CompuServe Messages

Chris, It may not have been appropriate for me to post an unqualified statement such as "Both the Panacea and VESA driver slow down 3D Studio", so I will take a moment to offer some proof. We put a great deal of pride (and a lot of engineering) into the fact that we produce the highest performance driver products for 3DS and AutoCAD anywhere. So, having been challenged, I am responding on this very important point. We did a simple test that you can easily duplicate at home. We took a 486-66 VLB machine (assumed to be the weapon of choice for 3DS) and the PCACITY.3DS file that everyone knows from the 3D Studio box. We loaded the file, took a stop watch, and measured the time it took to redraw all four views in the Main Display. We started the clock when we pressed Shift-Tilde and stopped it when the mouse cursor re-appeared. We pitted the Turbo DLD v. 1.02 against ProRes/3DS v. 2.1.7 against the built-in VGA driver against the RCPVESA driver (the later two of which are supplied with 3D Studio). We used an ATI Wonder XL for the standard VGA and VESA tests and a Diamond Viper (P9000) for the high resolution tests because Panacea touts it as one of their fastest implementations. Below are the results of our tests: Redaw Times Built-in Built-in VESA Panacea VGA Vibrant ————————————————————————- Standard VGA 640x480x16 colors 30.5s 25.6s 19.9s Standard VGA (VESA) 640x480x256 colors 32.5s N/A N/A 20.1s Diamond Viper 640x480x256 colors 29.5s N/A 19.3s Diamond Viper 1024x768x256 colors 30.1s N/A 19.5s The Vibrant 3DS Driver out-performed all comers. I don't believe that you are disputing our speed. However, it was clear in trial after trial that both the Panacea and the VESA driver were slower than the Built-In 3D Studio driver. Furthermore, the speed of the Panacea driver running on the zippy P9000 in the 640x480x256 color mode was only nominally faster than the VESA driver running in the 640x480x256 color mode. As far as price is concerned, the Vibrant 3D Studio wins there too. How can a product be cheaper than a free one? When it pays YOU. If you use 3D Studio daily, even a 30% increase in speed adds up to hours a week saved. ProRes/3DS will quickly pay for itself and after that the savings go right into your pocket. We are very proud of the quality and performance of our products and will always entertain opportunities to apply hard facts to our claims. Best Regards, Brian Massey Product Marketing Manager Vibrant Graphics, Inc.