#3ds2 drivers
12 messages in this thread
Thanks tim, you were helpful. I just get frustrated with trying to keep up with
this stuff, and when I'm down is usually when one of my MAC friends leans over
and says something like "What's a driver?". I'm gonna buy a MAC some day just
to shut them up.
I can still use some advice on drivers to get the wobble out of my 3dstudio,
ver 2. First choice is shareware from compuserve, second is I buy. I'm running
an ati wonder xl (16 bit) video card, on a 486/25mhz machine.
Mark,
Panacea has a free driver on this forum which will support many cards. Check it
out – it's free except the download, of course <g>.
Mark,
The "wobble" that you're getting probably comes from improper monitor timing
setup. If you cannot fix the problem with ATI setup program, you may have a
defective board (hopefully not).
Both the Panacea driver and the Vesa driver slow down 3D Studio. However,
Vibrant Graphics has an inexpensive driver available for 3DS 2 that contains an
ACCELRATOR for the 3D Studio display (not render)–30% acceleration over the
internal driver (640×480 VGA) and 40% over other third party drivers. ATI will
be making this driver available to its users free of charge. Look for version
2.1.5 or later of DL-Xpress on the ATI BBS in the next few weeks.
Brian Vibrant Graphics
PS If you tried to save a little money by buying a less expensive monitor
separate from a MAC box, you would still have to deal with the monitor timing
issue…
Brian,
While I agree with you 100% that your driver accelerates 3D Studio, although
maybe not as fast as you claim, I must disagree with your statement that "Both
the Panacea driver and the Vesa driver slow down 3D Studio." Compared to
running a Vibrant driver under certain situations, our driver will certainly
run slower than yours. But, because of support for accelerated features of
different hardware and '486 optimized drawing code, our driver is most
definitely faster than any built-in drivers that ship with the product.
Plus, as an added benefit to the end-user, our driver is FREE…no matter what
card you have.
-Chris
Panacea
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.
Brian,
I appreciate seeing the data on the drivers comparison. I have a question:
I'm using a Graphite VL card with a 486/66. The drivers which come with the
Graphite are made by you. Are they the same as the ones that you sell
independently? What are the differences?
Alec Jason
Alec,
The driver that you got with your Hercules Graphite VL is the equivalent of our
high performance DL-Xpress driver which includes support for 3D Studio and
AutoCAD 10/386, 11 & 12–all in one neat package.
If you are using AutoCAD, you will be interested in our full featured Soft
Engine product. A discussion of Soft Engine is probably best held over in the
ACAD Forum.
Or call us at 800-937-1711 and we'll be happy to fill you in.
NOTE: For best 3D Studio acceleration, you should ask Hercules for DL-Xpress
version 2.1.6 or later.
Best Regards,
Brian Massey Vibrant Graphics
Alec,
Your Graphite VL card came with the equivalent of our DL-Xpress product.
DL-Xpress is our full performance driver for AutoCAD and 3D Studio. With
DL-Xpress version 2.1.5 made our 3D Studio driver a 3D Studio accelerator. With
DL-Xpress version 2.1.6 we optimized that acceleration.
Hercules has the most recent versions of DL-Xpress from us available on their
bulletine board.
If you are an AutoCAD user, you will be interested in Soft Engine. Its the
full performance driver with a suite of tools the AutoCAD user shouldn't be
without. We can discuss more on the ACAD Forum, or call us.
Best Regards, Brian – Vibrant Graphics
Brian,
Thanks for your info.
I've been trying to find the right driver to download from Hercules to get the
2.1.6 version of your drivers but its very, very difficult to figure out which
of their dozens of updates, fixes, etc has your driver in it. The name
"vibrant" and the version number is never mentioned. I'm working on it.
No, I don't use AutoCAD (what is that . . . an Amiga program?); just 3DS.
Alec Jason
Alec,
I hope the Autodesk guys (and gals) didn't see that Amiga comment <g>…
If you don't have any luck with Hercules, we have a special program for our
"indirect" customers to become "direct" customers–with all the support and
updates that go with being a Registered Vibrant-oid. I'll EMail you the
details.
Best Regards, Brian Vibrant Graphics
Jumping in to send some congrats for Vibrant. I have the DLX-Express drivers
that come with the ATI Ultra+. Very good ones! Easy to setup and full of
options. Keep the good work there!
Ana
Chris,
But Vibrants drivers do work better. Free or not.
Dave Mennenoh