HID (vuo.hid)

Nodes for receiving data from a USB or Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) and for discovering available HIDs.

Some USB and Bluetooth devices (but not all of them) are HIDs — for example, your keyboard and mouse are HIDs, and joysticks, game pads, and other controllers may be HIDs.

The Receive HID Controls node receives values from HID controls. A control is physical interface that provides a single data value. For example, a typical 3-button mouse will have 6 controls: X, Y, Wheel, Button 1, Button 2, and Button 3. Use the Filter Control or Filter and Scale Control node to narrow down the data to just the controls you’re interested in.

Troubleshooting

If you’re not sure whether Vuo is detecting your HID:

• Add a Receive HID Controls node to your composition. Double-click on its Device input port to bring up a menu of all connected HIDs. See if your device is in the list.
• Check Vuo’s Console window (Tools > Show Console) for any messages about HIDs.

If Vuo isn’t detecting your device:

• Make sure your composition is referring to the correct device. (Sometimes two devices of the same model can have different names.)
• Make sure you’ve installed any necessary drivers for the device.
• Make sure the device is securely plugged in.
• Try plugging the device into a different port on your computer.

If Vuo detects your device, but doesn’t seem to be receiving any data:

• Make sure your composition is referring to the correct device, especially if you have multiple similar devices connected.
• Make sure that another Vuo composition or application isn’t already exclusively connected to the device. (Check Vuo’s Console window (Tools > Show Console) for messages.)
• Try unplugging the device and plugging it back in. (If another Vuo composition was using the device but isn’t using it anymore, this will make your current composition retry connecting to the device.)
• To exclusively read from a keyboard, macOS requires root access.
• If you’re using a 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse or SpaceNavigator, ensure that the 3DxWare drivers are not installed, since 3DxWare prevents Vuo from receiving data from 3Dconnexion devices.

Example compositions:

• List Keypresses: Displays an up-to-date list of the unique HID control names received from a connected HID keyboard.
• Move Dots with Two Mice: Shows how to independently receive control data from 2 mice. If your computer has a trackpad, it will be one of the mouse devices.
• Move Icosahedron with SpaceNavigator: Shows how to control an object using the 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator 3D mouse.

Nodes:

• Filter Control (vuo.hid.filter.control2): Only lets a HID control pass through if its name matches.
• Filter and Scale Control (vuo.hid.scale.control2): Only lets a HID control pass through if its name matches.
• Find HIDs by Name (vuo.hid.find.name2): Given a list of HID devices, finds the devices whose names match a specified name.
• Get Control Values (vuo.hid.get.control): Gives information about a physical control on a HID.
• Get HID Values (vuo.hid.get): Gives information about a HID.
• List HIDs (vuo.hid.listDevices): Gives a list of USB and Bluetooth Human Interface Devices that are currently connected.
• Receive HID Controls (vuo.hid.receive): Outputs a stream of control data from a USB or Bluetooth HID device.
• Specify HID by Name (vuo.hid.make.name): Selects a HID by matching its name.