Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. The `device transform` node is convenient for quick setup, but it definitely feels too “black box” once you want custom mappings or proper rotational control. The warning about avoiding rotations is mostly because Euler rotations can get messy fast with realtime controller input, but that doesn’t mean you *can’t* do it.
If you want full flexibility, you’ll probably have a much better time bypassing `device transform` entirely and reading raw controller values yourself using the Gamepad CHOP / Device In CHOP, then exporting or processing those channels manually.
A common approach is:
* Use Gamepad CHOP to grab raw stick/button axes
* Remap ranges with Math CHOP
* Filter/smooth with Lag CHOP
* Convert to transforms manually
* Feed into a Transform SOP/Object via CHOP exports or VOP/VEX
For rotations specifically, quaternions are your friend if you want smooth barrel rolls without gimbal weirdness. Even a simple setup where:
* left stick = translate X/Z
* right stick X = yaw
* right stick Y = pitch
* shoulder buttons = roll
can feel really nice once smoothed properly.
You could absolutely build this in VOPs too, especially if you want procedural blending or custom inertia. TimeSlice should still behave fine as long as you stay mostly in CHOPs and avoid heavy cooking downstream.
Honestly, this kind of controller tweaking reminds me of solving a Letter Boxed puzzle — the built-in solution works, but the fun starts when you break apart the system yourself and find a more elegant custom path through it.
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