VITALBODIES BLOG

Getting A 3dconnexion Device Running In Ubuntu:

UPDATE: OPEN SOURCE: (we just found this and have not fully tried the open source version but would really like to soon… See below at the bottom)

http://spacenav.sourceforge.net/

VitalBodies recently bought a 3dConnexions 3D SpacePilot controller to use in Blender to help with the learning curve of the Blender interface. We got the proprietary driver going using the steps below, but we are still trying to get the device going in Blender 2.49.

UBUNTU:

We downloaded and installed the proprietary driver 3dconnexion site: (As stated in their instructions)

The Blender page on 3dConnexion: http://www.3dconnexion.com/index.php?id=108

Plugin: http://www.3dconnexion.com/index.php?eID=sdl&ext=tx_iccsoftware&oid=27237638-d168-4cc6-bc67-4b1fe78de7c4&filename=3DxBlender2_47-Linux-i386.zip&ap1=PleaseSelect&ap2=&ap3=

We ran each of these commands using sudo:

sudo nautilus

Copy the 3dxware-linux-v1-2-11.tgz to /tmp

Copy and extract the install-3dxunix.sh file into /tmp using the terminal.

sudo tar xfz 3dxware-linux-v1-4-3.x86_64.tar.gz install-3dxunix.sh

Run the install script:

sudo ./install-3dxunix.sh

Then we had to install libmotif because the driver complained about not having the library libXm.so.3.

We used System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager > search ” libmotif” to find and install the libraries.

START THE DRIVER:

Run the driver from the command line:

sudo /etc/3DxWare/daemon/3dxsrv -d usb

Here is what we saw:

BLENDER: (Not sure about part as this is still experimental)

The next step is to get it going with blender:

Download the blender build from http://www.blenderbuilds.com/

Unzip the build.

Copy the 3DxNdofBlender.plugin folder to the plugin directory which is usually in home/user_name/.blend/plugins if you are using the Blender install from the Ubuntu (can require View > Show Hidden Files).

Double-clicked blender and you should be set to go…

BlenderBuilds.com: (Are they shutting down or is the 3Dconnexion taking over -shutting down is our best guess?)

http://www.blenderbuilds.com/2007/08/05/august-build-3dconnexion-with-a-prize/

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

http://www.arakhne.org/3dxware/index.html

Forum Article with readme files and other info: http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18109#18109

Interesting insights on getting the Open Source version going: http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=13877#13877

POLL:

Add your vote to the poll we started: http://www.3dconnexion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18109#18109

TERMINAL:

If you need to find your device this command is suggested:

lshal | less

Followed by the “/” and the first few letters of the name of the device.

 /Space

Then:

Enter

That gave us this:

usb_device.product = '3Dconnexion Space Pilot 3D Mouse'  (string)

UN-INSTALL THE DRIVER: (?)

sudo aptitude remove 3dxunix

Since the driver was installed with a script rather than as a package, the above command will NOT remove the driver. Anyone know how to remove it?

We have an answer from the comments related to this post:

“Delete it.
And delete the corresponding line in the /etc/inittab.”

We take that to mean delete the directory

/etc/3DxWare

And this lines of code (at least for us):

3d:2345:respawn:/etc/3DxWare/daemon/3dxsrv -d usb </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1

One can use sudo nautilus to navigate the files and delete them and then gedit to edit the inittab.

You will also need to delete the plugin in the .blend/plugins folder also.

UPDATE SPACENAV: (From the Readme)

Useful commands: We copied the downloaded folder into the tmp folder in order to begin.

For Installation:

cd
cd /tmp/spacenavd-0.4
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo ./setup_init

For starting, stopping and reading the log file:

gedit /var/log/spnavd.log
sudo /etc/init.d/spacenavd start
sudo /etc/init.d/spacenavd stop

1. About
Spacenavd, is a free software replacement user-space driver (daemon), for
3Dconnexion’s space-something 6dof input devices. It’s compatible with the
original 3dxsrv proprietary daemon provided by 3Dconnexion, and works
perfectly with any program that was written for the 3Dconnexion driver.

For more info on the spacenav project, visit: http://spacenav.sourceforge.net

2. Dependencies
In order to compile the spacenavd daemon, you’ll need the following:
* GNU C Compiler
* GNU make
* Xlib headers (optional)

You can compile the daemon without Xlib, but it won’t be compatible with
applications that where written for the original proprietary 3Dconnexion
driver (e.g. blender, maya, etc). The 3dxsrv compatibility interface needs to
go through the X window system.

3. Installation
If you have the dependencies installed, just run “./configure” and then
“make” to compile the daemon, and “make install”, to install it. The
default installation prefix is “/usr/local”. If you wish to install
somewhere else, you may pass –prefix=/whatever to the configure script.

4. Running spacenavd
If your system uses SysV init, then you may run the supplied “setup_init”
script, and everything should be set up to have spacenavd start automatically
during system startup. However, for now, you won’t have to reboot, just type
“/etc/init.d/spacenavd start” as root, to start the daemon immediately.

If your system uses BSD init (you can tell if you *don’t* have a series of
directories called rc0.d, rc1.d, and so on, in /etc), then you’ll have to
follow your init documentation and set this up yourself. You may be able to
use the provided init_script file as a starting point.

5. Configuration
The spacenavd daemon reads a number of options from the /etc/spnavrc file. If
that file doesn’t exist, then it uses default values for everything. You may
use the graphical spnavcfg program to interactively set any of these options.
The daemon should respond immediately to your changes, and also the
configuration file should be updated automatically.

6. Troubleshooting
If you’re having trouble running spacenavd, read the up to date FAQ on the
spacenav website: http://spacenav.sourceforge.net/faq.html

If you’re still having trouble, send a description of your problem to the
spacenav-users mailing list: spacenav-users@lists.sourceforge.net
along with a copy of your /var/log/spnavd.log and any other relevant
information.

7. License
This program is released under the terms of the GNU GPLv3, see COPYING for
details.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Mobile Workstation

We recently got a new w700 Thinkpad.

Wow, this is one radical notebook.

Some of the more exotic features:

WACOM Digitizer Pad on select models
Huey Pro integrated Color Calibration Sensor in palm rest on select models

Ubuntu works out of the box easy on this system which is awesome – this Notebook was super easy to get going.

We have not figured out how to get the tablet or color sensor going yet but have yet to try – do you know?
Here are a few brief hints:
To adjust the screen brightness:
Try Fn END to dim the screen down a notch.
Meaning the function key and then the End key.
Fn Home for brighter.

They have memory for this notebook on Amazon (which was surprising) and this beast takes up to 8GB:
4GB Memory Upgrade RAM For Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Series

Keyboard light switch (fn +pgup)

Info on the W700:

ThinkWiki: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:W700

Watcom How To: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6546012&postcount=1

We also bought a new Lenovo d10 Thinkstation and that work out of the box easy also in Ubuntu!

VitalBodies recently created a virtual software box concept for the MakeHuman.org project.

Inkscape was used to draw the boxes and GIMP was used to edit the screen captures.

Larger Version: http://www.vitalbodies.com/site/uploads/images/graphics/MakeHuman_Boxes_V1_1920×1080_2.png

Getting MakeHuman Up And Running In Ubuntu

MakeHuman(TM) is an open source (so it’s completely free), innovative and professional software for the modelling of 3-Dimensional humanoid characters. Features that make this software unique include a new, highly intuitive GUI and a high quality mesh, optimized to work in subdivision surface mode (for example, Zbrush). Using MakeHuman, a photorealistic character can be modeled in less than 2 minutes; MakeHuman is released under an Open Source Licence (GPL3.0) , and is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

To get the nightly builds to automatically update on your system add these lines to your software sources:

System > Administration > Software Sources > Other Software > Add

For 32-bit:

http://download.tuxfamily.org/makehuman/deb/i386/

For 64-bit:

http://download.tuxfamily.org/makehuman/deb/amd64/

Installing MakeHuman: (The deb name for nightly builds is “makehuman”. The deb name for alpha releases is “makehuman-alpha”.)

Nightly builds: The developer version(s) for people who are actually building or testing the software (makehuman).
makehuman-alpha: What is needed to get the current alpha version.
Stable version: Not available yet – software is still in alpha.
Current non-developer version (end user): makehuman-alpha

In the Terminal (Applications > Terminal) paste this command and hit enter for the end user version:

apt-get install makehuman-alpha

In the Terminal (Applications > Terminal) paste this command and hit enter for the developer version:

apt-get install makehuman-nightly

Note: The makehuman-nightly and makehuman-alpha debs are mutually exclusive, so installing one on the system will remove the other.

Add missing folders:

You will need to add these folders to usr/local/makehuman to make the program work: (at the time of this post these folders were needed)

models (This allows SAVE to function properly)

exports (This allows EXPORT to function properly)

Create folders in your home folder for your saved work and exported models:

Note: Alpha 5 with do this automatically.

mkdir ~/models
mkdir ~/exports

cd /usr/local/makehuman
sudo ln -sf /home/replace-with-user-name/models models
sudo ln -sf /home/replace-with-user-name/exports exports

For the nightly version:

cd /usr/share/makehuman
sudo ln -sf /home/replace-with-user-name/models models
sudo ln -sf /home/replace-with-user-name/exports exports

Start MakeHuman:

In the Terminal (Applications > Terminal) paste this command and hit enter:

cd /usr/local/makehuman && ./makehuman

For the nightly version:

cd /usr/share/makehuman && ./makehuman

AQSIS: Make sure you completely remove AQSIS 1.2 and install AQSIS 1.6 or newer in the System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager  so that make human renders properly.

Check what version you have:

aqsl -version

Where to find the newest version: (You will need libaqsis and aqsis in that order)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/aqsis/files/

Once downloaded you can install them with a right click and then – Open with Gdebi Package installer – or the like.

Shaders: If you need to recompile the shaders (because the renders do not look correct) to the newest version of AQSIS once you have installed that version paste this in the terminal and hit Enter:

cd /usr/local/makehuman/data/shaders/renderman

Then:

sudo aqsl hair.sl
sudo aqsl lightmap.sl
sudo aqsl onlyci.sl
sudo aqsl scatteringtexture.sl
sudo aqsl shadowspot.sl
sudo aqsl skin.sl

I was able to get them recompiled using this method.

The other way that is suggested to to delete the 6 .sl files in the  /usr/local/makehuman/data/shaders/renderman folder and restart MakeHuman.

OTHER NOTES: You should be able to render (in color) and export a mesh with the current Makehuman-alpha version (Alpha4) or later.

Resources:

MakeHuman Site: http://www.makehuman.org

MakeHuman Forums: http://www.makehuman.org/forum/

MakeHuman Docs: http://sites.google.com/site/makehumandocs/Home

MakeHuman Blog: http://makehuman.blogspot.com/

-

VitalBodies would like to thank the MakeHuman team (and Joel Palmius, aka joepal on MH forums for the deb files for Ubuntu) for all of your efforts!

There was a time long ago I remember in Hawaii, where a free pizza was given as to us, as it was layered in the wrong order.
Nothing was wrong with the pie, but the order the layers were added was wrong.
Cooked to perfection, smelled delicious also.

“You will see she said you will see” said the food person.
She brings out a second pizza that was layered correctly – exactly the same in every other way – tasted quite different – “you see, I told you you would see”…
Was amazed how different it really was.
A pizza at the time was a high priced item and free one was amazing! This was a town with only a pizza place – If I remember correctly…

Some times it is interesting what it takes (how much or how little) to get it just right…

I have found in healing or cooking the same holds true.
The same all to common ingredients that might be in the cup boards might be total healers if done just so.
With cooking I have seen the phenomenon many times when trying.
In fact, even in the ritual of morning coffee.

Try this:
If there is a drink you like that is more than one ingredient make two (rather than the usually one) – (Two drinks in two cups):
1st drink/cup: Add the ingredients THEN stir.
2nd drink/cup:: Add one liquid STIR and add ingredients when the liquid is spinning/swirling in the cup.

Taste the drink from each cup; which do you like better?
I always like the one that spun…

Example: Coffee, cream (half and half), cocoa powder.

In fact make four – if you find this fun:
1: coffee stir then cream, stir then cocoa.
2: cocoa, then cream the coffee then stir.
3: coffee stir then cocoa stir then cream.
4: cream stir, then coffee stir then cocoa.
Etc
Which tastes/feels better?

President Obama signed into law a program NHTSA is calling the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). This is a government program that helps you purchase a new, more fuel efficient vehicle when you trade in a less fuel efficient vehicle.

Visit -http://www.cars.gov/

Getting OpenOffice To Play Nice With Ebay File Exchange

VitalBodies recently made the transition from listing items on ebay one by one, to using File Exchange to do bulk uploading and editing of listings. Not being familiar with Spreadsheet programs like OpenOffice, spread sheets or File Exchange presented a rather steep learning curve. In fact, the learning curve was so steep at some points it seemed more like a brick wall with no way to pass through. With a LOT of help from the kind staff at Ebay (thank you Cheyenne V) we were able to create a file of some of our listings that would at least upload. Where the next set of problems began is that upon opening the file and making the most simple change (like changing the shipping weight of an item) and saving the file, it would no longer upload.

An unknown Error has occurred try again later.

Our CSV (at the time) was the default comma separated spread sheet that used the quote (“) as the text delimiter and Unicode (UTF-8) character set. Within OpenOffice the spread sheet looked perfect. When the staff at ebaY would examine the file in Excel the spread sheet look perfect to them also. Their main comment was always “you just need to make sure the zip code column is set to custom rather than number so that it will preserve zip codes that start with a zero. When we do that the file uploads fine.

So around and around we went, trying to upload, and having the file fail, and then sending the file back to ebaY, and them sending it back again saying it was fine.

Finally angelesbrotherscycles in the forums said:

Here’s 2 annoying things about your situation:

1) OpenOffice apparently will always double quote everything. The double quotes are fine – except that….

2) File Exchange seems to not like double quotes in the first line – probably because they mean something special for setting defaults.

Open the file you’re going to upload in something other than OpenOffice, remove the double quotes (you can find / replace the ” character with nothing), and try uploading.

We tried that and could not get the problem to go away but it was clear they were onto something. If you opened the spreadsheet in a text editor there were lots more ” than the file ebaY would send back out of Excel.

One other clue that was pointed out is that OpenOffice does not open a CSV, instead it seems to import it. Thus you have to select (every time) your delimiters.

Unfortunately though we had hit our limit, we had been trying for so so long. Plus we do not know OpenOffice all that well and the intricate ins and outs of File Exchange.

Then came Keith’s Online Sales to the rescue!

Keith agreed to look over our file and see if he could get it to upload. After some time and effort the file would upload yet would get a 100% failure rate with parsing errors.

This was a break through, because at least the file would upload!

He took the file even further and got it to upload with a 100% success rate!

Wow, what a HUGE break through! We were so excited!

Next we just needed to test the file on our own and make sure we could OPEN, EDIT and SAVE the file without breaking it again.

With careful instruction we were able to.

The trick was to make the file TAB delimited with no text delimiter at all.

The fields that needed to be TEXT (like the title and description) had to have the ” added manually in the field within the spreadsheet like this: “Futon Mattress TWIN 3″” Pure Virgin Wool Organic Cotton “.

Note how the 3″ (three inches) has to have a second ” and the whole text phrase has to be within “”.

Obviously you have to have all the required headers and such as required by ebaY, but we had already been down that road earlier and our file was compliant.

As a thank you VitalBodies made Keith some new fun logos and graphics for his ebay store:

Postie Email Blogging Plug-in Appreciation Graphics

VitalBodies likes Postie for email blogging and wanted to create some appreciation graphics to show our support!

Which is your favorite?

VitalBodies is not associated with Postie, we just like the plug-in and secretly made some fun graphics as a show of support.

Which one did robfelty.com like the best? The winner is, number 7!

Created in Inkscape – Fonts are Bitstream Vera Sans and Impossibilium BRK.

VirtueMart, Joomla and CSV Improved Team Work

Click image for a larger version

Joomla is one of the leading open source CMS (content management systems) used on the internet to create powerful modular web sites.

VirtueMart is the leading open source shopping cart solutions that integrates within Joomla as a componet.

CSV Improved is the leading the way to allow VirtueMart shop owners to Import and Export products in mass via a CSV or spread sheet.

VitalBodies create a the graphic above for CSV Improved as a thank you for all the hard work and dedication in making CSV happen right within the Joomla control panel. Adding products within the familar Joomla control panel is much easier than doing everything at the MySQL level.

Visit – CSV Improved – VirtueMart – Joomla!

Bodum Double Wall Boro-silicate Glasses Cups and Vessels:

Review: The double walled glass are a puritans drinking vessel delight!

They are boro-silicate glass like lab glass making them non-toxic. They are really thin and light and surprisingly clear. You will see your drink (what you are drinking) like you never have.The liquid appears to float in the air. They are thermo which is really nice for hot or cold drinks and helps the drink maintain the temperature you served the liquid at.You have to choose these vessels carefully by both size and shape and price. They can look larger or smaller than they are in the product images as there is usually nothing in the background to gain a sense of the true size and the shape can be misleading. For shape what matters in many ways is how well they handle while washing them. This is very true if you hand wash the glasses. These glasses can suddenly be really slick and just pop out of your hands if they are wet or soapy. The glass is so thin they suggest you add liquid first before adding ice. These are not your everyday persons drinking vessel as they require care and thought rather than thoughtlessness.

The glass we choose for our image is rare in that you do not often find an all glass only tea maker including the cup, cap and filter. In addition to the tea maker there are many cups and glasses and even coffee presses that are double walled glass.

We found the best selection and prices here:

Bodum Double Walled Glass