3Dlabs Oxygen ACX, User Manual

Page 1: ...T h e O x y g e n T M A C X G r a p h i c s A c c e l e r a t o r U s e r s G u i d e 3Dlabs Inc 480 Potrero Avenue Sunnyvale CA 94086 408 530 4700 www 3dlabs com ...

Page 2: ... does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures 1 Re orient or relocate the receiving antenna 2 Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver 3 Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from tha...

Page 3: ...I n t r o d u c t i o n ...

Page 4: ...e clear solution for AutoCAD acceleration on any Intel Pentium based system Oxygen ACX features include Permedia 2 graphics processor Soft Engine AutoCAD display list driver software 8 MB high speed SGRAM AGP or PCI bus support 1600 x 1200 maximum resolution OpenGL 1 1 support System Requirements Your system must have the following features in order to support your card A Pentium Pentium Pro Penti...

Page 5: ...nd techniques are posted on the 3Dlabs as well as the appropriate software partner s web site Software Application Web Site Address AutoCAD http www autodesk com 3D Studio MAX http www ktx com Lightscape http www lightscape com LightWave 3D http www newtek com Maya http www aw sgi com MicroStation http www bentley com Pro ENGINEER http www ptc com SDRC I DEAS http www sdrc com Softimage 3D http ww...

Page 6: ...C h a p t e r 1 I n s t a l l a t i o n ...

Page 7: ... Hardware section below then install the drivers Before You Start Take every possible precaution against static electricity as you prepare to install the card static can damage components We have included an anti static wrist strap for you to wear while installing the hardware you should also try to work in a static free area such as on a tile floor rather than carpet You might even consider weari...

Page 8: ...ur machine To remove an old card from your system 1 Turn off and unplug the power source for your system and each of its peripherals 2 Unplug the monitor cable from the old card 3 Remove any screws securing the card to the chassis 4 Lift the card out of the slot To install your Oxygen ACX card 1 Turn off and unplug the power source for your system and each of its peripherals if you have not alread...

Page 9: ...ace on your system s chassis 5 Remove the card from its anti static packaging Write down the serial number for registration and future use 6 Place the card into the slot and seat it firmly See your system documentation for instructions on securing the card to the chassis Loose cards and connections can cause grounding and operating problems 7 Remove the anti static strap and replace the cover on y...

Page 10: ...ware 5 3Dlabs Oxygen ACX User s Guide 8 Connect the video cable from your monitor to the video connector on the card 9 Plug in and start up your system including peripherals and log in to your Windows operating system ...

Page 11: ...and performance preferences To install your Oxygen software 1 Log in to Windows NT using any account that has administrator privileges 2 Place the Oxygen CD ROM in your CD ROM drive When the installation window opens choose the Oxygen ACX installation 3 Follow the instructions that appear on your screen Be sure to read the software license agreement 4 Restart your system at the prompt You have ins...

Page 12: ...2 R13 R14 AND LT SOFTWARE INSTALL SOFT ENGINE IF YOU USE ONE OF THESE AUTOCAD PROGRAMS DO NOT INSTALL SOFT ENGINE IF YOU DO NOT USE ONE OF THESE AUTOCAD PROGRAMS IT WILL HAVE NO BENEFICIAL EFFECT To install Soft Engine 1 Place the Oxygen CD ROM in your CD ROM drive When the installation window opens choose Install Soft Engine A menu appears 2 Select your AutoCAD product type to start the installat...

Page 13: ...n complete the registration card and return it to us in the mail or register on line once your hardware and software installations are complete You must have Internet access to register on line To register on line 1 Open your Internet browser 2 Go to http www 3dlabs com register 3 Fill out the registration form that appears on your screen and click Submit when you are finished You have registered ...

Page 14: ...C h a p t e r 2 S o f t w a r e C o n f i g u r a t i o n ...

Page 15: ...ver software supports and lets you customize certain Permedia 2 functions Information Screen The Information screen appears first when you choose the 3Dlabs page in the Display Properties control panel and provides useful information if you should need to communicate with 3Dlabs technical support It is also the point of entry to the Setup screen and the OpenGL screen ...

Page 16: ...ne the color output for your display You can also enter a precise Gamma value rather than use the slider when you know which value is appropriate for your monitor and ambient lighting conditions The Disable PCI Disconnect feature is used in certain troubleshooting situations Unless 3Dlabs staff suggests otherwise in the course of solving a problem leave this box unchecked ...

Page 17: ...er less than 3 you may experience a significant performance impact If you choose a number larger than 3 and particularly larger than 5 your results will vary depending on your system configuration and the application you are using Checking Wait for VBlank synchronizes double buffering with screen refresh to prevent tearing in your 3D images This setting is the default Unchecking this can result in...

Page 18: ...The Oxygen ACX Driver 13 3Dlabs Oxygen ACX User s Guide associated with using this feature can be well worth the image quality enhancement ...

Page 19: ...C h a p t e r 3 Tr o u b l e s h o o t i n g Te c h n i c a l S u p p o r t ...

Page 20: ...Installation in this document Solution Your card might not be seated properly in the AGP slot Remove and reinstall your card as described in Chapter 1 Installation Remember to use the anti static wrist strap when opening your system and handling the card Question The performance of and or the available resolutions for my Oxygen ACX card are not what I expected Solution The Oxygen driver may not ha...

Page 21: ...n remove your old graphics card and reinstall your Oxygen card Solution Make sure that you are not using an old graphics board driver and that you have uninstalled any graphics drivers other than Oxygen ACX particularly those drivers provided by other companies using 3Dlabs chipsets Solution Please see the System Integration Guide in the FAQ section at http www 3Dlabs com Solution You may need to ...

Page 22: ... or update your Ethernet driver See your system or Ethernet adapter documentation for more information Reaching Technical Support If you cannot find the problem you are experiencing or the solution to a problem listed in this chapter check the 3Dlabs web site for additional help To contact 3Dlabs Technical Support send an e mail to support 3dlabs com Be sure to 1 Include a detailed description of ...

Page 23: ...C h a p t e r 4 G l o s s a r y ...

Page 24: ...lished by gradually modifying the hue and saturation of pixels API Application Programming Interface The API translates the instructions from the application program into device commands that are specific to the screen s display controller the graphics board Atmospheric Effects The effect derived from adding one or more layers around an object Bilinear Sampling The process whereby texture mapping ...

Page 25: ...D models and scenes Driver A driver is a special interface program that is developed to perform the communication between the application program the device i e graphics peripheral and the operating system EVGA Extended Video Graphics Array EVGA runs at 1024 x 768 Flat Shading The simplest method of shading Each triangle is assigned one single color resulting in a faceted appearance of the surface...

Page 26: ... versions of a texture to be used for objects of different sizes It also enables faster performance as textures do not need to be scaled in real time MMX Multi Media eXtension a set of 57 instructions to be added to the x86 processor to accelerate signal processing operations for multimedia Multiple Resolution Support The ability to support multiple resolutions on the screen OpenGL The industry st...

Page 27: ...rmance SDTP Super Desktop Publishing SDTP runs at 1600 x 1200 Stencil Buffer Similar to stipple masking the stencil buffer assists with the creation of transparent effects Stipple masking A technique that spatially creates transparent effects by rendering an object through various patterns SVGA Super Video Graphics Array SVGA runs at 800 x 600 Tessellation The initial part of the 3D pipeline where...

Page 28: ...ond VGA Video Graphics Array VGA runs at 640 x 480 VHR Very High Resolution VHR runs at 1280 x 1024 VRAM Video Random Access Memory is an expensive fast type of RAM that is used as display memory on high end graphics boards VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language Z Buffer Z Buffering is used to better define objects from the perspective of the third or z axis by allotting a depth coefficient to eve...

Page 29: ... VGA 64 bit Memory 8 MB high speed SDRAM on board Maximum True Color resolutions 1600 x 1200 Display Resolution Color Depth Refresh Rate 1600x1200 64K 32K 256 85 1600x1200 64K 32K 256 75 60 1280x1024 64K 32K 256 100 1280x1024 64K 32K 256 85 75 1280x1024 T 64K 32K 256 60 1152x864 64K 32K 256 100 1152x864 T 64K 32K 256 85 75 60 1024x768 T 64K 32K 256 100 85 75 60 800x600 T 64K 32K 256 100 85 75 60 6...

Page 30: ...Appendix B Warranty and Licenses ...

Page 31: ...ses You shall not whether through the use of disassemblers or any other means whatsoever including but not limited to manual mechanical or electrical means reverse engineer decompile disassemble destroy disable derive rules of protocol embodied in the SOFTWARE or derive source code from the SOFTWARE OR FEATURES or attempt to permit any third party to do any of the foregoing Any attempt to do any o...

Page 32: ...on You may terminate the license granted hereunder at any time by destroying all copies mergers or modifications of the SOFTWARE FEATURES and accompanying materials 3Dlabs Inc may immediately terminate the license granted to you hereunder upon notice for failure to comply with the terms and conditions of this AGREEMENT Upon such termination you agree to destroy all copies mergers and modifications...

Page 33: ...res due to defects in materials or workmanship that occur during normal use It does not cover damage that occurs in shipment or failures that are result from but are not limited to accident misuse abuse neglect mishandling misapplication alteration modification fire flood earthquake explosion lightning line power surge introduction of sand dust humidity and liquids damage attributable to acts of G...

Page 34: ... 1984 IEC801 4 1987 following the provisions of the 89 336 EEC Directive San Jose California September 30 1998 3Dlabs Inc We 3Dlabs Incorporated 480 Potrero Avenue Sunnyvale CA 94086 Phone 408 530 4700 Fax 408 530 4701 United States of America declare under our sole responsibility that the product 3Dlabs Oxygen ACX comply with Part 15 of FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditio...

Page 35: ...oating point 20 frame buffer 20 G gamma adjustment 11 geometry 20 Gouraud shading 21 graphics accelerator 21 graphics processor ii H Heidi 21 I installation anti static procedures 2 back up first 2 before you start 2 card 3 expansion slots 3 Soft Engine 7 software drivers 6 tools 2 M mapping mip 21 texture 22 memory ii SDRAM 22 VRAM 23 MMX 21 monitors adjusting gamma 11 multiple resolution support...

Page 36: ...ation 6 setup 10 software partners iii specifications 24 static electricity 2 stencil buffer 22 stipple masking 22 SVGA 22 system requirements ii T technical support 17 tessellation 22 texture mapping 22 texture processing 21 transformation 22 transparency 23 troubleshooting monitor problems 15 network problems 16 resolution problems 15 system problems 16 V VBlank 12 vectors second 23 VGA definiti...