Is it possible to control custom properties with a 3d manipulator?

Is it possible to control custom properties with a 3d manipulator?

what kind of properties, and by “3d manipulator” you refer to


?

It sounds like something you would do with a driver, using an empty as the control, and taking the value of the driver from the transform of the empty.

3DManip_example.blend (625 KB)
I’ve attached an example file, to illustrate what I’m trying to do which is create a 2D to 3D Stereoscopic Plugin:
I currently am controlling individual vertices via custom properties (X: Y: Z:, which are located on an empty that is a child of the vertex in which it controls. The custom properties drive bones that control the associated vertex via vertex groups. The X: and Y: custom properties drive the bones Location, which is equivalent to the pixel location on the image plane they are associated with, (0,0) being the bottom left hand corner of the image. Z: drives the scale of the bone (which is constrained to the camera via a Track To constraint) allowing the vertex to stay in the same pixel space, no matter how close it gets to the camera. But in doing this, I lose the ability to control the vertex via a 3D manipulator, most importantly the Z: translate (as X: & Y: data is best imported using tracking data). The only current options are to scroll the Z: custom property (which is very cumbersome), or my preferred method using the graph editor. But I would like to find a way to use a 3D manipulator.