CompuServe Thread

#Summasketch

11 messages in this thread
#61932From: Paul MinniOct 16, 1993 1:06 AM
David, I found this in my outbasket, 'dunno if I sent it.. Also did you get an answer on the Alpha file to GVG switcher question? =-=-=-=–= >>>I don't see much in the way of pressure sensitivity in Painter, so far. tho'. Hmmm… Please let me know if it's worth it. >>>Haven't seen Innocent Blood. Don't get cable. I was actually not >>>vicious with the Summa person… I didn't mean to imply an unwarranted viciousness, it was just that the "spitting out the jugular" line made me think of that film. It's about mobsters, cops and vampires. Pretty humorous. >>>She was a bit more helpful than the others have been. …more >>>likely she will follow up and return calls to me. Well, if that doesn't work you could always "Ask Dr. Stupid". (g)
#62151From: David TaffetOct 18, 1993 11:20 AM
Paul – I found out why my stylus does not seem to generate input based on pressure. Summagraphics does not *make* a pressure sensitive tablet. The vendor salesperson to whom I spoke lied to me. (Hey, first time *that* ever happened!) I am still not ready to return it. I'l probably hang onto it until such a time as I can get one that *is* pressure sensitive and then try to sell this one. It was a good deal… I tried Don Landis' method of going into 3DS and simply changing the configuration from mouse to tablet and my entire system hung. Nice feature! I think I may need to load a driver or two before I try that next time… I did not get any response to the alpha channel/switcher question. I re-rendered with no anti-aliasing and, as far as I can tell from looking at the targas individually, things still look OK (everything in the scene is pretty similar in color). So, I'm going to use these files and do similar jobs differently in the future, to eliminate the concern. Have you ever heard of Dr. Science? He's one of the members of the Duck's Breath Radio Theater out of San Francisco. His stuff is quite stupid, as well. I love it. Most of his schtick has to do with stupid questions people pose to him and his equally stupid responses which are parodies of the attitude of mystique surrounding science in the 50's. He talks a lot about the use of caffeine (by all those *serious* about science) and what he and other scientists call "the jitters". Just remember (says his assistant, Rodney) he knows more… than *you* do. <G>
#62224From: Nik Grant [adesk]Oct 18, 1993 6:40 PM
Your outline of the steps taken to switch from Mouse to Digitizer sounds pretty similar to mine, only I don't have your symptom of hanging the system. I'd try a different COM port selection (even if you KNOW it's wrong) or two. You should be able to switch to your Summa. Are you using a 4 button puck? You could try that option too, as well as the stylus if you are.
#62355From: David TaffetOct 19, 1993 1:19 PM
Thanks for the suggestions, Nik. Have you done anything to your 3DS.SET file prior to switching in the configuration dialog box? When this happened, I was using a default SET file (as far as input devices are concerned). I have gotten the tablet to work with my 16-button puck and (badly) with the stylus by running the Summa drivers and letting 3DS think there's a mouse involved. I guess part of my confusion (even after reading the explainations for setting up Summa tablets more than once) stems from the fact that there's the internal dialog box *and* the settings in the .SET file. Should I be using both or one or the other? FWIW, my machine is an Ares 486/66 with one of those Micronics MBs that has 4 SIMM slots that take only 4 or 16 MB SIMMs. It's about 9 months old. I'm using the on-board VLB IDE drive interface and a Diamond Stealth Pro with the (I know, I know!!!) bundled Panacea drivers. Of course, this is still R2. I was one of the foot-draggers as far as upgrading. I'm only today sending in my dead DISK 1… I'll get back to you on my success or failure tomorrow. However, if I should have done something in the .SET file, let me know ASAP. I'll probably pop onto the forum again later today. David T
#62392From: Nik Grant [adesk]Oct 19, 1993 4:01 PM
David J. Marks pretty much sums it up. I haven't had the problems he describes with Rel2, though Product Support folks are not heavy duty digitizer users. To clarify: if you start with a default 3DS.SET, and switch to a digitizer while running 3DS, the next time you start 3DS you will start with the old default 3DS.SET = No Digitizer. If you want the digitizer as a permanent pointer, you'd want to modify your 3DS.SET. The digitizer will get recognized during the initialization of 3DS. Nik
#62519From: David TaffetOct 20, 1993 11:05 AM
Thanks for the clarification, Nik. It even makes sense. I'll keep you informed as to my progress (like how it works after I install R3..) DT
#62242From: SyndesisOct 18, 1993 10:12 PM
I've still got an original "Mr. Science" t-shirt. The strangest thing is, on the chalkboard are written the usual "e=mc2" but also "Zorro" and "Toaster". Zorro is the name of the bus spec for the Amiga, and we all know what a Toaster is. But the shirt predates the Amiga by at least six years.
#62356From: David TaffetOct 19, 1993 1:19 PM
Mr. Science, one of the forerunners of Dr. Science, *knew* about the toaster long before the engineers who made it. He uses the same method of prognostication as Nostradamus: flick your fingers in front of your eyes real fast. One hand lets you see the future and the other lets you see the past! However, since he is, first and formost, a scientist, he has not tried to cash in on his foreknowledge, even when confirmed by such items as his t-shirts…<g>
#62330From: David J. MarksOct 19, 1993 10:55 AM
I jumped into the thread a bit late, but maybe I can help. If you are using R2, it seems that 3DS tablet support is shaky at best. Use mouse emulation. Load summa's tablet driver in your autoexec.bat. If you used their default directories, the command will look something like this: "C:\SUMMA\TABLTDVR\TABLET /1 /c4 /r" where /1 = COM1, /c4 = 4 button, /r = relative mode. Then set INPUT-DEVICE = MOUSE in your 3DS.SET file. If you have R3, you should still load the driver as above to allow mouse emulation when needed, but set INPUT-DEVICE = SUMMA and COM-PORT = 1 (if you are using com1, that is) to run in digitizer mode. Don't use a DGPADI driver. The Summa ADI drivers were written for Acad and don't work perfectly with 3DS. I have been told that Summa is writing a 3DS driver due out later this year. If you get a hung cursor or no cursor, try to power down the tablet and turn it on again. This seems to clear up the problem most of the time. If it still doesn't work, try pressing "*" to bring up the config dialog, then "T" for tablet mode, then "enter". When I switch from tablet mode to mouse mode I sometimes have to reset the tablet too. Hope this helps.
#62413From: David TaffetOct 19, 1993 5:09 PM
Thanks for the ideas, David. I'll try them out tonight. If Summa is actually going to write 3DS drivers, I think it would be a good thing…. DT
#62385From: David J. MarksOct 19, 1993 3:49 PM
I jumped into the thread a bit late, but maybe I can help. If you are using R2, it seems that 3DS tablet support is shaky at best. Use mouse emulation. Load summa's tablet driver in your autoexec.bat. If you used their default directories, the command will look something like this: "C:\SUMMA\TABLTDVR\TABLET /1 /c4 /r" where /1 = COM1, /c4 = 4 button, /r = relative mode. Then set INPUT-DEVICE = MOUSE in your 3DS.SET file. If you have R3, you should still load the driver as above to allow mouse emulation when needed, but set INPUT-DEVICE = SUMMA and COM-PORT = 1 (if you are using com1, that is) to run in digitizer mode. Don't use a DGPADI driver. The Summa ADI drivers were written for Acad and don't work perfectly with 3DS. I have been told that Summa is writing a 3DS driver due out later this year. If you get a hung cursor or no cursor, try to power down the tablet and turn it on again. This seems to clear up the problem most of the time. If it still doesn't work, try pressing "*" to bring up the config dialog, then "T" for tablet mode, then "enter". When I switch from tablet mode to mouse mode I sometimes have to reset the tablet too. Hope this helps.