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David M Gillespie · Guest

I got my baptism in ProE in 1992. We were using HP 750 (unix)
workstations back then. I got into some fairly difficult things like
Buttress threads and surfaces. I got about 1.5 years experience.

I took a position as the network manager in a university and have not
touched ProE at all, and just a little Autocad. I was laid off 1 yr
ago.

I have recently run through the entire ProE 2001 SE tutorial. it took
a lot of concentration and time, but now I have the ProE Wildfire SE
version and I have to redo the entire tutorial. I'm hoping to find
work in engineering again since there are few network positions
available.

One thing that I really hate about ProE Wildfire SE is the color
scheme. I have to look so close that it gives me a headache. Can
anyone recommend a set of system colors, or is that a bad idea?

Under ProE 2001 I had Graphic problems, but only after several hours
of operation. With wildfire I have to refresh the screen constantly,
and I get serious problems in a much shorter time. It would seem that
my ATI Graphics Rage 128 card just isn'i up to the task. It would be
a shame to have to lose it since it has a TV daughter board I've been
using to record Video and burn DVDs.

I welcome any sugsestions.

Sincerely David M. Gillespie

Jeff Howard · Guest

ms · Guest

"David M Gillespie" <classic@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
news:413894e0.78574812@news-server.tampabay.rr.com...

David Janes · Guest

: "ms" <someone@microsoft.com> wrote
: > "David M Gillespie" <classic@tampabay.rr.com> wrote
<snip>
: > One thing that I really hate about ProE Wildfire SE is the color
: > scheme. I have to look so close that it gives me a headache. Can
: > anyone recommend a set of system colors, or is that a bad idea?
: >
I agree with MS suggestion to save a syscol.scl file through 'View>Display
Settings>System Colors'. When you've adjusted the colors to your satisfaction, go
to the File menu and save the file to where ever you are keeping your other
configuration files. This produces the syscol.scl file that you point to with the
config.pro option, system_colors_file. For the value, just Browse to the file
location and pick the file.

If you want to do as Jeff suggested, back under the System Colors interface,
you'll see a menu item called Scheme. This has a list of predefined schemes which
each set the colors in a unique way. One of them is Pre-Wildfire. Any of these
scheme settings can be adjusted by clicking on the color panel next to the item
you are setting. You can do this for all four pages of color settings. But,
whichever predefined scheme you pick, you have to save the .scl file and point to
it. Pro/e isn't going to "remember" your settings otherwise.

You may be more familiar with using config.pro and its system_xxx_color options to
set colors. This way seems to be phasing out. After all, you can set only 11
colors with these options; the system colors file stores and controls 26, plus you
get the interface for graphically showing/setting the color with a color wheel.
This generates the RBG numbers for you.

: > Under ProE 2001 I had Graphic problems, but only after several hours
: > of operation. With wildfire I have to refresh the screen constantly,
: > and I get serious problems in a much shorter time.

In Pro/e, it has always depended on what I'm doing. In modelling/assembly
operations, working with shaded solids, I've had minimal problems. I had a
computer with integrated/shared video memory. This greatly limited the number of
windows I could work on simulteneously. It and the operating system also insured
that I didn't have any advanced graphics functions in the Visibilities menu
available. But for normal shaded spinning of models, even this worked fine. The
most incomprehensible thing about Pro/e's OpenGL graphics is how much trouble it
has with the supposedly simple, 16 color, 2D display in detailing. This is where
you get views and dimensions disappearing and where simple refreshes don't even
work, where you have to go to View>Update views or turn a layer on and off to
initiate the level of regen needed to completely reset the screen in the right
order (or something, I don't have the foggiest idea what causes it, though I
suspect stripped down, generic screen routines that bypass optimized OpenGL
routines because the program is compiled for a dozen different operating systems
and very little system specific optimization.)
It would seem that
: > my ATI Graphics Rage 128 card just isn'i up to the task. It would be
: > a shame to have to lose it since it has a TV daughter board I've been
: > using to record Video and burn DVDs.
: >

My advice is try to catch up on developments in graphics. The link below is to the
only registered FAQ for this NG.
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-faq/3dgraphics-cards/part1/#ct
It some extensive research into OpenGL graphics cards from about 8 years ago. In
some respects, the information is still current. In other respects, OpenGL and the
hardware have come a long way and even your 'gaming' card outclasses most of the
professional cards listed. But, so have the demands put on those cards. For the
kind of demands placed on a graphics card and the entire system, you need a
computer that's built to handle the demand or have a high tolerance for
frustration. Because, without the hardware support designed for Pro/e's demands,
you are looking forward to a lot of frustration. Keep the box you've got for video
editing and burning DVDs. Get a good one with a good graphics card (30-50% of the
cost of the system) for Pro/e. Check out the cards/systems listed on ptc.com as
supported/certified to get an idea of what you need. I don't predict a lot of
success in adapting the Matrox card ~ the manufacturer doesn't appear on the list.

If you're not going to be going into business for yourself, maybe you don't need
to go this far. But at least investigate the cards that can be soft quadroed. The
other thing that makes a great deal of difference in how Pro/e runs is graphics
drivers. Every card manufacturer has dozens of them, including some that are app
specific as well as being certified for the operating system. Look for cards that
have drivers that support Wildfire. Ask this on the Nvidia, ATI, 3Dlabs, SGI or
Matrox NGs. Even just softquadroing a card and getting the appropriate driver will
make a difference in how the SE of Wildfire runs, a big difference.

David Janes

Pete · Guest

classic@tampabay.rr.com (David M Gillespie) wrote in message news:<413894e0.78574812@news-server.tampabay.rr.com>...

hamei · Guest

David Janes wrote:

David M Gillespie · Guest

Thanks for the tip on system colors. I found it. In case anyone else
is interested, It's under View/Display Settings/System Colors. That
will give you the System colors Dialog box. Use the pull down
"Scheme", and at the bottom of the list is an option "Use Pre-WildFire
Scheme".

For other ATI users having serious graphic problems I have another of
my screwball work arounds. Go to Display/settings/advanced. If your
card is like mine there will be two levels of tabs to choose. Select
OpenGl and change the Optimization Preference from Performance to
Quality.

I also dropped my colors to 16 bit, but I'm not sure which change (or
both) did the trick. I still have problems with artifacting, but they
don't make it necessary to reboot like before.

It isn't perfect, but it works.

On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 16:47:31 GMT, "Jeff Howard"
<jeff4136@mindspring.com> wrote:

David Janes · Guest

: "hamei" <hamei@pacbell.net> wrote
: > David Janes wrote:
:
: > I don't have the foggiest idea what causes it,
: > though I
: > suspect stripped down, generic screen routines that bypass optimized
: > OpenGL
: > routines because the program is compiled for a dozen different
: > operating systems
: > and very little system specific optimization.)
:
:
: Well, actually, that's the point of OpenGL. If you use OpenGL
: for graphics, then the optimizations should be done at the os
: level (aka graphics card drivers). That way a company can write
: very generic code yet still have it optimized for many different
: operating systems.
:
You would think so, anyway. But how can one OpenGL, from one system to another, be
better or worse if they all have the exact same functionality, optimized for the
particular os? What I'm talking about is PTC recognizing these differences in
performance and gearing their code to a 'common denominator' approach. Especially
needed since they've spent more than a decade on an 'easy'
marketing/licensing/distribution system that ignores operating systems, tries to
at any rate.

: I think you'd be closer if you blamed the graphics card drivers
: rather than PTC on this one. That's where nVidia shines - best
: drivers in peeceeland, especially for OpenGL. Makes sense; many
: of the engineers at nVidia came from the company that created
: OpenGL.

I agree that a lot rides on those drivers. PTC is quite specific, in fact, about
which ones are needed for particular cards and operating systems. I thought I
emphasized that in my answer to Gillespie. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, presenting
so many options, from just upgrading drivers to upgrading hardware, including
getting a new machine especially tailored to Pro/e use. In any case, something
I've said before, bears repeating: a good graphics accelerator card and driver are
key to a happy life with Pro/e because it is so much easier to get along with.

David Janes

hamei · Guest

David Janes wrote:

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