About the Pointing Device Manager

The QuickDraw 3D Pointing Device Manager is a set of functions that you can use to manage three-dimensional pointing devices. The QuickDraw 3D Pointing Device Manager is the 3D analogue of some of the managers contained in the Macintosh Toolbox, which you can use to create and handle two-dimensional aspects of your application's user interface (such as windows, controls, and menus). The key benefit in both cases (that is, two- and three-dimensional) is the same: by using the routines supplied by Apple Computer, Inc., you can guarantee that your application looks and acts just like any other applications that use those routines.

This consistency of the user interface among different applications helps users learn to use your application; it also helps them focus on the distinctive features of your application, because they are not distracted by unnecessary differences between your application and other 3D applications they may have used.

In general, you should use the user interface routines contained in the QuickDraw 3D Pointing Device Manager for your three-dimensional user interface elements unless you have a compelling reason to adopt some other user interface paradigms.

The QuickDraw 3D Pointing Device Manager contains several kinds of routines, including routines you can use to

• determine what kinds of pointing devices are available on a particular computer
• configure one or more of those devices to control items in a 3D model (such as the position of an object or a camera)

The following sections describe these tasks and the routines you can use to perform them.

Controllers

Controller States

Trackers

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© 1997 Apple Computer, Inc.

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