#ProRes/3DS
6 messages in this thread
Jack,
'was just wondering about the release status of ProRes/3DS. Also,
will this driver support the Matrox Impression 1024 (S3 chip) in its full
1024x768x24bit mode?
John Schmidt (A/E/C Technologies)
John –
Just a few days before customer shippment, we finished some new technology
that we have been playing with for months. Mainly faster redraws (alot
faster) and colored XOR lines (like when adjusting light falloff and
mapping icon). This has been finished, and is back into our beta program.
Happy to say no reported bugs yet. One guy was upset since we don't do
these things for 3DS v1 (it runs as before), but in our option v1 is no
longer an issue as long as it is still supported.
Depending on the machine and the current driver, redraws are between 20-60%
faster. One of our larger beta sites uses the 486's for rendering only,
and the 386's for creation, and they are no longer having to use block mode
since the screen updates are fast enough. Since the Beta program is going
so well, we are talking about release it very soon.
The matrox board will NOT be supported. It uses 3 S3 chips, each one for 1
color. Sorry, but no plans to spend the time to make that one work. Maybe
Jake will want to try to get that one up and running…
Jack Bayt – Vibrant
Hi Jack,
Out of curiosity, will your new drivers support the ATI GU+(2mb)?
Don't own one yet…. just considering it.
Thanx,
David
David –
I think you mean the ATI Ultra Plus? If so, yes.
Jack Bayt – Vibrant
That's the one! Glad to hear you support it. Can you give any
opinions on the card? I've heard the Ultra Pro is nothing short of a
disaster, but I haven't heard of many problems with the Plus.
Any other opinions / experiences out there…? Anybody?
Thanx again,
David
The main problem people have with the ATI Ultra Pro (and the Plus) is with
the windows drivers on ISA machines that have 11meg or more. ATI has
updated windows driver that fix the problem.
One side effect is trying to play flics in 3DS. Basically the same problem
the affects the Diamond 24x, except, 320×200 flics are ok, but 640×480 (or
higher) will only play 1 time! Next time, forget it, black screen.
Other than that, ok. Best if you use the latest drivers from us that fix
the ADI color problems (mapping ICON, etc.) (Opps, better also use
Colour)<g>.
Since the Plus board uses DRAMS, it's not as fast as the Pro which uses
VRAMS. Another note about the Plus, since it uses DRAMS, all extended 16
color(colour) modes don't work due to timming problems with dram refresh or
something like that…
Jack Bayt – Vibrant
P.S. With the explosion of new cards out there, selecting a board is
harder than ever. Herc has a new board that's fast and low cost, new
boards based Weitek, alot of new boards based on S3 801/805/928,… will it
ever stop?<g>