Odd... on OS/X, the MMB "sticks?!"

Support Basics & Interface
#1

So I fire-up Blender under OS/X, plug in a three-button mouse (which “just works”), click the middle mouse-button (wheel) and …

… and I can rotate and move around to my heart’s content, but I can’t stop! What’s the magical-button to get out of this mode?

#2

Have you tried re-clicking the MMB? That works for me sometimes when it gets stuck doing that.

Outside of that, maybe try just click random mouse buttons?:eyebrowlift2: I know it sounds strange, but sometimes it works even if you have to undo a couple of times to undo the damage from the random clicks.

#3

Re-clicking it doesn’t work.

Really odd thing is that if you move outside the Blender window, click there, then return to the Blender task by re-activating the window, the mouse-capture is ended. But of course since it followed the mouse all the way to the edge it’s not exactly usable. This circumstance does, however, tell me that (and I do know that) this is not how things were intended to be.

#4

Any details on the mouse or system (besides its OSX). On my Macbook Pro with a $15 logitech mouse it works fine.

#5

Umm, it’s one I just grabbed off a nearby notebook. Are they different?

#6

I doubt they’re all that different (the mice). What make is the Mac (MacBook Pro, iMac, MacPro, MacBook)? Is it on Tiger or Leopard or Other?

#7

At the moment it’s Tiger.

#8

I think this was one of the symptoms of using an older video card. Try reducing the colors to 16-bit. If it’s a new laptop, it will be the mouse. Try holding alt left-click on both the trackpad and the external mouse to see if you get the same issue.

I used to get the middle-mouse locking but it sorted after clicking again. I haven’t had that issue for ages now though.

#9

This is an iMac G5, first-generation desktop … the first flat-screen model … running Panther (10.3.9) with any 3-button mouse. There is of course no “trackpad.” It’s got an nVidia card with 64MB VRAM.

Middle-mouse wheel works fine, but the moment you click it, you can’t stop dragging the view around.

If Emulate 3-button mouse is off, you are hosed: click the MMB and you can’t get out. However, if it is on, the effect can be arrested by Shift+LMB, that is, by emulating another MMB. This is, of course, a piss-poor workaround… :slight_smile:

Edit:

This has been discussed before…
http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-41766.html
http://blenderartists.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-49155.html
http://www.blender.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4959 (here, something about “admin accounts” was mentioned, although I can’t imagine how that could actually be relevant)

I’ll be upgrading the OS on this machine soon, and will report if the problem goes-away at that time.