the needed module himself with the Python compileall module in Houdini and then putting the binary code in the lib directory of Houdini. I'd never heard of the compileall module before reading the post and will take quick look at it later.

Another complication involved Houdini freezing during display of data from the 3dConnexion device into a window.

He posted a video of a demo to vimeo.

The post also references an odforce post with some one else's Python code that does the same thing and was apparently was developed simulaneously.

From the post:
The SpaceNavigator seems ideally suited to be able to control not just a camera but any object in 3 dimensions, provided that the application can see and understand the device.

more cg roundup podcasts

CG round up podcasts 6 & 7 are now available at www.cgroundup.com.

I still haven't gotten to listening to them yet.

A comment on one of these new podcasts mentions a blog post that does a comparison of ICE vs. VOPs. Looks interesting.