SketchUp 7 problems on Mac Pro

Gaieus

...I have no idea what is causing the imported terrain to be completely black though. Previously on XP with SU6, this has worked really well. Perhaps this is an issue related to the NVidia card...

I could imagine that it is also caused by the very large distance from the origin. This is also an OpenGL issue - quite independent from SU itself - and so far away different, really weird things can happen (even geomery distorting and such).

Like in outer space

Edson

i am sorry about your troubles, jim. i have not experienced any since i upgraded to SU7, although i have not imported any terrain since then.

sketch3d.de

@unknownuser said:

...only 960 mb of ram... Celeron(R) 3.20 GHz... no video card at all it shares the 960.

surely no recommendation for OGL based 3D CAx applications as e.g. SU, at least for high-poly models.

thanks,
Norbert

sketch3d.de

@bigstick said:

@Sketch3d.de, Imperfect OpenGl support would make sense.

you can evaluate by yourself by simply disabling the hardware acceleration (= OpenGL) in SU settings. If problems are vanished then, the OGL support of the driver is causing the probs.

You might also check if there is an anti aliasing configuration somewhere in the graphics settings of OSX. If yes, try if decreasing to 2x or 0x helps, at least for a speed improvement.

and run the Apple updater for ensuring to have the latest driver version.

@bigstick said:

... Question is, why haven't Apple or Google fixed this?

must be done by the makers of the video driver (i.e. Apple), what is not that easy (see above) and surely needs some experience in this area. Implementing workarounds in the application (as e.g. option "inverse picking driver bug") appears to me as a second good choice for fixing issues caused by the underlying operating system.

hth,
Norbert

P.S.: try if deleting the SCF cookie from inside Safari does the trick.

ScottPara

Bigstick,

I am also running an 8 core MACpro and having no issues after the upgrade to 7. I do not use GE so I can not help you there. Hope you get this fixed.

Scott

bigstick

Actually my MacBook Pro seems to be better than my Mac Pro, which is just weird. I have tried all the various combinations of hardware acceleration with and without fast feedback and maximum texture size. However, I have unchecked the 'fast feedback' option and terrain import now works. Obviously I wasn't being rigourous enough in my checking of the options before, and not trying the import terrain on a new file with the option unchecked. With Gaieus's advice about georeferencing, all is seems to be well regarding GE integration. Thanks Gaieus and CraigD!

Regarding OpenGL, I always have the updater running and the latest versions are always installed. Actually I suspect this might be a bit stupid, because I suffer from all the glitches that each new update introduces. I really do think that part of the problem is with the NVidia OpenGL implementation. I am having the problem with slow screen refresh and update that kanonbal has though.

@modelhead, you really can't compare a cheap PC and a Mac. And to claim that because you aren't having any problems with your cheap system, it may be in some respects better is misleading. I accept that the comment was probably tongue-in-cheek, but I don't remotely want to get into the whole Windows v Apple flame war thing. It is true that I am having problems with some things, but it's maybe a step too far to suggest that I have a 'lemon'. It's possible, but there are lots of variables, including the fact that I am logged on to a Windows 2003 server active domain. I work directly off the server, and problems with server traffic and the domain, affect me directly. Unlikely that these are causing the display lags though.

garydorn

@unknownuser said:

@bigstick said:

I have been having a number of problems with SU7 Pro ever since I installed it.

The most pressing problem for me at the moment is the fact that I can't import Google Earth terrain. I really need this facility at the moment.
There are 2 problems. First of all, the imported Google Earth terrain is black,
<snip> Even if I could, I would have a black terrain anyway.

Is anyone else having these problems, or do any of you have any utilities or workarounds which may help?

Howdy
A little while ago I had the black picture import when I was working on a 100 acre property. To get a reasonable image I thought I would max out the window on my 23" screen.
Anyway I worked out that my image was too big,
So In GE Under View>viewsize>computerplayback>800x 600 try that, it worked for me

MacPro 2.66 Mac OS 10.5.4, 5 GB ram, 23" & 20" screens

Double Espresso

[quote="bigstick"]
Regarding OpenGL, I always have the updater running and the latest versions are always installed. Actually I suspect this might be a bit stupid, because I suffer from all the glitches that each new update introduces. I really do think that part of the problem is with the NVidia OpenGL implementation. I am having the problem with slow screen refresh and update that kanonbal has though.

I used to allow MAC auto updates, but I got fed up with having to re-jig a lot of progs the next morning. Now I just check update every week and choose what I need. As far as SU7 goes I'm running a couple of MacBook Pros and they are rockin'.
DE.

sketch3d.de

@bigstick said:

Regarding OpenGL, I always have the updater running and the latest versions are always installed. Actually I suspect this might be a bit stupid, because I suffer from all the glitches that each new update introduces.

...and profit from all the fixes every new update incorporates.

never changing a running system is not a bad idea but will obviously cut you off from every further improvement and problem correction.

@bigstick said:

I really do think that part of the problem is with the NVidia OpenGL implementation.

just to clarify, Apples OGL implementation for the nVidia GeForce home user series...

hth,
Norbert

sketch3d.de

@sketch3d.de said:

...cut you off from every further improvement and problem correction.

e.g. recent OSX v10.5.6:
"Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards."

hth,
Norbert

bigstick

I have just updated to the latest OSX 10.5.6 and yup, the graphics problems are still in evidence.
I have done a little research and found that the problem does indeed seem to be related to the NVidia 8800GT in the Mac Pro.
I am getting awful problems in VectorWorks 2009 as well. On the VW forum, guess what, others with the same card are having the same problems. These are similar to those in SU. Slow screen refresh and incomplete update, jerky performance. All in all, pretty crap really.

So, I have started a thread on the Apple support forum here:- http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1829118&stqc=true

Please post if you are having the same problems.

sketch3d.de

@bigstick said:

I have just updated to the latest OSX 10.5.6 and yup, the graphics problems are still in evidence.

heard this too, but for ATI Radeons...

Norbert