#Hercules problem
15 messages in this thread
[ A request from my friend, Bruce McGlasson (JKJ) ]
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I'm having a problem with 3DS and the Hercules Graphics Station Card+2
with Hercules Autodesk driver 2.11. After deleting 3DADI.CFG and
reconfiguring, 3DS works fine the 1st time, then misbehaves on all
subsequent executions (the screen comes up very dark and unusable).
Hercules said their Autodesk guru left last weekend and took all his guru
stuff with him – "you are on your own, call your dealer." [ha]
The local dealer said this is a known problem which should be fixed in
2.01. Is is fixed? Does anyone know a work-around until we can get 2.01?
Thanks. —-Bruce
M.———————————————————————–[ Is anyone else having trouble getting 2.01? I've had it on order since
it was first anounced on this forum. My dealer says Autodesk is just real
slow. Should it take a MONTH?? (JKJ) ]
This is not a 3DS problem. I guarantee it. You should see if your friend
can take back his Herc card to his dealer and get his money back. The
driver just doesn't work correctly, and now that Herc's tech guy is gone, I
don't hold out a lot of hope for it.
– G
Thanks for your advice on the Hurtn' Herc. My friend has had a time with
video boards, having tried two different Orchid's, the Nth TV, a Diamond
Stealth, a $69 Oak (fewest problems but SLOW!), and now the Herc+2. Back
to the drawing ( or should I say _graphics_ ) board! Maybe the 24X? This
ordeal is especially troubling as he is basically immobile, wheelchaired,
with very limited use of his arms and none in his hands – he can't swap
boards or even plug cables – but you ought to see his artwork!
One general comment – as I evesdrop on this forum I see a lot about various
video problems, but almost nothing about what works well for people. Good
luck stories, anyone? Personally, I have had zero problems with the
Diamond Speedstar (8-bit color, however) that came with the Gateway. Works
with ANIPRO & 3DS in all VESA resolutions, Windows, etc., reasonably fast.
JKJ (if it was easy, EVERYBODY would be doing it)
Hey, Guys –
Just a quick comment – we have two (2) Hercules Graphic Station +2 cards in
constant use in our office since they were first released! We run 3DS, Ani
Pro, Windows, and AutoCAD in 1024x768x256 color and 512x480x16.7mil colors
with no major problems! Your friend may have a bad board or old driver,
but, once configured (TIGA) properly, they are REALLY nice cards!
So much for my 2 cents…
Greg Pyros
GREG,
Just for information. I believe the Herc. Superstation 3D is a
grade or two above the Station +2. So for the price I or We expect a lot
better performance and ease of use. Any whot, due you use the supplied vga
320X200 in 3dsr2 to render any flics to disk and preview them at that
resolution. The reason I'm asking is that I keep getting banding in my
flics, dither on or off, and in some cases I need to transport my animation
to clients computers who have only vga cards. If you can give me any
suggestions on low res rendering and/or the configuration you finally found
to work best in your system I would greatly apprieciate the help
Thanks.
Carl:
We use the Graphics Station +2 in all it's modes from 320×200 to 1024×756
for Ani Pro, but the banding you are referring to is a result of the 256
color limit of flic files, nothing to do with the graphics card. For this
reason, we do little if any renderings to flics, period. They are only
used un our office for testing out animation motion and special effects.
Any color work is done in 24 bit mode out to our laser disk for speed and
colors.
For an expert in 256 color playback, contact Doug Wolfgram at Graphix Group
here in this forum. That is his speciality, and I don't know anyone
better. (I shouldn't have said that. Now his hat won't fit AGAIN.) <g>
Greg Pyros
Greg,
I apprieciate the quick reply from my last message. But I am wondering, if
the banding, in 3ds, in from the limit of 256 colors of the flic colors,
way are all the flics I see on the 3ds cd-rom and any uploaded files so
clear, even if they are down in the vga320x200 mode.
carl
Carl, most of the flics on the CD-ROM were rendered in Medium palette mode.
If they were rendered in Low palette mode, they would've been quite a bit
more banded. Which mode are you using, and how many different-colored
objects are you rendering in one scene? (a good limit is not to use more
than 6-7 different colored objects, max… but the more "monochrome" the
scene is, the more likely you can get a nice smooth representation in 256
colors)
– G
You're using 2.01 (if I remember correctly), so you should never really
have to use High Palette mode. Do you flics look more banded than the ones
on the CD-ROM? If you want, you can upload to me a sample project file of
the heart with all the exact same rendering settings you're using, with an
example 3-frame 320×200 flic of a piece of your final version. I'll render
it here, and compare it to your version. If I spot something weird about
it, I'll let you know. If you'd like to do this, zip the two files up
together and upload them to me via email to my user ID#.
– G
I'm sorry to hear that your friend hasn't had the greatest luck with video
boards. The most reliable combination I've ever seen has been the
Truevision Targa+ and their VideoVGA. It provides relatively fast flic
playback (due to the VVGA's ET4000 chip) and a high quality 24-bit display
with an excellent digitizer.
– G
I am using a tiga based "Opta Mona lisa" great color (24 bit) runs circles
around my old orchid fareheit (on scren redraws, a six second redraw took
on the orchid takes about 1 on the opta. P. Kroko
Thanks. Does the Opta card work in all modes? He had problems with the
old Herc driver in that it would do everything but play Previews in 3DS.
The new driver has its own problems. I hear of other boards that will run
everything in 3DS but not all AniPro vesa resolutions, or run hi-res FLC's
but not FLI's, etc. Sure would like a list of what cards work well with
EVERYTHING, including accelerated Windows. (Would like the moon, too! <g>)
JKJ
There are no glitches with 3d, a few sort of details that there tech
support provided was essential though. As far as what would happen with
animator pro I don't know, it does have an onboard tseng4000 vga. There is
another card I heard about made by matrox which ios very similar on which
the price has been slashed to $650. a real bargain if you ask me but I
don't know how it works with 3ds or apro.
One other thing, the opta card has some problems right now with a dos shell
in windows. It's not an issue with me … Another note, the are not Targa
type cards, they don'toutput to video or anything. Regards P.Kroko P.S.
Optas got great tech support at 800 234 6782… I don't work for them I
swear
Guys,
I just bought a matrox board and it's great with apro although I don't know
about 3ds. I'm having a problem with my Hercules Chrome board with AAWIN
however and can't seem to get them to coexist, any ideas?
Randale