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Navisworks Manage 2012 and 3d Connexion issue

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Message 1 of 23
JasonHarden1705
2561 Views, 22 Replies

Navisworks Manage 2012 and 3d Connexion issue

I recently updated AutoCAD and Navisworks Manage to the 2012 releases. I also updated my 3D Connexion Space Pilot driver along with my graphics card driver. Upon opening an NWF file in Navisworks 2012, I quickly discovered that the 3D mouse did NOT have the "fluid" motion it had in the Navisworks Manage 2011 release.

 

I'm seeing jittery motion as I fly around the model and noticed that the "scene drawing indicator bar" is working overtime as I move and stop in a model. It is a fairly small model, nothing substantial in size.

 

Also, I've found that the "fly" command no longer allows you to use the "roll" feature on the 3D mouse. I've made several settings changes to just about everything from "frame rate" to "hardware acceleration" and nothing changed. I brought my IT guy in to review the graphics card driver settings and he concluded that it was operating as required. 

 

Then I opened the same model in Navisworks Manage 2011 (side-by-side at the same time it was open in 2012) and found that 2011 retained the fluid motion as well as the "roll" feature still worked and the "scene drawing indicator bar" barely blinked as I moved and stopped.

 

Any insight as to what adjustments I need to make in NW-M 2012 to match what I had in NW-M 2011?

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22 REPLIES 22
Message 2 of 23
aireq
in reply to: JasonHarden1705

Yeah, I am experienceing the same problem.

Message 3 of 23
aireq
in reply to: aireq

The jumpiness is definitely an issue with the navigation and not a display issue. Navigating my model with out my Space Pilot is very very smooth. Also I tried recording an animation while navigating with my Space Pilot and the jumpiness was visible in the animation as well. So the actual coordinates of the current viewpoint are jumping around. It's not just an issue with the view taking too long to draw. I've attached a video showing the jumpiness.

 

To me, it looks like some kind of rounding or tollerance issue. Like the view coordinates provided by a 3D Connexion device end up being rounded up or down before being used to update navisworks.

Message 4 of 23
Rich.O.3d
in reply to: JasonHarden1705

ive had similar issues.

I currently believe that my problem is more a diectx issue, as in our Supperbly Helpfull I.T. (abbreviate as you see fit 😛 ) dept. still has us running on XP 64x...although we have great machines...xeon x5667/quadro5000/24GB ram etc

The cert drivers for autocad dont even work...keeps crashing back to software graphics...ive been told its due to the lack of directx instruction sets in XP and there is no fix and no intention to fix...why arent you using windows7 is usually the first thing that gets asked.

Navis also jumps around.

I had been using Vista64 for about 4 or 5 years in other jobs and at home and have had none of these issues with poor graphics support.

CAD Management 101:
You can do it your own way,
If its done just how I say!
[Metallica:And Justice For All:1988]
Message 5 of 23
dembkod
in reply to: Rich.O.3d

JasonHarden1705,

 

Hello. Have you tried older 3d connection drivers? If there are older drivers available, I would give them a try. It is possible that they may work better, I am unsure.

 

Have you tried turning off hardware acceleration in Navisworks, in the Options Editor > Interface > Display section. You can also turn off the “Auto-select” Graphics system and test the various systems. You will need to restart Navisworks after you change the setting.

 

You can also try to change the linear and angular speed settings on the Viewpoint > Navigate dropdown.

 

Have there been any issues reported on the 3dConnexion site?

 

Thank you for participating in our community!

 

David Dembkoski       

 

ADSK_logo_discussion.png

 

Product Support Specialist

Autodesk Product Support



David Dembkoski
Message 6 of 23
aireq
in reply to: dembkod

I just tried the older 3D Connexion driver (Release 3.8.2, Driver 6.8.1) and this did not improve the problem.


Turning off hardware accelleration made all navigation jumpy because it couldn't keep a decent frame rate. I also tried turning off auto select and tried each of the display drivers for both graphics systems. While this had an affect on the frame rate the navigation would still periodicaly jump around when navigating with my SpacePilot.

 

I don't think it's a graphics issue as my computer can display the model I'm testing very easily. Navigating with the mouse in orbit or walk mode is silky smooth. It only starts jumping around when I switch to using the Space Pilot.

 

I tried recording two animations orbiting around my project. The first using the keyboard to orbit, and the second using the space mouse around roughly the same path (hey I'm not that good with the SpacePilot ; - ). I exported the animations to an XML file and graphed the results in Excel. The results are shown bellow.

 

As you can see in the graphs above when navigating with the Space Pilot the viewpoint will periodicaly jump position, where when navigating with the mouse the viewpoints are always relatively consistently spaced.

Message 7 of 23
JasonHarden1705
in reply to: dembkod

I have not tried an older 3D Connexion driver as of yet.  I see, however, that contributor "aireq" is experiencing the same jitters that I see with the 3D mouse and was unable to get better results by using an older 3D Connexion driver.

 

Yes, I've manipulated the hardware accelleration and auto-select settings throughout my testing and neither have had an impact on solving the jitters.

 

I've augmented the frame rate and linear speed settings to a handfull of different values and no change.

 

I've spoken with a 3D Connexion rep and he said that more than likely it's on the Autodesk side of things.  Also, I received the following email from another 3D Connexion rep:

 

"The application only uses the basic 3Dconnexion device driver for navigation. It is their software rather than 3Dconnexion software that controls the way the 3Dconnexion devices function inside Navisworks Manage 2012. Since their software controls the navigation, their Technical Support handles any questions about how our devices work in their application. With this type of application that uses only our basic driver, it is only changes or updates in the application that can make a difference in the device performance. You will need contact Autodesk support to address any issues.   Regards, Andrei   Technical Support Help Desk   3Dconnexion, Inc."

Message 8 of 23
dembkod
in reply to: JasonHarden1705

JasonHarden1705 and aireq,

 

Hello. Thank you both for the additional information. I will submit this to our development queue for review. I see the specific driver you are utilizing. Can you provide the specific navigation device and model number? I would like to make sure I have all the appropriate information for their analysis.

 

Thank you for participating in our community!

 

David Dembkoski       

 

ADSK_logo_discussion.png

 

Product Support Specialist

Autodesk Product Support

 

beyond design.png 

 



David Dembkoski
Message 9 of 23
JasonHarden1705
in reply to: dembkod

Please, along with your submittal to your development queue, don't forget that the ****ROLL**** feature is disabled when in FLY mode- in addition to the jitters seen as you move through a model. 

 

The ability to use ROLL during a fly-through adds a lot of impact to a model when demonstrating to a customer or prospective client.  Being stuck with left, right, up, down, forward and backward just doesn't have the effect that adding roll does.

 

I have found no solution for turning ROLL back on in Navis Manage 2012.  No combination of NW fly (paper airplane button) and AutoCAD fly (airplane profile button) corrects this.

 

Thank you all for your time and effort on the matter!

 

Here's the device information you asked for:

Logitech 3D Connexion SpacePilot 3D mouse

D12U31CX07460168

Release Version: 3.13.1

Driver Version: 6.13.1

Firmware Version: 3.12

Link to a website that shows the model I have: http://www.geek.com/articles/xyzcomputing/3dconnexion-spacepilot-2005106/

Message 10 of 23
dhurst12
in reply to: JasonHarden1705

Also, lets add this to the list of problems with 3DConnexion and NW2012:

 

I've been working on som animations and I find that somethimes that the undo command is recording hundreds of moves.  So if I fly from one point to another and want to undo to go back to the previous view, I have to undo 20 or more times to get back.  This doesn't always happen, but once it starts doing this there is no stopping it other than closing the application.  Recording all of this info in the undo file may be causing some of the jitters we all are experiencing.  In previous versions, NW only recorded the view point in the undo file if you stopped navigating for a second or two.

Message 11 of 23

Try trying running the update wizard in the 3D Connexion control panel at least 2 more times until it says nothing is left. 

 

I just fixed my own issues with AutoCAD and this device and it may be the same issue.   I ran the update wizard and thought I was good and had installed everything but ran into issues of stuttering and the mouse just didsnt handle smoothly.   Then I went back to square one and ran the update wizard several times and discovered that the first update only updates the wizard but a 2nd update installs the addons that make a massive differance in the handling of the mouse.

 

 

Message 12 of 23

No such luck for me.  I followed your advice and updated 3D Connexion via the "update wizard" about ten times and the jerkiness of the fly mode continues to hinder my Navis Manage 2012 navigation.

 

I've also never been able to resolve the loss of "roll" when in fly mode when using Navis Manage 2012.  I've clicked a variety of button and toggle conbinations between the 3D Connexion interface and the Navis interface under "global settings".

 

Navis Manage 2011 still works like a charm so I continue to use that for my fly-thru needs.  Hopefully, all will be resolved between 3D Connexion and Autodesk in the next round of version updates!

Message 13 of 23

hi @ all,

 

one month later now, nothing happened?

still the proplems with the 3dconnexion mouse in NW2012.

in NW2011 it's working very smooth.

 

merry xmas

 

 

Message 14 of 23
arch
in reply to: JasonHarden1705

Just fired up Navisworks Manage 2013 for the first time and I'm also encountering some jittery motion using the 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator. One specific example, if I try turning side-to-side in the Walk mode, the angular rotation will speed up (significantly) when I'm facing away from my building, and slow down when the building comes back into view. It seems like the same thing with other motions as well... model in view, things slow down... model out of view, it speeds up.

 

Is there be some way to fine-tune the behavior of the SpaceNavigator? There are so many places to change the controls (within Navisworks' options, within the 3Dconnexion Windows Control Panel) that it seems impossible to optimize it.

Message 15 of 23
russkeller
in reply to: arch

We're using Navis 2012 and it handles like crap, I've stopped trying.   The only real use for it I've found is handling small parts.in AutoCAD.   It's been horribly dissapointing for driving around in Navis and Large AutoCAD files.  If your still within the return window I'd reccomend it.

Message 16 of 23
dgorsman
in reply to: arch

Try checking the guaranteed frame rate and the various drop-out settings (like distance culling).  If the Navigator is causing multiple refresh operations across a single move/rotate then the jitteryness could be caused by several successive calls to rebuild the displayed objects.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 17 of 23
arch
in reply to: russkeller

I've had this thing for a few years now. I think it worked fine with Navisworks 2009, but for the versions since it just has been annoying. 

Message 18 of 23
arch
in reply to: dgorsman

Thanks for your response. Guaranteed Frame Rate is already checked, but Occlusion Culling is not. I'll give that a try.

 

Are there any other settings or values you recommend? Default Angular or Linear Speed?

Message 19 of 23
russkeller
in reply to: arch

Same results here.   Imprtant note, cruising around with a regular mouse is smooth.  So I doubt it's a video related issue.

Message 20 of 23
dgorsman
in reply to: russkeller

Thats what makes me think the Navigator is issuing multiple incremental inputs rather than the single smooth input from the mouse, which would cause grahpics drop-out for each of those inputs resulting in the jitteryness of the display.  I'm not certain that can be corrected and the style of input signal may be standard for the device.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


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