Poll: Is the mouse a motion controller?
- Thread starter Jeronus
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Every motion is a motion controller when you get down to it. Just some are 1:1 motion and some are a little more abstract.
Yes.
The Wiimote, Kinect and Move only work if you're within range of the pickup devices.
Mouse only works on a desktop... so that the control surface is in range of its own pickup (ball or optical sensor).
It does however only work in two dimensions - though I've been shown some funky CAD-focussed one that brings 3Dness without having to go Minority Report about it.
You move your hand, an onscreen feature mimicks your movement. That's the entire idea behind it. A joystick translates "small movement -> activation of a switch -> events on screen react to the switch". Mouse transmits "this much motion has happened" (in earlier 100dpi-ish models, quite a lot of motion) and the software translates that to matching movement of onscreen elements, usually directly or with nothing but some compensatory acceleration applied. Even when it's used as a game controller rather than cursor, it's used to that kind of effect, wiimote style: controlling the steering and throttle of a car, the simulated head/body orientation of your character, etc.
It's very much related to the digitiser puck after all, which *directly* translates position on a grid to in-system coordinates, much like a graphics pad but without the iffy pen controller. Mouse fits nicely to your hand. Basically, the movement of your hand is turned into the movement of an onscreen substitute FOR your hand, and some mouse pointers even make that explicit...
The Wiimote, Kinect and Move only work if you're within range of the pickup devices.
Mouse only works on a desktop... so that the control surface is in range of its own pickup (ball or optical sensor).
It does however only work in two dimensions - though I've been shown some funky CAD-focussed one that brings 3Dness without having to go Minority Report about it.
You move your hand, an onscreen feature mimicks your movement. That's the entire idea behind it. A joystick translates "small movement -> activation of a switch -> events on screen react to the switch". Mouse transmits "this much motion has happened" (in earlier 100dpi-ish models, quite a lot of motion) and the software translates that to matching movement of onscreen elements, usually directly or with nothing but some compensatory acceleration applied. Even when it's used as a game controller rather than cursor, it's used to that kind of effect, wiimote style: controlling the steering and throttle of a car, the simulated head/body orientation of your character, etc.
It's very much related to the digitiser puck after all, which *directly* translates position on a grid to in-system coordinates, much like a graphics pad but without the iffy pen controller. Mouse fits nicely to your hand. Basically, the movement of your hand is turned into the movement of an onscreen substitute FOR your hand, and some mouse pointers even make that explicit...
Yes. The basic idea and physics behind the mouse other motion controllers are very similar. The mouse, however, is a 2D controller. It's kind of the middle ground between buttons and full 3D 1-to-1 motion controls.