Artifacts
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Hi guys,
I find myself in a situation where I have to use an old computer for some days, back in my hometown. I was thinking it should work ok for doing some Sketchup, but it seems there is a problem which I don´t remember happening in the past, as some similar artifacts appear in both Sketchup and 3dsmax.
This happening in both programs is probably pointing to a graphic card/driver related problem, but still don´t know if it is possible to fix it and how. The graphic card is an old Quadro FX1500 built on a 32 bits system with a decent CPU, and I am using SketchUp Make 2014 (last one compatible with that build I think). I´ve tried installing a couple of Nvidia drivers with no success (it seems there are quite a few of them for this card to try). Also disabling hardware acceleration fixes the problem but it gets too slow to work in moderately complex scenes.
Not a life or death situation by any means but I´d like to have this computer running ok at this place and frankly, I am curious about what´s the cause of it at this point. A damaged graphic card? A driver related problem, so I might keep trying that way? Any light on this is welcome.
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How far is the model from the origin? We've seen some artifacts like that when the model is at a great distance from the origin. Maybe that's the problem here?
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@dave r said:
How far is the model from the origin? We've seen some artifacts like that when the model is at a great distance from the origin. Maybe that's the problem here?
Thanks for replying, Dave. I´ve noticed those problems you mention in the past but this is sadly not the case, as the models are right there in the origin and the artifacts keep showing.
Hardware Acceleration Off and On;
I can manage this model with HA Off pretty well in terms of fluidness, but when complexity grows it is a pain in the a*.
I´ve seen this problem appearing in a couple of gaming forums but none of the varied theories
(PSU, GPU, drivers, whatever) is conclusive enough. Could it be the PSU? I guess mine is not very powerful.
Also, I tried tweaking the 3d settings in the Nvidia panel control but both its complexity and the infinite combinations make it look like a bad approach, and I can´t see this solving the problem either, to be honest.
I´ll try installing a couple more compatible drivers to see what happens, but even if my knowledge is pretty limited I think this looks like a damaged graphic card.
Even if old, this is still a serviceable processor (Core 2 Quad Q9550) mounted on a decent motherboard (P5Q-PRO) which I might be interested to keep working. Maybe I can find a cheap but solid graphic card for this, possibly in the mold of the x-forces? And even install a 64 bits OS on this system? I have my doubts about the latter but will search for it.
Well, sorry if I derailed the thread from the original question somehow, but any light on any of these matters will be much welcome. Thanks!
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... a probably more stupid question: if you turn on "hidden geometry" and all layers visible, then copy-paste in place the desired model content into a new empty SkUp-template, does the same happen then?
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@hornoxx said:
... a probably more stupid question: if you turn on "hidden geometry" and all layers visible, then copy-paste in place the desired model content into a new empty SkUp-template, does the same happen then?
Hang on...The problem apparentlydisappeared since I did just THAT! And not just the model in the new template worked like a charm but also the original. Even more punishing old models (which were a total mess last time) displayed flawlessly with Hardware Acceleration on. Wtf?
But sadly the artifacts came back after a while, as I was expecting (even if I was about to post a celebratory reply). And if all this wasn´t confusing enough, a bit later the line/band-shaped artifacts changed to some kind of shader thing on the non-textured model surfaces, apparently.
And then it got back to the original artifacts.
At this point, I am about to give up and look for a cheap graphics card which just does the job, or else I´ll get mad about it. Something along the lines of GeForce GT 1030 at 70 euros would be a hugeupgrade from this pretty weak old Quadro (which already did the job ok for some modeling in this secondary computer in the other hand, so I could go even cheaper). I should try updating to 64 bits also, but I am not sure if I will manage with this processor.
So I guess I am moving on, but still curious...Thanks for the replies anyway!
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