I just upgraded from IC 2009 to IC 2012. I went ahead and installed PU1 right after that. My problem is that in the new IronCAD everything is running slowly. Simple assemblies that I could open and spin with the camera tools in 2009 do not work well in 2012.

I can not work with the program as is. I assume it's a issue between the software and my video card.

Here are my computer specs:

HP workstation xw6200
Xeon 3.2 Ghz
4gb ram
Windows XP Pro v2002 sp3..... 3gb switch in Bios
Nvidia Quadro FX3450/4000 SDI - 256mb

I updated the video card driver to release 295 (v296.35)...it helped a little, but still no where as good as I had it in IC 2009

Any ideas on how to speed things up here?
Thanks
-Steve

What rendering engine are you using?

Tools>Options>Rendering

I have tried both the Legacy Ray Tracing Engine and the Advanced Rendering Engine. I do not notice any difference. It was my understanding that the engine controls exporting still images but working in the 3D scene, where i'm having issues, it doesn't have any control.

I've also tried just about every combination of Render Options (ie mipmapping, antialasing) and Render Optimization (ie cashed data, hiding edges) nothing really helps.

I've even stepped down to Facet Shading in the scene properties.

It took me 3 hours to do a task today that normally takes me 30min. Simple things like selecting parts in the scene tree and turning the triball from blue to white can take 30-45s.

This is a problem on select PCs and we are hard at work looking for a solution.

Must be some late nights, huh?

Wow, that might have been one of my worst typos ever. I edited it.

Hi Kevin, how are you guys making out with this? do you think I should look into a new video card for my PC?

We are still working on this problem, at this point I really cannot say whether a new graphics card would help or not.

Steve,
If it is possible for you to make a test, it would be interesting to hear what you say about an Nvidia GeForce GTX card (660 or 690 for example). I know several cases where an Nvidia Quadro x000 has been outrun by a GeForce card! I don't know why, but the newer Quadro cards doesn't seem to run very well I'm afraid. In your case you have an older card which I know for certain had problems already when it was new back in 2008/2009! It had many strange problems with improper and unstable graphics compared with other cards. Though it is interesting to hear that it was working better in v2011 than now in v2012.

Now, I'm not very good at the details and differences between the cards, but the new GTX cards really seems to be working fine. I've heard some comments about the "sharpness" or what you should call it, not being as good as for Quadro cards. But speed, yes. It is much cheaper too.

Maybe you can have a "try out" from a friendly hardware dealer?

I was just told that we switched a Quadro 4000 card with a GTX 570 which solved several issues. I thought it was interesting for you to know.

Our customer has two HP Z400 workstaion with Quadro FX 3800 and Quadro FX 4000 each.
IronCAD on these two systems shows a really slow performance.
When formatted the system, then it works fine, but it become so slow soon or later.

So there seems to be some issue for IronCAD(maybe HOOPs) with Quadro series.

JH

Hi JH,

Can you install version 2009 on this slow PC and check it's performance?

I'm not so sure if we could do that because they are extremely busy, but I will try.
Is there any differences in between IC 2009 and IC 2011/IC 2012 with regard to the graphics??
And anything else we should check??

J.H.

Hi JH,

Yes, there are many difference in graphics between V2009 and V2012. The reason I'm asking you to try V2009 is because it was found to be fast by another company on the same PC where V2012 was slow so I am just trying to determine if you have the same results and if maybe the two problems are related.

We are also working on a graphics check list and I will post it here as soon as it is complete.

I have 2009 and 2012 installed on the same machine with the quadro card. the 2009 runs like a champ and 2012 is really bad.

Hi guys,

I have huge problems with quadro FX1800.
The rest of the computer parts are good enough i think;

two fast hard drives with one separate for OS
8-core
12 GB memory.

Its running slowly, and prints/exported pictures looks relly strange, just like the system doesnt know what edge should be visible or not, or what surface sits closer to the camera. Ive tried fiddling around with rendering settings and so on, but no change. As soon as the drawing gets more complicated than a few cylinders and blocks, this start to appear.


Is it a quadro thing perhaps, or may it have some connection with winXP64 ?


In any case, can someone help me point out a good graphic card in the range of 1000-2000 usd?


Thanks,

Tomas

Hi Tomas,

I had another user with a Quadro 2000 and he was having the same problem. He updated to the latest Nvidia driver and the problem went away.

We have compiled a "Graphics problem checklist" to help diagnose these slow graphics performance problems some of you have been experiencing in IronCAD V2012. Please read through the list and try the options listed. Please feel free to contact us at support@ironcad.com, 1-800-339-7304 or Intl.: 1-678-202-8355 if you would like help going through any of these options.

When specifying your PCs internal stuff, you may use this command:
dxdiag
Just print that name in the command prompt and press enter.
A info box will show up telling you driver versions and card name and more.
I think it is for W7 only...

Thanks Robert, that's a good tip!
It does also run on XP.

Hello all,

A while ago I sent you a Graphics performance check list but haven’t heard back from most of you. R&D is especially interested in the results of steps 12 of that check list, the HOOPS Visualize Graphics Card Validator (I’ve copied the steps below). Please run this test and send the results back to me at support@ironcad.com


1. Run the HOOPS Visualize Graphics Card Validator:
a. Download and install the HOOPS Visualize Graphics Card Validator: ftp://ironcad.us/HOOPS_GFX_ValidationTool.zip
b. Run each .exe, there should be one for DX9, OpenGL and OpenGL2.
c. Send the resulting .txt files to support@ironcad.com.

I have found a solution that fixes the slow graphics performance problem on some PCs running IronCAD 2012.

On a number of PCs there have been extra Display Adapters installed that are interfering with HOOPS (IronCAD's real-time graphics engine).

To check your PC:

1. Go to the Windows Device Manager, this is typically found in the Control Panel, sometimes under System depending on how your Control Panel is setup.

2. Expand the Display Adapter item.

3. If you notice any listing there other that your graphics card, that could be the problem.

So far these are the three offending drivers I have found installed on various PCs:
LogMeIn Driver
ConfigMgr Remote Control Driver
Mirage Driver

I have found that uninstalling these other drivers has fixed the performance problem in about 60% of the cases I've found so far. Just right-click them to uninstall them. I think they are drivers from free screen-sharing programs.

After I uninstalled these remote drivers all my problems seem to have gone away. IronCAD 2012 is running great now. Thanks again Kevin

Kev
Cant run the DX test becuase apparently missign a file.
[attachmentid=6715]

We'll have to research that error.

Tom,
Have you tried the steps outlined in the following article?

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrorm...ssing-error.htm

Tom,

Step 2 in the above list (reinstalling DirectX) fixed this error on one of my PCs.

Step 2 fixed the issue.
BTW, IC 2012 PU2 seems to be running better in DirectX mode. I'll keep you posted if it starts to degrade.

tx