Re: Suggested 3D Video Cards to use with 3DPro?

Pretty good, Chuck, you knucklehead. andnbsp; Just about as stupid as what I did! :
With all the talk about the Radeon card needing tweeking [ I just installed the 9000, and re-installed 3DC ] when I clicked snapshot and 3DC stopped working, I blamed the video card/driver [so did the error message ]. I didn.t have the LP/Pro upgrade installed, it looked like it was there but after re downloading it from the help list, everything seems OK.

andnbsp; OK, then, lets see if we can make something!
andnbsp;KB
andnbsp;

Welcome Chuck,
andnbsp;Sounds like a good idea for a poll ! You could start one , I’d be interested in the results. I just installed a ATI Radeon 9000 but haven’t really tried it to any extent in 3DC. Seemed to have a few problems with drivers on the NVidea GTS 2 Pro, as did others, but it worked pretty well.
andnbsp;KB

Will do, Chuck.
andnbsp; KB

Thanks KB – all I have now is an Intel(R) 82810E Graphics Controller which came with my new HP PC and from reading a couple of articles and comments on the internet is not really adequate for doing 3D rendering.

There seems to be a number of problems with 3D Pro crashing and before I get a decent graphics card I would like to shop around a bit. andnbsp;My 3D Pro crashes everytime andnbsp;I try to use the bend, taper, and sometimes the lathe functions and I suspect it is because I do not have a true 3D video card. The program just stops dead and ends with error messages about not having an up to date video card driver, but mine is up to date for this graphics controller. Articles say that this graphics controller is fine for ordinary graphics like with Microsoft Office but not good at all for 3D rendering and games.

A poll would be a good idea if I knew what available cards are out there. I am afraid I am not well versed on the subject, but from reading other 3DC forum discussions, cards of the ATI and NVIDIA types should be fine for the most part.

Thanks again KB and let me know how it works out if you would. andnbsp; andnbsp;Chuck Schoon

PS….. some things to remember when shopping around for cards, you should know what your voltage is to your card slot, ( its either PCI, or AGP) because newer cards rely heavily on the amount of voltage they get from your system, and if your going to use AGP cards, know what version your AGP slot is, most up-to-date cards are requiring a version 2.0 AGP slot. HP can help you with this information. Let me know how it goes Chuck.

Hello Chuck and welcome!!
I recently had serious problems with 3DC crashing when any difficult work was done like you are experienceing. I have an HP, three years old, and just recently upgraded the card to an Nvidia GeForce4 MX 440 64 MB. My system is only AGPx2, and the more powerful cards ( now 8x i think) arent capable of reversing to 2 x. So far it has made a serious improvement in my modeller and aspecially in animation even thogh my system is very under powered, ( only 650 Mhz) I do STRONGLY contact the vender of the card you plan to use and talk with them about your system they will help you find the right card of they’re manufacture that will work in your system. I have to admit, Nvidia really came through for me when I was trying to get a card to work properly in my system. They’re support team really went out of they’re way to help me, and get me up and running . I have to admit as well, that I stayed with Nvidia since the card I was replacing was an Nvidia. I here ATI card work well too, and, I actually think that I’ve heard that there are less driver problems with ATI in 3DC, then with Nvidia, but if the cards are newer versions, I am sure either will work fine. andnbsp;

Thanks blaydrnnnr for the tips. andnbsp;

You made a couple of suggestions that really helped, especially the suggestion of going both to HP and the card manufacturers and get advice before you invest in a particular card. Between articles on the internet, Amabilis Support, and this discussion forum I think I have been getting a good idea of what to do and look out for. andnbsp;Amabilis support also mentioned that about some of the problems with some andnbsp;NVIDIA drivers with something like numbers 22.8 to 23.1 or something. andnbsp;One suggestion that Richard Borsheim made that really helped was going down to 16 bit screen color which helped stop a lot of the crashes but I still can not use any of the deform fucnctions like bend, crease and taper because they all crash and give the error message #374 and mention drivers, but that will most likely end with a 3D graphics card instead of this Intel Graphics Controller.
Anyway – I am on the road to geting things straight and I want to thank everyone for their help and patience. andnbsp;I am truly getting addicted to 3DC and love learning as much as I can and making some interesting images! andnbsp;The only other drawing software I have used is AutoCAD and the free Strata3D and 3DC is a gas! andnbsp; <!– s:D –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!– s:D –> I love it! andnbsp;LOL andnbsp;I have been taking classes in Visual Basic.NET and C++ recently and all I want to do is make drawings in 3DC and forget my other programs. andnbsp;LOL. andnbsp;
Thanks again.

Chuck Schoon
Arlington, Virginia andnbsp;

<!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –> OK – thanks Richard – I will try that too. andnbsp;I have had some problems with installing some recent Windows updates – some of the downloads keep freezing up and never finishing – I will have to keep trying and will reinstall 3DC. andnbsp;

Chuck Schoon

Error 374 may be a different issue entirely. One thought is you could try uninstalling 3DC and re-installing. Also you may want to check if you have all of the windows updates from Microsoft that are available for your system.

Richard

KB – LOL – andnbsp; andnbsp;Far-out – neato – dig it and cool and all that 60s stuff. andnbsp;Yeah! andnbsp;Let’s knock ‘um dead!

<!– s:-) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:-) –> andnbsp;Chuckles

Problem with functions not working and not showing up solved!

Talk about feeling stupid! andnbsp;

I had several functions not working and causing the program to crash and many of the icons for the functions were not even showing up on the consoles. Why? andnbsp; ??? andnbsp;

Because my PC has 2 hard drives after andnbsp;I put one into the expansion bay and I mistakenly installed 3DC on both drives and it apparently caused a conflict and messed things up big time. andnbsp;

I uninstalled both of them (3DC) and reinstalled only one of them and EVERYTHING is working perfectly andnbsp;- all functions work fine without crashing and all of them are showing up! andnbsp;

Sorry everyone – at least now I know what to do when I will want to get a good video card! andnbsp;LOL. andnbsp;How is that for a dumb beginners mistake? andnbsp;:

So for all of you who have 2 drives –
lesson for the day……

do NOT install 3DC on BOTH drives !!! LOL.

Chuck Schoon