Using 3ds Max with voice recognition
Hello Polycount,
For almost a year now I'm having problems with my hands which prevents me from doing my work as a 3-D artist full-time. As such, I'm researching alternative ways to control my computer and hopefully soon be able to work again. My problems started around January last year starting with small spasms in my left hand when doing 3-D work and later on I got painful cramps when I continued to work. Over time I feel my hands are healing but the process is very slow. At the moment I'm able to work for about 30 minutes per day doing hard-core modeling. I've been to many medical specialists but unfortunately they could not provide me with a quick solution and the bottom line is that they say that I just have to wait for my hands to get better while doing hand exercises in the meanwhile. But I feel I've waited too long already, that's why I'm looking into many assistive technologies. So far I have tried and am still experimenting with:
-voice recognition (Dragon NaturallySpeaking 13 and Vocola)
-using rebinded game pads to control my computer (at the moment I'm using joy2key)
-eye and head tracking camera to control the mouse (Tobii Eyex and Natural Point 4)
-foot mouse and pedals (Bilipro Footmouse)
-special keypads (Logitech G13,Razer Orbweaver, 3DConnexion)
-ergonomic mice (3M joystick mouse, Microsoft natural keyboard+mouse, Evoluent 4)
Besides that, I started to play sports again and also am working out and trying to eat a healthy diet.
I made a small video to show how voice recognition software can be used within the 3ds Max. At the moment I have only set up voice commands to aid in 3-D modeling. Later on I will also use voice commands to do unwrapping, texturing and so on. I am also looking into voice programming and switching my career towards a technical artist as voice recognition software can also be used for programming as can be seen in this video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI
I am still in the beginning/middle of my research and I will post more updates/videos as I go. If there is a company out there who is also interested in these technologies/workflows don't hesitate to send me a message 
.
Here is my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX3FpAJrOTc
Replies
More power to you, I hope your hands recover soon. In the meantime this is a great project, kudos for sharing with anyone else who might have disabilities.
Obviously not ideal, but it worked well enough to get by.
I used Maya though, and the marking menu helped a lot.
Other than that, there's hope for us cripples thanks to VR. All big actors' R&D is focused on achieving accurate eye tracking; it is required to achieve foveated rendering, which in turn is required to achieve superior resolution and framerate in next gen HMDs. We're not there yet, but as Michael Abrash said it himself in his OC3 keynote, it is so critical to the developement of VR that the problem should be solved within the next 5 years. And then we can all control that damn mouse cursor by sight...
The big advantage of keyhydra over autohotkey solution is that it is deeply programed into 3dsmax so it allow to do things users could not do with autohotkey or other solutions. Because autohotkey can't be aware of the context [inside 3ds max] so it don't know if you are in unwrap mode, or edit poly, it don't know neither if your in object mode or if you selected an helper or something else. [Keyhydra can do that]. And we will increase the case covered.
Also all the keyboard key used are under one hand only so i never move my arm over the keyboard [this decreased my pain in the arm to 0 ].
We need support of users. I developed it for myself at the begining, costs increase if i want to make something clean for any users [Because hiring a pro engineer require money of course].
Lot of nice things will be available in a few days.
Than i plan to start sharing my own 'Keyhydra's functions'. [This is probably where it will be very intresting to other non technical users].
Thanks for posting your findings.
Key Hydra looks like a very interesting piece of software. I think I've seen it before when I was looking for ways to optimize my workflow before I had problems with my hand. At the moment I am looking for alternative ways to press the modifier keys alt/shift/control as pressing them on my keyboard gives me an unpleasant feeling in my left hand. All the other keys on my keyboard I have replaced by voice commands. Currently I am investigating different kinds of hardware, for example the Logitech G 13, the razer orbWeaver and one-handed Bluetooth wireless game pads normally used for mobile phones. I have used a remapped Microsoft 360 controller but it is a little bit heavy to hold it in my single hand for multiple hours. Once I have found a solution where I can press keys for multiple hours per day with my left hand, key Hydra can be really beneficial to me. Thanks for the suggestion.
Grimwolf said: I've been going through much the same issue with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands. I used Dragon voice software, the footmouse, plus footpedals to control both the mouse clicks and the activation of Dragon.Obviously not ideal, but it worked well enough to get by.
I used Maya though, and the marking menu helped a lot. Which foot pedals are you using? I am using the bellipro foot mouse and pedals. Unfortunately, the software is lacking quite a bit. The FooTime Assistant software is hijacking my windows key and it also does not recognize 3dsmax.exe rendering it almost useless when 3-D modeling. I am thinking about using auto hotkey to hack into the device and customizing it to my will. But I have no idea if this is possible and I think it will require a lot of research on my side. ghaztehschmexeh said: Have you thought about using a steam controller? Very customisable and pretty accurate. Yes, I have also bought the steam controller and it is a very interesting device. It is quite usable for browsing but not for 3-D modeling. Using your thumbs on the touchpads is too slow compared to using your arm, elbow, wrist and fingers with a normal mouse and I can imagine I would get problems with my thumbs if I used it for many hours per day. Mant1k0re said: Other than that, there's hope for us cripples thanks to VR. All big actors' R&D is focused on achieving accurate eye tracking; it is required to achieve foveated rendering, which in turn is required to achieve superior resolution and framerate in next gen HMDs. We're not there yet, but as Michael Abrash said it himself in his OC3 keynote, it is so critical to the developement of VR that the problem should be solved within the next 5 years. And then we can all control that damn mouse cursor by sight... I have also experimented with Tobii Eyex which is a consumer grade eye tracking camera and it is usable to some extent. The main benefit I found is to replace the broad movements with your mouse by eye tracking and doing the precise movements still by hand. I hope that this technology will develop quickly as I see high potential in it. It is very intuitive to control the mouse with your eyes as you are already looking with your eyes to where you want to click. But at the moment, it is not precise enough on my 30 inch monitor to replace the mouse for daily computer use.
What you are saying is perfectly possible, except for the make art button of course. I have bought a secondhand Cintiq 24HD in the past but I quickly sold it because I could not get used to not comfortably be able to press the buttons on my keyboard to select various tools. But with voice recognition, I would hardly need my keyboard anymore and I see great potential in combining Cintiq displays with voice recognition. Maybe soon I will buy a secondhand Cintiq again and try it out
I have also made a new video using different recording software. Before I used Camstudio but now I am using OBS which is far superior in my experience. Although it is not game development related, I would like to share it with you anyways to show another possibility with voice recognition software.
That's bound to change once you start sharing your functions though
Your site is still sitting pretty in my favorites.