Steam released the CAD files of the Steam controller, on gitlab, under a creative Commons license !
I was on the edge about wanting to buy a steam controller but now definitely want one. I’ll keep an eye open for when they are back in stock.
If I’m understanding correctly, it’s a noncommercial variant, so if you use these files to design a custom replacement shell, you can’t sell it, right? Seems understandable, but a bit of a shame.
IANAL but I believe that license only applies to the files not for products created with those files as those don‘t include the CAD files. But you are not allowed to sell derivative CAD models of those CAD models.
If you are interested in creating a commercial product based on the Materials, please get in touch with Valve.
It’s the second line of the license file. So the license does not automatically grant commercial right but they are addressing straight away that they are open to the idea.
I don’t know in practice how easy it would be to get the right from Valve to commercialize a product derivated from these files.
I hate to be a fanboy for a corporation, but this move is rad. I really wish every company would release models of their products.
It took me ages and ages to try to accurately measure the inside curves of a 3M respirator so I could work out a glasses holder mod. I ended up just giving up and fashioning something out of sculpey.
I honestly think it should be mandatory. With online shopping these days, a customer should be able to see the exact dimensions of a product before they purchase it.
I really wish every company would release models of their products.
Every fastener McMaster -Carr sells has a 3D CAD file…which helps them sell more.
I genuinely wish every online retail company was exactly like mcmaster carr in almost every way. The web site is god-teir. When I was a manufacturing engineer, I bought from them more often than grainger just because their web site was better.
If you ever want to try again, you could try with photogrammetry.
If you’ve never heard of it, it uses multiple pictures of the same subject to produce a 3D model automatically. Here’s a link to a video showing off Meshroom. The link jumps a few minutes into the video to show off the point cloud generated from the images.
https://youtu.be/yKbyVDK2Ep8?t=520
I can’t speak for the quality of the video overall, but I do like this guy’s channel. I have used Meshroom myself to genetate models. Note: it requires an Nvidia GPU. Although, I hear there’s an AMD compatible fork called MeshroomCL.
One thing you need to worry about when doing photogrammetry is having a precise scale reference on the object. The software has no idea if you’re taking pictures of a tiny elephant or a real elephant. So you need this scale reference on the object so you can precisely scale the object up or down later to have the real size. It can either be some feature on the object itself that you can measure very precisely, or you can tape a little printed ruler on the object (if there’s a flat surface), or even just two marks that are a known distance apart. Basically put two tiny pen marks on the objects and then measure the straight line distance between them using digital calipers. The further apart they are, the better.
And then you can use normal 3D modeling software to use this generated object to make Boolean subtractions from some shape you made. This lets you 3D print an object that perfectly mates to the thing you scanned. However, the scanned object is often just an empty shell and you will have to give it some volume before you can use it for Boolean operations. I think I used Mesh Mixer for that.
In your example, you would have a model of the respirator, and you could use that to subtract from some eyeglass holder that you design, and then it would mate perfectly to your respirator. You could use glue or epoxy to attach the printed object to the respirator.
It’s not sufficient for precise models. But, I did once use it to reconstruct a broken sculpture and 3D print the sculpture after I fixed it in Meshmixer.
How long until someone adapts it into a sex toy?
It already vibrates so
Anything is a sex toy if you are brave enough
Flared base, body-safe materials…
self cleaning.
“looks like a gun, ATF contacted”
–Bambu labs.
Standalone driver when? I’m waiting, Valve.
It’s hard to say before we can try it out, but it defaults to generic keyboard/mouse controls for desktop. I haven’t seen any official confirmation if you can swap it to a generic gamepad like the steam deck controls by holding start/menu.
There’s also a 3rd party program for managing the original steam controller, hopefully we’ll see it support this one as well.
Just build one yourself if it’s so easy… I’m sure you won’t run into any problems mapping the gyro, touchpad, or additional buttons to an xinput controller, it’s super easy right?
Not even remotely related, also if they made a standalone driver it wouldnt matter because for the most part xinput doesnt support the unique hardware and if they made a standalone steaminput driver nobody else would put in any effort to support it. Its like how Valve lets anyone publish software for SteamOS by supporting flatpaks yet not a single other store acturally does. They would need to emulate xinput or directly support it meaning the touchpads and back buttons wouldnt be supported along with gyro or touchsense (at that point just get a standard controller).
Your Steam Controller is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals.
Talk about mixed messaging…
Personally I don’t think it’s mixed
As someone who (outside of basic game modding) hates to tinker out of fear of breaking something, that second part is aimed at people like me.
In other words I read this is “Hey FlipFlop, you could make all these changes, but let’s leave that to your buddies who actually know electronics and hardware so you don’t end up with $100 steam brand paperweight “
Edit: check out the page and that’s pretty much what was said right after “Any damage you do will not be covered by your warranty” “You might break your controller”
It’s a warning to those who would likely just break their expensive controllers. Some people know stuff about electronics and can make custom parts and other things. It could spawn a cottage industry.
Do people really need a warning to know that they might break something if they open it up without knowing what they’re doing?
Yes.
Yes, and there’s nothing mixed about the messaging. If you know what you’re doing, go ahead. If you don’t, dont.
Usually compsnies would just say no to everyone and throw around words like “unauthorized”.
You underestimate how stupid the average person is.
Product specifications are different for the parts accessible to a user and the parts not accessible to the user.
If you tell a user “you can take it apart” the user will believe the product was made with taking it apart in mind. But it was not.
For example, a toy that is made to be taken apart, like legos, will survive it being taking apart thousands of times. But an electronic device that was made to take it apart only for repair purposes may last only tens of cycles.
So if a user disassembles their controller 100 times, a part will probably break, and the user will complain about it being such bad quality that it broke after taking it apart “a few times”.
That’s why it is important to disclose what you are MEANT to do as opposed to what you technically CAN do.
Noice, this is so clear. Thanks. So can you explain other concepts like this ? You look usefull to be around :D
As long as I know the answer, you can ask whatever you want.
They are addressing a diverse audience with their messaging. Not just you.
…I didn’t think they were?
Then why are you so butthurt about this?
Why are you fabricating all of these presumptions about me?
I can infer from all your replies in the thread that you are seething underneath all of these “composed” messages.
LOL you are not “inferring”, you are “fabricating”. And I don’t understand why.
Take a breather, bud
:^)
It’s not though?
They release CAD files for DIYing “sweaters”, tell you you can do with it whatever you want, and then tell you they “strongly recommend” hiring someone else to do it for you in the next sentence, and you don’t think that’s mixed messaging?
Would you say the same if Framework told you they “highly recommend” hiring a professional to swap your SSD?
“Your house and electrical wiring is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals.”
This is not mixed messaging, this is just advice. Mixed messaging would be something along the lines of: “Your house and electrical wiring is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, you are not allowed to do what you want.” Mixed messaging colloquially means contradictory statements.
“Your house and electrical wiring is yours, and you have the right to do with it what you want. That said, we highly recommend you leave it to professionals.”
Your house is not delivered with documentation for the wiring. Further, fucking up the wiring in your house can literally kill you, so no, this is not an apt analogy.
Mixed messaging colloquially means contradictory statements.
No, that’s a contradiction. “Mixed” is exactly what it sounds like. The messaging is unclear.
Your house is not delivered with documentation for the wiring
Contact whoever sold you the house - it should come with a full mapping of electric, water and heating systems.
My house did. With diagrams and photos. Very useful.
You’re grossly overestimating the competency of the general public
The competency of the general public is not relevant.
You are entitled to your own opinions but we advise you leave it to the professionals.
I didn’t expect changing an SSD to be such a technical task for you… I mourn your lego-less youth.
I have no idea where you got the idea that that would be “such a technical task” for me. Nor why you think I had a “lego-less youth”. I’m >35 y/o and have been repairing computers since I was 15.
Then the warning obviously isn’t directed at you, chill out. It’s for everyone who does need to be told that tinkering with the electronics in the controller can break it if they don’t know what they’re doing.
“Welcome to your new linux system. You can delete or modify anything you want in the root directory, but we recommend leaving that to someone who knows what they’re doing.”
It’s not a mixed message.
Then the warning obviously isn’t directed at you
Once again, I didn’t think it was.
It’s for everyone who does need to be told that tinkering with the electronics in the controller can break it if they don’t know what they’re doing.
Anyone dumb enough to need to be told this would pay it no heed.
“Welcome to your new linux system. You can delete or modify anything you want in the root directory, but we recommend leaving that to someone who knows what they’re doing.”
No Linux distributor in their right mind would tell you anything like that. They would tell you to learn.
It’s not a mixed message.
It very much is.
Once again, I didn’t think it was.
Then why are you so butthurt about it?
Ehhh… Reads like the standard “we’re happy with you tweaking it, but don’t want to be liable for you breaking it.”
If you try to sue them, they can point to this section of their docs and say you didn’t follow their recommendations.
Sometimes you want someone else to do it. I added a 2nd SSD to my laptop a few years back. It resulted in a new drive and a few broken plastic tabs.
Did you not know that you might damage something if you open it? If someone told you that, would you have taken it to a professional?
For a screen or CPU replacement, yes. For memory, no. Gotta break what’s not broken to fix something.
This is not a screen or CPU or memory, this is the exterior shell. It’s like removing the cover from the back of your laptop.
And what would be the reason to open up the shell in the first place? To mess with the electronics inside. Which is only recommended to people that know what they are doing because of the risk to break it.
And what would be the reason to open up the shell in the first place?
There’s no reason to speculate, they spell this out plainly in the OP:
Feel free to use these to make your own Puck holders, Controller sweaters, or whatever else you want to create!
You don’t need to open the shell and access the internals if you are making a controller sweater and it wouldn’t void your warranty. That is not what Valve is warning about. They ask you to not fuck with the internals unless you know what you are doing.
