Well, mark this down as something-that-should-have-happened-four-years-ago-but-never-did. People have used a Wiimote to control 3D models (way back in 2008??!), but man-handling that 3D geometry is something else entirely. Micah Denn, a Linux geek and Blender user, finally brought the two together and has a grand ol’ time showing you how he deforms a cube in Blender.
Wiimote for 3D Modeling?
The Kinect has very nearly made control devices like the Wiimote look silly… if silly was not dancing around in front of your TV screen. However, you’re device-free hands and bobbing head are not fitted with gyros, an analog stick and special buttons combos to take your gaming/modeling to the next level. That said, I would avoid rethinking any experimental surgeries to replace your arms with Wiimotes. Here’s Micah demonstrating how it’s done (No sound).
Just think, you could sit back, arms crossed, flexing your forearms to extrude a bit of geometry and add some fillets with nothing but your Wiimote. Micah says, “Modeling in blender using a Wiimote has a surprisingly natural workflow.” and explains that “It’s Linux Mint12 using Gnome 3… libwiimote library and a Bluetooth dongle to communicate with the Wiimote.”
Ready to replace your mouse with a Wiimote?
